The Dog in the Fool

Topsy-Turvy

prudence said:

the fool being driven away from civilization by the people, children and lastly by the dog(s) of a town/village.

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Good reading. Thanks Prudence! And yes, back in the middle ages, anyone who was mentally/physically odd (autistic, intellectually disabled, suffering from a psychological disorder, or disabled in a way that made them seem "slow" or different) could be mocked as the village idiot. They would likely take to the road to escape the village and/or get tossed out. Which would then lead them to being treated badly by other villages they might pass through—pelted with rocks, attacked by dogs, etc.

Those who created the original Fool in these cards were clearly familiar with such outcasts, and likely they didn't have much sympathy for them. To the deck creators such "fools" with pants falling down and such, were entertainment. Which, certainly doesn't sound right to us in the here and now, but, hey, we're talking about a time when hangings, burnings and torture were viewed as entertainment, too.

There is, however, another side to such Fools: no one expected them to act like sane or normal people. So they could say or do almost any thing—even insult the king (court fools or jesters), and get away with it. Nothing they said or did was considered meaningful or serious—just entertaining. My point being, the Fool card is the original "joker" card. Like the blank cards that some decks have, this is the "wild card" that gets a pass. From that perspective, the dog (or animal) attacking the Fool is simply a way of saying "This is the joke card." As in the old Festival of Fools, where servants put on their master's clothes for a day and aped them, things are topsy-turvy.

In an orderly world, dogs obey man. In this "joke" world, the man obeys the dog. Thus, thanks to the dog, we know that this is a card about Foolishness: jokes, chaos, surprises. Anything could happen.

I think that "civet" is simply a cat....

Regarding the creature in older cards attacking the Fool's, um, exposed areas. Are we sure it's a civet? Civets, from what I'm reading, are native to Africa and Asia and while I'm sure they were imported to old Europe for their musk, it's kinda odd to have such a rare, exotic and expensive creature attacking the Fool—who is so lowly and common. I suspect the animal is supposed to be a normal cat. Its size is odd simply because the art is odd—things aren't to scale. See here: http://www.tarot-history.com/Jean-Noblet/images/Noblet-original/00-le-fou.jpg

Looks like a cat to me. If it is a cat, then, like the dog in other Fool images, it's there as a visual joke. I'm pretty sure the cat is mistaking the Fool's exposed bits for a mouse. So we get, on the one hand, the same message as with the dog. A man is not a mouse and should be able to scare a cat—but the cat is attacking the man as if he was a mouse. And given what the cat is attacking, it's going to have that man at its mercy

We also get the idea that anyone who is a fool, or does something foolish, makes himself vulnerable. He exposes himself to all kinds of things, including ridicule, which might be as painful as what that cat's about to inflict on the Fool. That cats were considered wild creatures also lets us know, yet again, that this is a card of chaos. Of topsy-turvy-ism, of anything goes. The Fool is missing his pants (uncivilized) and is being attacked by a cat (emblem of the violent, unpredictable and dangerous natural world). Man should be a high-minded, civilized being. Yet here he is, half-naked and prey to nature. But in a ridiculous way. It's a joke, laughable, but also getting the point across very well I think. One foolish move, and we're back to being naked prey.

The fool card is unfulfilled potential and the crux of fulfilment lies in the master/servant relationship illustrated hence the 'dog' is serving a person and the person is serving 'God' and if we look at the words they mirror each other, ultimately we are both master and servant and how we use or abuse our position dictates our future incarnations.

Mittkait said:

I take into account the personality of dogs in general.

They are loyal, enthusiastic and always up for fun or mischief. I look at the Fool's dog as being excited to be on an adventure. He is encouraging the fool, even trying to make him go faster.

It would be quite a different card if the companion animal was a cat.

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Very good point.

Lidian said:

How do you interpret the dog (or animal companion, depending on the artwork of the deck) in the Fool's card?

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It really depends on the reading, the mood-of-the-moment, and the spread, but here are a few words to think on:-

Companion. Love/devotion. Follower. Warning. Nature. Savagery. Brute. Predator. Guide. Responsibility. Violence.

A personal view of mine is that the dog and the bundle on the stick counterbalance each other. Both of them represent soul-tasks that the human figure has to deal with, but one of those tasks is hidden and unknowable, and can only be dealt with subconsciously ("in silence and darkness"), while the other one yaps at your heels right through life and can be a right pain.