Universal Fantasy - the Fool

EarthAngel2911 said:

Flags seem to be very prevalent in this deck, and I'm tempted to do a little research on this...

Click to expand...

Well, I have to correct myself. I was so sure that so many cards featured flags, but after going through each card, there are only 5 cards, count them, 5, that have flags. (Fool, Sun, Seven of Swords, Knight of Swords, and Two of Pents) I guess it's just the cards that I've been drawing lately that have flags. Hmmm.... I suppose that's something I should think on...

Can we count banners as flags? They serve a similar function. Did you notice that the Hermit looks like he is wearing the shredded remains of the Fool's flag?

There are tiny yellow flags on the 6 of wands.

I guess I just counted the larger flags whipping in the wind, so I didn't count the little flags on the Six of Wands. And no, I didn't notice The Hermit; I haven't gotten to that card yet. But how neat is that? That's why I'm using this deck for my One Deck Wonder exercise. It's hard for me to grasp right now, but I KNOW there's a lot more to this deck than meets the eye!

Hi ~
I see what you mean about the Hermit's cloak looking like a well-traveled rendition of the Fool's flag. Could be. By the time he's gone around to needing to "go within" he is probably feeling a bit tattered.

Also - could his cloak been absconded by the Knave of Swords?? Swords - intellectualism - thoughts maturing. Young. Could be something he would do.

One more -
How about the Devil being the flag of the Fool??

Any thoughts on that one?!?

I saw the cloak on the Knave and wondered about that!

The flag becoming the Devil, his shadow side coming to life. Eek! Gives me some serious chills.

Oh hey! Didja notice that the Magician wears a purple cloak as well? Maybe there is more to this flag/cloak thing than I thought.

See? You all have made me want to take my deck out again and look at every card to see where the purple "flag" is! Should be very enlightening!

This is what I see in the card:

A man sitting on the edge of a cliff, content and happy. He is surrounded by companions but is alone. The 'Chaos Beast' is eager to get going and move on with the story while he is content to sit there and enjoy the view. Faeries are floating in the air giving him 'faery flowers' which they place in his hair.

Behind him is a field of red flowers (notice the same shapes between the hair flowers and the red flowers of the field).

He holds his flag with a solid, firm grip and rests it upon his shoulder, comfortably. His other hand is resting upon the grass and he is lounging with his feet over the edge.

There might be a movement of him getting up (notice his leg bent and maybe his shoulder rolling).

In the RWS The Fool heads off a cliff headless of the dog. Other decks show The Fool walking and there is an animal helping/attacking. Here the Chaos Beast tells The Fool to get going. There is no point daydreaming, getting old, and not fullfilling his dreams. He may not be ready but he is as ready as can be, the Chaos Beast knows this and attempts to lead The Fool so he can learn what is needed.

Flag: Sign of victory and self-assertion.

Purple: Royal, passive, water, power, sublimination

Faeries: Fulfill normal tasks but have extranormal abilities. Transformative powers. Personification of change in lifes progress.

Blue: Passive, thinking, calm, vertical thinking, height and depth, equilibrium, truthreligious feeling, devotion, innocence, heaven.

Fingerless Gloves: Protection, power, and strength. But the fingerless part of them shows that they are not fully there or formed so do not give the full power. Also I would like to say on most chilly morns they work fine but on cold morns the fingers and thumb get bitterly cold and so are next to useless!

Flowers: Transition, spring, beauty. (Red flowers relationship with animal life, blood, and passion. Blue flowers are symbol of impossibity.)

Red: Blood, tearing emotions, wounds, fire. passion, sentiment,

Chaos Beast: I see this as a wise, intelligent, animal. It is like the inner beast/animal, so wild but with animal intelligence which is poweful if used properly.

No Footwear: Indicates being a slave as they did not wear shoes, wearing footwear indicated liberty which The Fool does not currently have. But it also means that he has direct contact with Earth, a solid grounding force. Maybe that is why he is about to follow the Chaos Beast as he has had his head in the clouds long-enough.

The first thing that I noticed about this card is the blue creatures fluttering away above the fool's head.....to me, they look like butterflies, and I find this very revealing. To me the butterfly is all about transformation (as is the fool) and what makes it even more interesting is that there are 6 of them.....by doing some research online, I found the esoteric value of the number six as such:

Six relates to tact, beauty and harmony. It is very much a relationship builder which corresponds to one-to-one encounters. It deals with that which we are attracted to and those things we find great pleasure in. Six possesses charm, grace and the ability to make small talk on any stratum, and is therefore much of a diplomat.

I wonder about the dog that travels arould with The Fool. I feel that when The Fool started his trip that the dog followed him because it seems that dog needed to protect him from the things that he does not see, so The Fool can be safe.And maybe The Fool isn't such a fool to begain with. He always has that bag with him. And that he's out on a trip to learn more about the world, and to know more, then from what he was born into.