TdM fool - his torn pants?

tamieya05

On his journey of new beginning s...his decision could leave him looking like an a**
 

Richard

On his journey of new beginning s...his decision could leave him looking like an a**

Yes, from our "superior" perspective, but sometimes I wonder if I would have made the leap into the world of experience if I had known what all would happen: Sliding down the razor blade of life, sometimes you get cut. But then, hopefully, good stuff can happen too.
 

Zephyros

I think the bottom was once a popular organ with which to put forth symbolic meaning. Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights is filled with them.
 

Richard

I think the bottom was once a popular organ with which to put forth symbolic meaning. Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights is filled with them.

Yes, that part of the anatomy is particularly vulnerable, among other things.
 

Philistine

I think the bottom was once a popular organ with which to put forth symbolic meaning. Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights is filled with them.

I am reminded of Bottom, the great character from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. He is very much like the Fool from tarot, at least in the ways we interpret that card today. Overly confident--almost inspiringly so. He is more enthusiastic than he is capable of being a great actor, and assumes we will share his zeal for the peculiar and artistic and unknown. It's such a rich way of representing the dichotomy of the Fool.

So, do the torn pants reveal the Fool's bottom for a reason? I'd argue yes, absolutely. As to the coloring, I'd reiterate what others have said that block printing and coloring were careless arts for the early card maker, so it's mostly arbitrary.
 

Yelell

It's a bit pricey, especially if you order from France. TarotBear's Lair (scroll down the page to see my mini review) has about the best price I've seen, but it's out of stock at present. There are a few reliable sellers on eBay.

I saw a couple new and used offers that weren't bad, although right now house repairs say I probably should hold off a couple weeks buying more decks (literal bats in the belfry :bugeyed:). Not worried, decks find their way to me.

I wonder if we're supposed to identify with him and his vulnerability, or mock him as the village idiot. The poor noblet fool is in particular danger.
 

Richard

.....I wonder if we're supposed to identify with him and his vulnerability, or mock him as the village idiot. The poor noblet fool is in particular danger.

Whatever you think. As for me, I identify with him Although he does appear to be highly vulnerable, this may be something of an illusion. In Taoism the wise man is often identified as a fool in the eyes of the world. It is a matter of perspective. In one of St. Paul's epistles, the Gospel is described as foolishness:

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. [I Corinthians 1:21 RSV]​

In the story of Parzival (whom I consider to be a model for the Tarot Fool), he is literally a fool because his overprotective mother had kept him ignorant of the ways of the world. Yet he persisted in his pursuit of experience and eventually became the Grail King.
 

earthair

Or it could be... that when people start a new adventure, they might get a bit nervous, and the dog is just reminding him to visit the loo first.
 

Starshower

Interesting thread. I agree with LRichard. For me, the torn pants indicate his lack of worldliness and preoccupation with looks & 'image' ... his child-like innocence ... his utter lack of self-conscious awareness or of any sort of posing or narcissism and the shame, embarrassment & egocentrism that follow.

He is free from ego and expresses Will in its purest form, like a baby first setting out on her/his lifetime of experiences and learning.
He is numberless in the worldly terms of the other characters (especially the courts.)

Thanks for the reminder about the archetypal hero Parzival, LRichard. Very meaningful for me! :)