The Happy Squirrel card

This is the way I would have written this scene:

Woman: I've been waiting for you, Bart.
Bart: How did you know my name?
Woman: Your nametag. ["Hi, I'm Lord Bart"] Would you like to know your future?
Bart: Heh, sorry, I don't believe in fortune telling. I should go.
Woman: What's your hurry? Lisa and Maggie and Marge are at the joust, and Homer is heckling the puppet show.
Bart: Wow, you can see into the...present.
Woman: Now we'll see what the future holds. [turns over a card from what looks like a Tarot deck]
Bart: The "Death" card?
Woman: No, that's good: it means transition, change.
Bart: [relieved] Oh. [the woman turns over another card]
Bart: Oh, that's kinda cute.
Woman: [gasps] "The Happy Squirrel"!
Bart: That's bad?
Woman: Possibly. You’d better hide your nuts.

Kat Black refers to this card as the HS card on her Touchstone site. To me, HS is an abbreviation for Higher Self. Maybe in a reading the card could mean "What would your Higher Self do?" or "Take the high road."

I came across the Happy Squirrel in a reading this weekend (International Icon Tarot) and have been pondering the meaning ever since.

In my day job, I work with a lot of databases. There is a special characteristic in most databases called NULL. It means the absence of information, or something unknown. NULLs can be problematic when doing comparisons, as they have a literal meaning of nothing -- not zero, not spaces, but no-thing. They are never equal to anything, not even other NULLs.

The HS card has no number. It is not associated with any suit. It is symbolic, in a way, of that which cannot be symbolized. I would offer that the HS card is ineffable, or beyond language. It reminds me very much of NULL.

Perhaps the HS, being happy, indicates simple happiness? Not happiness due to anything in particular, but a kind of happy tranquility that radiates from squirrels when they are lost in their happy squirrel-ness?

My HS card in the reading happened to be reversed. I'd offer this may be the unhappy squirrel. Perhaps it is equivalent to the human condition, or inexplicable existential despair?

I'm keeping the card in the deck, as it seems appropriate for the somewhat PoMo feel of the International Icon.

Thanks for that, I think the card can mean whatever you want it to mean but given its history I think the most obvious message is not to take something too seriously.

Raindance said:

Woman: I've been waiting for you, Bart.
Bart: How did you know my name?
Woman: Your nametag. ["Hi, I'm Lord Bart"] Would you like to know your future?
Bart: Heh, sorry, I don't believe in fortune telling. I should go.
Woman: What's your hurry? Lisa and Maggie and Marge are at the joust, and Homer is heckling the puppet show.
Bart: Wow, you can see into the...present.
Woman: Now we'll see what the future holds. [turns over a card from what looks like a Tarot deck]
Bart: The "Death" card?
Woman: No, that's good: it means transition, change.
Bart: [relieved] Oh. [the woman turns over another card]
Bart: Oh, that's kinda cute.
Woman: [gasps] "The Happy Squirrel"!
Bart: That's bad?
Woman: Possibly. You’d better hide your nuts.

Click to expand...

I didn't say it before but I will now that the thread has been reanimated: I think this is gold. Send it to their production team and angle for a job as a scriptwriter. I particularly liked the last one-liner.

Edited for stupidity.

Update

The correct script, and thus the correct referece for The Happy Squirrel
(for informational purposes only)



Woman: I've been waiting for you, Lisa.
Lisa: [gasps] How did you know my name?
Woman: Your nametag. ["Hi, I'm Lady Lisa"] Would you like to know your future?
Lisa: Heh, sorry, I don't believe in fortune telling. I should go.
Woman: What's your hurry? Bart and Maggie and Marge are at the joust, and Homer is heckling the puppet show.
Lisa: [gasps] Wow, you can see into the...present.
Woman: Now we'll see what the future holds. [turns over a card from what looks like a Tarot deck]
Lisa: [gulps] The "Death" card?
Woman: No, that's good: it means transition, change.
Lisa: [relieved] Oh.
[the woman turns over another card]
Lisa: Oh, that's cute.
Woman: [gasps] "The Happy Squirrel"!
Lisa: [timid] That's bad?
Woman: Possibly. The cards are vague and mysterious.

Yeah, I remember. I just really enjoyed the Bart version. Perhaps the woman could have done back-to-back readings for the whole family? That would have been fun.

blog post about squirrels showing up in old romance comic books more often than you might think: http://sequentialcrush.blogspot.com/2011/03/celebrate-spring-with-2nd-annual.html

Coincidence? Obscure fertility symbol? Or just a convenient prop?
Hmmm....

It is! The squirrels just seem random until you see how often it happens.