Nicoletta Ceccoli ~ The Fool

This is probably not one of the best Fools that I have seen because this one is neither free nor careless. She doesn’t look spontaneous or happy either. But you can say she is certainly following the beat of her own drum because she *is* the drum! She is free to travel and go on a journey (like all Fools are) since she has those small wheels underneath. But she can’t really control the direction very well and she must go the way the wheels are going. Maybe she has feet hiding under there so she can change direction and not just passively go with the flow.

I think most of the spontaneity and gaiety is in the colours (red and white) and in the jester hat. She looks almost like a Circus toy or a Circus performer since she is on an arena and just about to play her drum.
I wish there had been an animal in this card. A small yapping dog would have been just perfect.
The original artwork by Nicoletta Ceccoli is called Tamburine.

LWB: March to the beat of your own drum. No one can guide you better than your own heart. Key concepts: Individuality, beginnings, soul progress.

I see her as being in costume (so yes, she has feet under there).
To me she has that look of concentration because she's trying to follow someone else's beat. When she turns her back on them she will have the freedom to follow her own heart, and to drum her own heartbeat. Then she will be free to be the Fool.

In a way, I see this as a pre-Fool fool. A fool who doesn't yet have the confidence to go their own way. And when I think about the times that I was most "Fool-like" (in my early teens) I was also miserable and desperately unhappy. In a way I see as her as being so cut off that she has the freedom to do anything. Which makes her the Fool regardless.* It's a subtle duality, which is where this deck excels.

*This concept is best illustrated in Hyperbole and A Half's "Depression" series, when she's so sad at not being able to rent Jumanji that her depression punches through a wall and gives her the space and freedom to do anything because she just can't get it together to care anymore.

I always think of the expression "marching to the beat of your own drum". This guy does not care if he is weird, he is going places is making sure wherever he goes, he is going to make an impression. Drums are usually hollow so this guy is also ready for new experiences and not bringing with him lots of baggage. The wheels on the drum are, to me, "training wheels". He's just starting his journey

Pre-Fool Fool, hollow drum and training wheels! Haha that is excellentl! Thank you. You make me glad I have persisted with this Study Group thing because I would never have thought about those things on my own.