Universal Fantasy - the Fool

Got my UF a week ago and totally loving it.

This is a very friendly looking Fool. He doesn't look mad to me at all. Maybe, quietly mad. I'm not sure he knows this is a flag he's carrying. Note the flasks attached to the flag pole. It's just a handy and cute piece of cloth to have around - it can be used as a tent, perhaps, and as an umbrella. But there's no idea of glory in his head.

I absolutely love the creature that's with the Fool! It's inviting him to play - not like the normal Fool dogs that usually try to bite him. This creature, however wise it might be, is still an animal, and it is attracted by the Fool's human consciousness, however obscure and absent-minded it might be. They make a great duo.

Skydancer said:

Is he on drugs and that creature with him, nice little puppy!, a figment of his imagination?

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I just got my deck and I thought this very same thing! In fact, because I had this thought I came here to see if anybody else did too. His disheveled clothing makes me think so too.

.traveller. said:

The butterflies are emerging/transforming from the blue feathers in his hair.

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My favorite part of this card!

.traveller. said:

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.

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Good spotting on The Hermit and his tatters of the Fool's banner. They're much more tamed there, not 'the clothes wearing the person'...

Maybe the purple could be pride or ego, and that turns into The Devil if p: THAT might be a version of the clothign wearing the person, so to speak, as I just said The Hermit did not show--

Skydancer said:

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?!?

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KristinCali said:

I just got my deck and I thought this very same thing! In fact, because I had this thought I came here to see if anybody else did too. His disheveled clothing makes me think so too.

!

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The field of poppy-like flowers could indicate that (I know, I know, red flowers and white flowers are traditional), and the LWB mentions the need to 'open our mind to dreams'--maybe he's on the edge of dream and waking life...?

I do not see a scan of the Universal Fantasy Fool card here in the thread, so here it is.

This Fool is THE card that inspired to buy the Universal Fantasy deck. I thank my reading exchange partner for choosing this deck, and for this card for showing up in the reading!

Pam O said:

I do not see a scan of the Universal Fantasy Fool card here in the thread, so here it is.

This Fool is THE card that inspired to buy the Universal Fantasy deck. I thank my reading exchange partner for choosing this deck, and for this card for showing up in the reading!

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Thanks for posting this--I randomly bought this deck and a fe wothers in the big annual online Llewellyn sale, and have found that it is great for reading for others, especially on 'more mature' topics. The Fool is a great card in this deck. I love the other creature too, whether physical or energy or dream or whatever it may be--why wouldn't The Fool also be that same substance, dream or imagination or...?

To me, this Fool does not feel like he is reacting, nor responding. I am not sure if he is pondering? At this moment, he simply seems to be here experiencing, just 'being' here where he happened to end up?
(Maybe the state that he is in varies from reading to reading?)

Skydancer said:

butterflies! Why didn't I remember this - symbol of transformation. And the color blue ... any suggestions? Why is it on the traveler's companion as well?? There, on the creature, it is concrete, part of the body. Long flowing tail. For our young Seeker it is rising from his head; thoughts, images, spiritually or emotionally beginning the transformation.

So, our naive seeker IS spiritually ready, mentally prepared, to begin the Major journey of transformation.

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The iridescent blue butterflies are among my favorite parts of this card. That blue reminds me of the 5th chakra, the energy center of communication, thoughts, listening, words...

Maybe these blue butterflies show the Fool in the process of generating energy within his head, and transforming it to something that manifests into something he imagines?
(Are the blue butterflies real, or a they something simply imagined?)

Others have also asked if the traveler's companion is real, or imagined? Maybe the blue shows it is simply a figment of his imagination?