The Fool

poivre

If the world is round,
is The Fool really jumping off a cliff or
just stepping down unto a path?

I always thought he was jumping and now I think that he's
not in any fear of where he is going. This way it might only
be a step down. I could never get how he ever got grounded
after he jumped. For me it's like he never landed.

I can now see him walking around the outside of the world.
It would be a continuous cycle. Like The Wheel.

Just something to think about
& please no OMG's! :laugh:
 

Shaymus

I never thought of it in that way. Thanks.

I think of it in 2 ways: the cliff (where one takes that leap of faith, and hope that you don't crash and burn, but no guarantees); and like someone being born out of the womb, just you and your instincts.

Thanks for sharing,

Shaymus
 

Disa

I didn't get the feeling the fool was about to jump. I feel he is carefree, happily walking along oblivious to the fact that with just one more step he could be falling. He's unaware of his surroundings, like a child starting out on their life's journey.
 

Fulgour

Pamela Colman Smith made a "personal" statement
with her rendering of The Fool (based on the TdM)
and... she pictured her's as walking in the opposite
direction of all the other images presented before~
making me wonder: is The Fool walking backwards?

A close look at the Marseille "Le Fol" gives us clues.
The clothes look to be on backwards, and the way
the stick goes over the shoulder cross-wise, etc. ;)

After all ~ one can be a Fool without being crazy...
so why assume he/she is going over the cliff side?
 

PixieLi

interesting

I have always thought that he isn't watching where he is going so he needs to be careful otherwise he might fall off the cliff LOL :)
 

Rosanne

For myself I place the fool at the end of the Majors-now well equipped and freed from all baggage except his own necessities (like the toothbrush in his bag). He is composed and confident. He could walk backwards or forwards. He is signalling he has arrived! Here I am -reborn or remade. Now purified and ready for anything. Even the wee dog looks well pleased and happy for him. He seems to be looking up, not at the Sun or warming his face, but to some energy and saying "are you pleased with me?"
He is also, to me, Orion standing in glory with the zodiac circling round him. His forward foot is the star Rigel and his shoulders are Betelgeuse and Bellatrix. The Hunter- not of lions, but Peace and Purity and so you have the rose, not a lions head; instead of a club to kill, he has a swag to travel. At his feet is the dog star Sirius. So yes ros I see a wheel- the wheel of life and our Universe.~Rosanne
 

Rosanne

Thanks Fulgour- that Turtle Mountain study is great!! You know I had never thought of the O in Orion. All around the World, Orion is the centre peice. The correlations continue..... You know something else that is strange? The sleeve on RWS Fool is the shape of Orion's Horsehead Nebula or what is sometimes called Barnard 33. I had the Fool upside down on my stand to see O-rion from a different perspective and there it was, clear as day as seen from England hehe. I cannot find the language tree for Orion except that it is Medieval English from Latin-from Greek.~Rosanne
 

fairybugg

Fulgour said:
Pamela Colman Smith made a "personal" statement
with her rendering of The Fool (based on the TdM)
and... she pictured her's as walking in the opposite
direction of all the other images presented before~
making me wonder: is The Fool walking backwards?

A close look at the Marseille "Le Fol" gives us clues.
The clothes look to be on backwards, and the way
the stick goes over the shoulder cross-wise, etc. ;)

After all ~ one can be a Fool without being crazy...
so why assume he/she is going over the cliff side?

This is an interesting take. I did notice that the hips seemed funny for someone walking in a forward motion. Almost as if straining to twist right???
Thanks for sharing this.
 

ozzimo

Descent

For me i see the fool as the "I AM" descending into matter and the equipment he brings with him to ascend again out of it.
He ascends when he has perfected himself "purified his desire" symbolized by the white rose. The red rose in most cultures is a symbol of desire, the white is that desire purified.
It has been said the way to purify desire is by the balanced action of the conscious and the subconscious. which is pictured by the two leaves out of which the white rose springs.