Druidcraft Tarot -The Fool

WalesWoman

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: 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!

I did read your first post, but it took this one to zap my brain into functioning and make the connections.

The Fool is 0, nothingness... so say someone is living in the future, i.e., life will be good when "x" happens, I'll be happy when... basically as you said, living in a state that focuses on the past or future, rather than the Now, is not really living and could very well be in a state of nothingingness, because everything is on hold for some conditional state to become. I had never thought of looking at the Fool in this light before.
 

Mi-Shell

For me the fool in the moment of falling over the edge is the archetype of the apprentice to the Magical / esoteric arts / wisdom ....
He / she falls of the plain of ordinary knowledge into the well of wyrd or for me personally into the trance.
= Another world, another way of "seeing", understanding. In ancient cave paintings you often see the shaman falling / floating, accompanied by his guardian- here his dog, best friend of man --- best friend and save keeper of his/ her ego ( which you can not take on a real trance journey)
After this first journey into the Otherworld one often lands on the bud!
--Ouch, what was that??? Then up comes the Magician, the one who knows - and recognizes the potential and from there on mentors the fool on the journey through all the other Mayors towards the World--- when another Magician is born....
MI-Shell
 

Mi-Shell

Oh well I am a fool!!!!
I posted this twice!! soooory!
M.
 

carol_earth

Your opinions have made very interesting reading, and I do relate to them all with the druidcraft fool. I hadn't noticed the uneven path of the past before though, very good insight there.

I only have two things to add really. Firstly, in my opinion, what this fool lacks in the traditional "joker" imagery, it makes up for in the fool's perfeclty naieve expression. Secondly, I think this is also why the fool does not appear to notice the guardian greyhound, the fool is not aware of the extent of the journey ahead, after all, if he/she was, it is unlikely that he/she would ever embark on such a risk. We must first be naieve in order to come to realisation.

Other than that, I think you have already covered it very well.
 

Arania

I usually see this Fool as female, and unlike most other fools get the impressions she knows what's down there, there is another step to jump on. It's just that she is too careless and could trip. I often don't see the fool as taking risks, but carelessness rather, and this is the main impression I get from this girl.
 

coyoteblack

Fool and a leap of faith

I am trying to study GD tree of life and I know the druidcraft spiritual movement has there commonality in golden dawn.

The fool is aleph the path going from kether to check it is the first path leaving the great spirit unformed into a the first sephiroth( sorry about my spelling ) .

It seem the fool is leaping off the spiritual plane he s in and taking a leap of faith into the rest of the supernal triangle.

He or she is happy because of the abundance of faith but also a " fool" because this is something new and has no experience.
 

coyoteblack

The Fool DruidCraft

First Impressions:
The fool knows about gravity or the stuff would not be in the bag on a stick and you can never get a dog to jump off of a cliff. I think they did this before and were placed " in god/goddess hands" or they know that they will be ok.

In Golden Dawn qabalah this is the path of Aleph " leaping" from Kether to Chockmah . Kether is the spirit unformed and Chockmah is the first Sephiroth after the godhead

I see this as a leap of faith or maybe the first step to creation. if anything it is the great leap into the major arcana and its great secrets.

Meditation on the Card:
The fool just kept smiling at me like S/he knew some thing I did not. Or when mother just smiles at her children when we ask a question we cant comprehend the answer to. they were both real happy though I would say excited. I got the impression it was like what happens when I should jumps into a baby before birth.

Putting it together:
I always took this card as the very mundane "life with out a plan " or " I smile because I have no idea whats going on" After some soul searching I think the above meanings can be correct but also this is a card of faith. Or the point right before creation. Like when we embark on a new project in some thing we have not done before complete bliss but ok with it having the faith that the higher power will be there for us. " Thy will be done" " so mote it be"


The Good the Bad and the Indifferent:

The good: Beginning of some thing new. Faith with a giddy feling to it. " leap of faith"

Bad: Life without a plan. Jumping into this head first with out an idea of what we are doing.

Indfferent: Faith Hope
 

WolfSpirit

coyoteblack said:
Putting it together:
I always took this card as the very mundane "life with out a plan " or " I smile because I have no idea whats going on" After some soul searching I think the above meanings can be correct but also this is a card of faith. Or the point right before creation. Like when we embark on a new project in some thing we have not done before complete bliss but ok with it having the faith that the higher power will be there for us. " Thy will be done" " so mote it be"

I drew this Fool as my daily card for tomorrow. As I sat thinking about it, my eyes fell on the book I had been reading in earlier:
"Jupiter's Travels - four years on one motorbike" by Ted Simon. As I have done a bit of backpacking, I really recognized the first chapter when he is trying to pack for his journey (he does not know then he is going to stay away for four years) and he realises he just cannot do it: how do you pack for a world trip, how can you be prepared for your adventures, when you don't really have a clue what your adventures are going to be ? Until he realises he just has to pack and get going, or he will never even start his trip!

I like to think of this Fool like that: he has the magic of mistletoe to protect him, he has a skirt of feathers (or at least, I like to think he means them as feathers) that will protect him when he falls, and he has a bag on the stick. It is not a big bag, but he needs to trust he has enough for his journey - or he is never going to get anywhere.

Anyway I drew this card as an advice card so I have to come up with positive meanings :D Also we always assume that it is a high cliff but we cannot really see that for sure, we just assume - maybe the risk is not as big as we think...
 

Haunted Wood

WolfSpirit said:
Also we always assume that it is a high cliff but we cannot really see that for sure, we just assume - maybe the risk is not as big as we think...
I was just thinking the same thing...I don't think it's a big cliff, I think that there's just a little dip in the land and it's not that far down. The dog doesn't look that alarmed, I think it looks pretty playful. I don't see his gaze as vacant either, it's more like he's paused at the edge of this 'cliff' and is taking in the lovely scenery and breathing in the fresh air.
 

vee

I love this Fool. I think he/she does look and seem like a teenager--reckless in his/her serene self-confidence.

I pulled out the Druid Plant Oracle by the same authors to see what they wrote on Mistletoe. A few great bits:

mistle berries symbolize the power of the moment.
Sometimes we need to learn to walk in the dark. While this can be lonely and painful, it forces us to draw on our inner qualities and instincts and in the end, this can serve our deeper purpose. In this way, lack of guidance becomes a meaningful part of our soul journey.

They also talk about how mistletoe is distributed at the Druid ceremony of Alban Arthan, after all the candles have been relit from a single flame--this symbolizes the rebirth of the sun and the divine child. I can see very well how mistletoe is the perfect plant for the Fool.

I love how in the background, the suns rays are just coming above the cloud. Just as the Fool cannot see where the path may go, we cannot see the sun, but we are as sure of its existence, hidden behind the cloud, as the Fool is of his/her destination.