When I was a child, I used to watch Bugs Bunny cartoons. Who am I kidding? I still love cartoons and if they were still broadcasting the early ones on television (not the modern updated ones) I would still watch them. On one of the episodes, they would have a homeless wanderer on the show. Although in today’s language he would be called a homeless person, back then he was called a hobo. A hobo had a specific look. He looked unclean and disheveled like any typical homeless person. The difference is that he was depicted carry a stick with a bag at the end that carried most of not all of his worldly possessions. The interesting thing is that the image of the hobo is very similar to the image of the Fool in most of the standard Tarot deck. There is a reason for that which I will explain later.
The fool is the beginning of the Tarot deck. Instead of starting out with the number one, the deck starts out with the number zero. There is a deeply mystical reason for it starting with zero, but simply put, the Fool card represents unlimited potential that hasn’t manifested yet The number zero means nothing right? What if you put two zeros after 10? You get a thousand! What if you put two more? You get the idea! On the card, the background is yellow and the sun is white! Believe it or not, the coloring was deliberate. The yellow represents the unlimited potential of the universe and the color white represents purity (even the single flower in his hand represents his romanticism with life). The color red represents passion and the creative force as evidenced by the colored spokes on the wheels of his coat.
He is the jester in those king and queen movies, or the joker in the regular playing card deck. As an aside, although the character of the Joker in the Batman is taken off of the joker in the playing deck, he is not an archetype of the fool, because the character is sociopath bent on destruction who uses the joker as a means to an end, which is torture and cruel death. If you remember, the jester was always juggling, acting silly or danced around entertaining. However, he was the one who always had wise observations that the king would pay attention to but most people would ignore. The fool represents the childlike state of wonder and faith. He is ready to jump off the cliff (i.e. a leap of faith) totally trusting in the universe to carry him. The fool is also a wanderer on a quest, seeking adventure with rules that are his own. That is why the archetype of the fool was manifested in our reality as the form of the hobo.
In the real world, festivals that encourage childlike play, self-expression (as well as costuming) and wonder such as Burning Man, the Oregon County State Fair are expressions of the Fool energy.
A while ago I got into a conversation with a friend of mine about which musicians would be represented as tarot cards. I don’t remember who said it, but we both agreed that Bob Dylan would be great for the Fool card. In his own words, what attracted Dylan to folk music was “The songs were filled with….more faith in the supernatural, more triumph, much deeper feelings” which is the realm of the fool in its childlike simplicity. His biggest songs started a new direction in modern songwriting which blended stream of consciousness influences - another fool influence. Of course the obvious ‘Blowing in the Wind’ – wind representing air, the element of the fool. One musician that we didn’t think of at the time but would perfectly fit the Fool card would be Flavor Flav of Public Enemy. Throughout his music career people wondered if he was a genius or a ‘fool’! His lyricism and his penchant for crazy outfits provided a comic relief to the serious message oriented point of view that was Public Enemy.
The danger of the fool is the potential of being reckless, or diving full on into a situation without any preparation – in otherwords, being ‘foolhardy’. There is a fine line between taking leaps of faith and diving off of a cliff! If you notice, there is a subtle wind on the card that the young guy is diving into. This implies being supported by the intangible forces of life. Even though he is jumping off of the cliff he has checked in within himself and into the situation and knows that he will be supported. In my life, I have taken risks and sometimes it worked out and sometimes I have fallen on my face and learned lessons. After checking in with my body, my mind and my heart I find that taking that leap is very important. On the other hand you don’t want to test the universe!
Next Stop: the Magician
No comments:
Post a Comment