Hi All,
What a beautiful and simple distraction! He holds the rose though, as if to miss the thorns on the stem, it has just bloomed and the perfume of the flower would be at its most potent, the rose is at its peak of development before it wilts and fades. Its petals are open to recieve the bees that pollenate it. The rose is freshly plucked, as its leaves are still upright.
The white flower is one most used in Western Culture to portray innocense and purity, intention and spirit. Even though trends come and go, the white flower, and very often roses, are the main flower of the wedding boquet and the funeral wreath. Both these ceremonies are an initiation of the new cycle, chosen and fated. I also see it signifying the begining of the procession. Brides carry flowers before they walk down the aisle, The coffin is layered with flowers for its journey to the chapel. White petals would be thrown before a new path was trod.
I think it symbolizes the gateway of new beginings, the potency and ripeness of the situation. In the RW deck the Fool is in front of the flower. What the fool does from this point is forge onward, unknowingly, upon his path. He carries his innocence with him - the rose - his purity of intension, he is ready but he is about to learn what his choices will bring him - his consequences.
The whiteness of the sun and the 'peaks' of the mountain, the rose and the little dog I think give a 'freshness and crispness' to portray the moment just before his first step into the unknown.
Just a thought....
Many Blessings
Elven x