Ludy Lescot - Fool 0

[Aerin]

Ok, so I'll go first with the Fool and then I'd suggest we just post about "the next card" when the fancy takes someone.

This card is very Pied Piper of Hamelin. Now, in that story the villagers didn't pay and so the Piper took all of their children...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin

In this Fool the Piper is him?self a child. Maybe just starting out on a career? From the Wiki entry, this

Merriam Webster definitions (metaphors):
a charismatic person who attracts followers
one that offers strong but delusive enticement
a leader who makes irresponsible promises

So a connection with a Fool, a more dangerous one than usual because he leads others as well as himself into potential danger...

It's a hen attached to him is it? If it were a cockerel then this can stand for "betrayal", don't know about a hen. Except that they are thought of as foolish?

[Elendil]

I can see this card as a reflection upon commitment to action.
IF we choose to accept the piper's offer to rid us of the rats (to make a fresh start unencumbered by the mistakes of the past) then we need to understand that it comes at a price. We DO have a choice: We can pay what is rightly due - or renege on the deal - but if we do there will likely be dire consequences (as in the story of the Pied Piper when he took the children in payment). Once we have embarked on this particular journey there is no turning back, nor getting off before the end, it is a commitment for the long run and the whole story.

We need to consider carefully whether we dance to the piper's tune or ignore it...

Perhaps the chicken represents the necessary sacrifice (?)
Perhaps the chicken calls into question our bravery (?) Will we or won't we accept the piper's offer? Perhaps the chicken is 'The Fool' (?)

ETA: There is a 'slyness' about this card in the expression of the 'child' and there is cruelty too. The chicken is unable to walk comfortably alongside the piper because the tether attaching it to his belt is too short...

[Hemera]

So here we go-revenge is the theme of this deck and it is where we start the story from.
It is about paying those who are due or else...
I also see the chicken as a necessary sacrifice but from whom and to whom is the question

The more I think about it the more this theme of Revenge fascinates me. It is linked to the great Goddesses of Justice and Maat.



The picture is from Alidastore. (It also shows the card back which is interesting. I´m not sure I like the backs, though)

[RunningWild]

I don't see the Pied Piper as the most important point of the card. It's the melody he plays to lure the rats. Not that I particulary want to associate myself or anyone else as being a rat, but the melody is what they follow. The don't know the piper from Adam. The rats are following the melody, the rhythm of their hearts. What melodies lead you down the road?

I see the chicken as a dare. It's staring at the piper. When we really want something or want to experience something, there's always that nagging voice in our heads...sometimes we listen, sometimes we strangle it to silence. But always, that voice is in the background. The chicken, perspectively, stands behind the piper.

And there's one little flower, full of color...to add a bit of fragrance to the melody? I liken it to viewing life through rose colored glasses.

[Hemera]

I just found this in Wikipedia:

"In Indonesia the chicken has great significance during the Hindu cremation ceremony. A chicken is considered a channel for evil spirits which may be present during the ceremony. A chicken is tethered by the leg and kept present at the ceremony for its duration to ensure that any evil spirits present during the ceremony go into the chicken and not the family members present. The chicken is then taken home and returns to its normal life. "

[Machelle]

I see this card as the person wanting to be a leader rather than a follower. They are wanting to take the lead in their life but their bare feet suggest that they are not well equiped for the journey. I also see the chicken as a sacrfice but since it is tied up to the child, they are unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices. The lone pink flower suggests that it will be an opportunity for growth.

[MaineGirl117]

Well that's interesting...

Two people have described seeing ONE flower.. but I see TWO!! The second would be the blue one, tucked down low to the ground on the right side below the chicken.

I'm really pulled to the lute and musical aspect of this card. Do you stop and listen for a while? Do you allow yourself to be drawn in by the ebb and flow of the musical notes played by the *mad* Fool? Where does your mind go when you listen to the music?

It may seem silly, but I see these two flowers like the two pills in the Matrix. Pick one and you can go back to sleep in la-la land, completely oblivious to your body dieing a little every day, unaware of the world around you because you are more comfortable not acknowledging that there's something else going on around you that you can neither see directly, nor articulate clearly - So, maybe it's best to just ignore it.... and thus the spirit sleeps..

BUT, what if you take the other pill? What if you make a conscious decision to 'Wake-up' your slumbering consciousnous. What if you listen to nature and the world around you? What if you choose to acknowledge that you can't explain everything, but still find a child-like wonder in the mystery of it all?? What if you risk *madness* to liberate your spirit and take yourself beyond the boundaries of dualism?

The journey begins....

[Machelle]

To me it looks more like a weed than a flower, but then my eyes aren't what they used to be. Since there is no more other foilage, your analogy could still work and I have to say that I love it!! I dont think it's silly at all. And his/her face almost looks as though he's trying to make a decision.

[Grizabella]

I love this card. I get a chuckle out of the little guy and his chicken. So like a child to adopt a chicken. Reminds me of myself. We weren't allowed pets but my step-father worked for chicken farmers and I adopted the chickens that the others picked on. It's common for chickens (probably other birds as well) to pick on one of themselves and they'll pick on it till it's dead, so I'd adopt these poor scabby-headed little things and raise them to beautiful and thriving adult chickenhood. The rats? Yuck! I hate rats! But I love the little barefoot Fool and his chicken.

The child has inordinately big hands and feet, don't you think?

[RunningWild]

I'm not convinced that he's a child at all. Compare him to the clown-suited figure in the six of cups, which reminds me of the larger figure in the rider 6/cups (the one holding the flowers).