THE FOOL (O)
TODAY'S CARD IS The Fool (O). This version is from The Minotarot, Artist: Eric Provoost, published 1982 Fontenay-sous-Bois France; the link is to The Mystic Eye where you can see more of the cards in this deck. (The little bits of colors other than brown, white or black in this image were introduced by the scanning process.)*
For comparison, here’s The Fool in the Rider/Waite/Smith deck:
THE FOOL (O): I wanted to use a card from the Minotarot as it’s another deck that challenges my tastes and preferences in Tarot (see mini-review below), and I also wanted a chance to use the below Rumi quote that is perfect for The Fool.
DIFFERENT OR LESS COMMON, EVEN QUIRKY MEANINGS FOR THE FOOL (O) (i.e. the below is not intended to be an exhaustive exploration of this card; a quick google will produce a wider variety of takes should you not be familiar with this card):
A tendency to gullibility.
Are you buying into what others project about themselves?
Are you trying to live out what others project on to you?
Impulsive risk, as opposed to a well considered risk as in The Justice card.
The risk you want to take is probably OK. Just be sure to listen to your intuition as you go along.
Don’t let anyone else’s negativity dampen your enthusiasm.
We never really know what our next step will bring, where it will take us. We are always, to a certain degree, about to step off into the unknown, guided by and trusting in our connection to Spirit.
*MINI-REVIEW ALERT: I particularly value my Minotarot deck because it was given to me by a dear friend years ago. I can also appreciate, to a degree, it’s spare designs and coloration. That said, it’s not a deck I’ve ever read with and doubt I ever will, though I’m happy to have this signed deck, #1103 in a limited edition of 2,000, in my collection (:-D). However, it is one of those decks which attempts to correspond a different system to the Tarot’s without full explanation in accompanying literature. This is the second deck I have tried to work with recently that has not adequately explained its correspondence of The Tarot with another system. (The other is the Afro-Brazilian Tarot, which I will review at length here in the future.) To reiterate, if there is a deeper correspondence between Tarot and the Minotaur myth it needs to be made clear. Otherwise a reader – at least this reader – is left feeling frustrated on both fronts. It can neither be enjoyed as a doorway onto a new system, nor can it be fully appreciated as a Tarot since the minors and Court cards are rather divergent from basic Tarot images/meanings.
Resource: The Discworld Tarot, based on the fantasy (and so much more ) book series by my favorite author in the world, Terry Pratchett.
Please see the top of the sidebar for my background with the Tarot and a recommendation to beginners.
‘til next time, keep trusting in Spirit and enjoying The Tarot,
Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for some articles about Tarot.****
For comparison, here’s The Fool in the Rider/Waite/Smith deck:
THE FOOL (O): I wanted to use a card from the Minotarot as it’s another deck that challenges my tastes and preferences in Tarot (see mini-review below), and I also wanted a chance to use the below Rumi quote that is perfect for The Fool.
DIFFERENT OR LESS COMMON, EVEN QUIRKY MEANINGS FOR THE FOOL (O) (i.e. the below is not intended to be an exhaustive exploration of this card; a quick google will produce a wider variety of takes should you not be familiar with this card):
A tendency to gullibility.
Are you buying into what others project about themselves?
Are you trying to live out what others project on to you?
Impulsive risk, as opposed to a well considered risk as in The Justice card.
The risk you want to take is probably OK. Just be sure to listen to your intuition as you go along.
Don’t let anyone else’s negativity dampen your enthusiasm.
We never really know what our next step will bring, where it will take us. We are always, to a certain degree, about to step off into the unknown, guided by and trusting in our connection to Spirit.
QUOTE FROM RUMI:
Since intelligence only incites you to pride and vanity
Become a fool, so your heart stays pure.
Not a fool who wastes his life in playing the idiot
But a fool who is lost and astounded in [God/dess].
Since intelligence only incites you to pride and vanity
Become a fool, so your heart stays pure.
Not a fool who wastes his life in playing the idiot
But a fool who is lost and astounded in [God/dess].
*MINI-REVIEW ALERT: I particularly value my Minotarot deck because it was given to me by a dear friend years ago. I can also appreciate, to a degree, it’s spare designs and coloration. That said, it’s not a deck I’ve ever read with and doubt I ever will, though I’m happy to have this signed deck, #1103 in a limited edition of 2,000, in my collection (:-D). However, it is one of those decks which attempts to correspond a different system to the Tarot’s without full explanation in accompanying literature. This is the second deck I have tried to work with recently that has not adequately explained its correspondence of The Tarot with another system. (The other is the Afro-Brazilian Tarot, which I will review at length here in the future.) To reiterate, if there is a deeper correspondence between Tarot and the Minotaur myth it needs to be made clear. Otherwise a reader – at least this reader – is left feeling frustrated on both fronts. It can neither be enjoyed as a doorway onto a new system, nor can it be fully appreciated as a Tarot since the minors and Court cards are rather divergent from basic Tarot images/meanings.
* * * *
Resource: The Discworld Tarot, based on the fantasy (and so much more ) book series by my favorite author in the world, Terry Pratchett.
Please see the top of the sidebar for my background with the Tarot and a recommendation to beginners.
‘til next time, keep trusting in Spirit and enjoying The Tarot,
Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)**** SEE ALSO: Roswila’s Dream & Poetry Realm for some articles about Tarot.****
Labels: The Fool
posted by Roswila at 8:44 AM
2 Comments:
Until about a week or so ago I had no idea that there were so many divergent visions and interpretations of the Tarot - not interpretations in terms of meaning, but of the images themselves.
The original Tarot seems to have been all but lost.
Hi Steve,
I just now left another post to your blog. :-)
As to the "original Tarot [being] all but lost..." I might agree with you except how does one determine what the "original Tarot" is? And we do still have many centuries old designs to return to and appreciate.
I've always said to study Tarot images is to study the evolution of art, in a way. Have you seen Stuart Kaplan's Tarot Encyclopedias (there are four volumes)? They provide a trip through an evolutionary process, in all it's side trips, mistakes, biases, joys, and surprises.
I personally like a deck that hews (at least for the most part) to what I consider "traditional." LOL! Even if I have to stretch my imagination to get the connections. In fact, it's that stretching of the imagination that I find valuable in the wild diversity of Tarot deck images available today. It's that stretching that provides me with further insights into the cards.
It's only when there's a resetting of the "traditional" Tarot images within a mythos or belief system that is non-Tarot, without any clear or explained logic for that different mythos being set within Tarot images, that I have trouble with a new deck. The Minotarot I speak to in this post is a good example of this trouble for me. But there are many who would disagree with me on this point in general and with this deck specifically. Kaplan, in one of his encyclopedias, devoted two full pages to the deck!
Thanks for visiting. I look forward to reading more of your posts on The Tarot.
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