Fool card in Golden Dawn Tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 02 Nov 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Lethe	02 Nov 2003
The shopping links here are very good, like everything else about this site, I will get the fey deck but after that I will stick with what I have for a while so I can concentrate on learning. One thing that strikes me though is the imagery on my Golden Dawn seems different for certain cards than the rw, especially the fool. I am familiar with the dog yapping at the heels and the fool about to walk over the cliff, but in my deck he is a child holding the leash of a wolf. I am finding it difficult to relate to this card!

Majecot	02 Nov 2003
I can completely understand your feelings for that card. I do not have Golden Dawn, but I do have a deck where the Fool is not traditional, and is sad and meloncholy. I cannot relate to him as the Fool at all! For me the cards do need to have some basic traditional symbolizim in them. It helps me to relate. I too am going to cry off shopping Tarot for a while (well I am going to try anyway) so that I can become better aquainted with my new cards. I thought I saw a Study Group for your deck, try there for some help with that card. And Hey... if there isn't one, don't be shy just start one :P

Macavity	02 Nov 2003
I'm not sure one can ALWAYS come up with ideas spontaneously? Failing that, I'm sure there are lots of Fool-related threads. But (With no authority) I'd see THIS Wolf as representing wildness constrained. An interesting variant (or even reversal) of some traditional ideas? I suspect that the GD see this card as somehow "initiate" related? A child is also depicted historically as being the ONLY one capable of leading powerful animals etc. etc. I believe this pattern of thinking can be also learned by analogy? I have generic ideas associated with Fools and build on those with deck specifics and/or from the context. I look for contrast within (or, as here, BETWEEN different takes on) a single card. I find some background in symbolism helps. I imagine the medieval mind had a good idea (or was taught!) e.g. what "Wolves mean"? If WE no longer think like that (as was MY case), it may not be too taboo to simply check what others think/thought - And especially when NO inspiration is forthcoming? Things do improve, I maintain (hope?) :D Macavity

Rusty Neon	02 Nov 2003
I don't have Wang's or Cicero's GD deck but I'm curious about this card now that you've mentioned it. :) In the Regardie black Golden Dawn book (pp. 588-593), there's an unofficial Side Lecture or Flying Roll entitled _The Tarot Trumps_ by OGD member, G. H Soror. Here's what's written about the OGD Fool card: "The card as usually presented shows a man in motley striding along, heedless of the dog which tears his garments and threatens to attack him. In this is seen only the lower aspect of the card, giving no hint to the Divine Folly of which St. Paul speaks. "But in the Order pack, an effort is made to reveal the deeper meaning. A naked child stands beneath a rose-tree bearing yellow roses -- the golden Rose of Joy as well as the Rose of Silence. When reaching up to the Roses, he yet holds in leash a grey wolf, worldly wisdom held in check by perfect innocence. The colours are pale yellow, pale blue, greenish yellow -- suggestive of the early dawn of a spring day."

Lethe	02 Nov 2003
This has been a great help, I managed to associate the idea of youth having the same innocence that the traditional fool has, but some of the other symbology appeared confusing at first.

The Fool card in Golden Dawn Tarot thread was originally posted on 02 Nov 2003 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.