Druidcraft Tarot -The Fool

sapienza

As promised, here are my thoughts on the Fool in this deck to get us started.

The details - A youngish man is walking along a path and about to step off a cliff but he doesn’t see it (or doesn’t appear to). He is wearing a brown tunic and a green shawl around it. He has a checked hat with a feather of some sort in it and carries a long stick with a swag over his shoulder. In his other hand he holds a branch of some sort. He has bare feet. Beside him is a black dog who is watching him and is up on it's hind legs. The ground is grassy although there is a dirt path that has just come to an end near the edge of the cliff. The sky is a pale blue with some clouds and in the distance the sun seems to be shining from behind a cloud.

To be honest, when I first saw this card I didn't really like it that much, I just don’t get much from this card so I'm looking forward to others thoughts as well. I don’t know what I feel when I look at the card. He looks like he is daydreaming, maybe about where he is going. He seems oblivious to his surroundings and to the cliff edge. His expression is kind of blank. The dog seems to be trying to get his attention but he’s somewhere else – away with the fairies. He seems to have his mind elsewhere, imagining where he is going. It’s as if it's all a new adventure and he has no fear. I guess it’s like he’s totally innocent and in some ways unrealistic too. A child embarking on a new journey – a new life, prepared to take the plunge to find out where you land.

I find it hard to relate to this card which surprised me. It makes me realise that I don’t often take risks and I rarely approach things with this carefree manner. I usually plan and research and analyse and then often don’t take action at all. Maybe this card is a message to me to lighten up – just jump into life and live it rather than always planning, planning, planning and thinking, thinking, thinking. To others though, it could be a warning to think more before jumping in. I guess it depends how you look at it and where you are coming from.

For some reason it has a different feel to it to a lot of other Fool cards I've seen. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it.
 

Bat Chicken

I think that the branch is mistletoe - which thr Druids used in ceremonies (I think Mi-Shell spoke more about it in the Seven of Prentacles) but was also used as a protection and a heal-all. Perhaps the Fool is believing he is protected from harm.

The dog looks like a greyhound - which was the form taken by the goddess Ceridwen when pursuing the child who accidentally tastes the the brew that will give the gift of wisdom. Here is the story from the British Druid site(http://www.druidorder.demon.co.uk/awen.htm):

In the story, Ceridwen is said to dwell in the midst of Lake Bala in Powys, with her husband, Tegid Moel ('Beautiful Bald One'). They have three children: Morfran ('Cormorant'); Creirwy ('Crystal Egg'), the most beautiful maiden in the world; and Afagddu ('Utter Darkness'), the most ill-favoured man. To compensate Afagddu for his ugliness, Ceridwen decides to make him all-wise by brewing him a magical cauldron of Inspiration (i.e. Awen) "according to the arts of the Fferyllt ('Alchemists, or Metal-workers')". The cauldron must brew for a year and a day, and Ceridwen sets two people to tend it while she goes out gathering herbs; a blind man called Morda ('Good Sea' or 'Great Good'), and a child named Gwion Bach ('Little Innocent'). On the last day, three drops of liquid fly out from the cauldron and burn Gwion's finger. He puts it to his mouth and instantly gains the three gifts of poetic inspiration, prophecy, and shape- shifting. Unfortunately, the rest of the brew is deadly poisonous andthe cauldron bursts its sides. With his gift of prophecy, Gwion knows that Ceridwen will try to kill him for having taken the draught meant for her son, so he uses his shape-shifting ability to flee in the shape of a hare. Ceridwen pursues him in the form of a greyhound bitch, so he turns into a fish. She transforms into an otter bitch. He becomes a bird; she a hawk. He becomes a grain of wheat and hides on a threshing floor, but Ceridwen becomes a black hen and swallows him.

'The Hostile Confederacy', a poem from the Book of Taliesin, refers to this part of the tale as follows:

"A hen received me,
With ruddy claws, [and] parting comb.
I rested nine nights
In her womb a child,
I have been matured,
I have been an offering before the Protector,
I have been dead, I have been alive.....
Again advised me the cherisher
With ruddy claws; of what she gave me
Scarcely can be recounted;
Greatly will it be praised."

After nine months, Gwion is reborn from the womb of Ceridwen, who cannot bear to kill him "by reason of his great beauty", so she ties him in a leather bag and throws him into the sea on the eve of May Eve. On May Day morning, the bag is pulled from a weir and opened. The first person to look upon the beautiful baby in the bag says, "Behold, a radiant brow!" And so the child takes the name Taliesin, which, in Welsh, means 'Radiant Brow'. Taliesin, although a baby, is immediately able to compose perfect impromptu verse by virtue of the Awen received from Ceridwen's cauldron. He goes on to achieve fame as Primary Chief Bard of Britain.


Perhaps the Fool is the Innocent Child about to begin a Divine adventure - the Fool's Journey, so to speak? He needs to be the 'empty vessel' in order to be able to receive.... just a thought...:)
 

Fallen Angel

Yeah, I thought it looked like mistletoe too. But I instantly thought the same as sapienza. His expression is so blank like he really doesnt care about his journey. Or maybe he is too busy thinking of other things, my romantic side would like to believe he is in love...arhhhh, I mean we kiss under mistletoe at christmas, does it have some kind of romantic link?

I see the greyhound maybe as a warning, alerting him to mind his step as he is nearing the end of the cliff.

So im now thinking Im the same as you sapienza, not real risk-taker, I feel like the dog, barking at him to stop and see sense..you fool, watch where you are going !! But also I feel a kind of jealousy towards him, he isnt troubled by the the future. Living for the moment...I wish I could be more like that.

What else....well I can see the path he has come on in the background, looks a little rocky..not straight, but looks clear enough..but his path ahead is non existant. He knows where he has come from, and how he got there, but the rest is unknown.
The sun is in the distance, to me Im thininking its rising from behind, again suggesting he is heading into the unknown darkness. He maybe needs to plan a little better for his future...haha, maybe take a torch !! But who knows whats in his bag, maybe Im misjudging him completely and he is well prepared for his journey. We perceive him as the fool, but maybe he is fooling us?? He knows what he wants and he just has the balls to go do it....

Well, I think more than anything this card just makes me realise that I need to take on a bit more of his character. Its the glass 1/2 empty syndrome...I instantly saw him as being an idiot, because thats how MY mind works.
 

Hemera

This DruidCraft Fool is definitely not the Trickster & Jester from many of the other decks. I think he seems to almost lack the numinous (-half a devil, half a god) power of this Archetype. (which is why I did not like this Fool at first)

This fool is a daydreamer. I don´t think s/he is very creative or has a sparking intellect either. This Fool could even be a bit retarded, like the court Jesters often were in olden times? His gaze is a bit vacant..

The colours in this card are muted, unlike in many other Fool cards, where the clothes are often an almost carnevalistic mixture of colors. The feathers in his hat and the green colour of his clothes remind me of Papageno in Mozart´s Magic Flute. Someone very earthy and comfort loving, a down-to-earth kind of character. (I started to like this card when I saw him as Papageno.)

What I like in this card is the mixed gender of this Fool. It could equally well be a he or a she. In many decks the Fool is a male, although a Fool should really be someone genderless/of mixed gender (IMO).

This card also reminds me of the DC Hermit. Both cards have the precipice, the canine animal, green & brown clothes, the long stick. Maybe the Fool becomes the wise Hermit in the end when he gets older? Or maybe they are related?
Or maybe this person is a Fool by Day (at the office, in the everyday world) and becomes the Wise Hermit by Night (in his private rituals, with his Tarots..)
 

LixiPixi

This Fool card is actually my ideal Fool in visual terms. He's that real looking person (not the clownish/jester type like some), that young teenager that just doesn't get along with his parents anymore, the one that's bound and determine to go run away and make it in the world all by himself. He's packed his suitcase and off he goes into the free world to do what he wants, when he wants, where he wants. This is his dog from childhood, they've grown up together, and they're best buddies. This dog can sense the Fools carefree spirit and to me, the dog looks like he's running and jumping around the Fool trying to get him to run and/or play with him. "Let's go run and roll in the field...pant, pant. Let's go play ball or something....come on, let's go, let's go, hurry up!"

Little does this Fool know that he's going to have a rude awaking as the days, months, years pass by through all the others he's about to meet on his newfound "adventure."

LP~
 

Hemera

I really like what you wrote of this card this card, LixiPixi ! It gives a whole new dimension to how I see this card. I like teenagers for their honesty, sincerity and excess energy.
I wrote in my mail that this Fool has a bit retarded and vacant look in his eyes. Well, having 3 teenagers in the house at the moment (and all their friends coming and going),I know that excess testosterone/estrogen does have that effect,too. :D :D :D
 

sapienza

It's great to read peoples thoughts on this card.


Fallen Angel said:
So im now thinking Im the same as you sapienza, not real risk-taker, I feel like the dog, barking at him to stop and see sense..you fool, watch where you are going !! But also I feel a kind of jealousy towards him, he isnt troubled by the the future. Living for the moment...I wish I could be more like that.

Exactly. It's a bit of a wake-up call isn't it?

hemera said:
What I like in this card is the mixed gender of this Fool. It could equally well be a he or a she. In many decks the Fool is a male, although a Fool should really be someone genderless/of mixed gender (IMO).

I totally agree. And when I looked at the card again I realised it could just as easily be a female. Thanks for pointing that out - it's amazing what we miss just because we already have a fixed idea in our mind.
 

Bat Chicken

I guess I did not express much of an opinion on what I think that Fool is doing. Or a least not in a way anybody was going to bother reading....!:laugh: So let me try again....I'll use the female gender for the Fool just because I am! :)

This Fool looks to me like she has just set out on a journey. Her community has seen her off - giving her the mistletoe to protect her from harm and as medicine if she needs it on her journey. She has a romantic and grand dream of what adventures lie before her. She sees her self as the Hero in her own story. She is so wrapped up in her thoughts, she is not in the present moment - and the real adventure is about to begin. It isn't anything like the romantic picture she was dreaming of. The Gods certainly have something in mind for the Fool and the first lesson is to pay attention! The greyhound appears to be the companion of the Fool. I realized, the book does mention the goddess Ceridwen takes the form of the greyhound in the story of Taliesin. I think the connection to the Fool is very clear. The Fool is the Innocent child on a Divine mission. The child Gwion unconsciously licks his finger and his journey chased by the Goddess begins.

This Fool is unconsciously starting an adventure in which awakening and wisdom shall result, but first, the Fool must wake up!
 

GoddessArtemis

This Fool is ready to go over the edge--his dog is barking at him as a warning, but he's not even looking ahead of him. He's like that young, college-aged teenager who believes himself invincible, that nothing bad can happen to him. Mortality hasn't even crossed this "Fool's" mind, it seems...even though, evidence to the contrary, he's about to go over the edge of the cliff. That'll be a rude awakening, won't it?

Whenever I get this card, I get the sense of someone who doesn't care, doesn't give much thought to anything, flies by the seat of his/her pants (no shoes?), believes that something/someone/somewhere will take care of him (mistletoe, superstition/luck), and this Fool takes things as they come--with no insight or foresight involved. I imagine if someone were to ask this Fool, "Where are you going?" His response would be that annoying, catch-all reply, "I dunno". Grrrrr.

When this comes up in relationship readings about the other person, it really irks me to no end. I'm no Fool myself, so to read that the other person takes serious things so lightly feels ridiculous and foolhardy (pun intended), which makes me want to slap them upside the head, and say, "Wake up and smell reality!"

But that's me. :)

GA
 

sapienza

Bat Chicken said:
I guess I did not express much of an opinion on what I think that Fool is doing. Or a least not in a way anybody was going to bother reading....!:laugh:
I liked what you said in your first post, it's good to get that background. Sorry, I should have made comment on that in my last post as I did read it and find it helpful.

I like the idea of her being so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she isn't in the present moment. Interesting as sometimes we can be going through life thinking and daydreaming and as a consequence totally missing the moment we are in. This is quite a different way of looking at the card and makes me realise how much is in every image.