Greenwood - Fool

Bat Chicken

From Chesca Potter's on-line Handbook:

Position on wheel; centre.
World; all three, lower, middle, upper


A young and beautiful figure opens their heart to the universe. Clothed in feathers and greenery, they are illuminated by the heart of the Greenwood. There is a playful and naive aspect to their character. and they hold the sun and moon in their hands like balls. Although they are suddenly inspired by insights into another world and life, and are open to exploring it, they do not have the understanding or responsibility necessary for grounding it. However, it is often The Fool that sees more of the patterns of life, however momentarily, than those whose feet are firmly on the earth. So in this card The Fool has a ‘vision’ of their future journey, a labyrinth, shimmering with stars behind them.

The Fools’ soul is re-animated, but just as a butterfly may live for only a few days, this state of divine illumination is not be maintained for long periods as it leads to ‘burn-out’. Many poets, writers, and musicians die young, unable to move from this state of being. The path forward is explained in the card. The knotted kerchief (of red and white-one’s essential energy) contains one’s previous experience. The Fool must pick that up and take it with them, rather than leaping blindly , unwilling to face responsibility for the potential re-creation of a pattern of behaviour that needs breaking. Note that the ‘Fool’ stands unaware of the precarious slant of the cliff, and is out of their tree; i.e. standing above the tree that is their grounded body. The Fool must fly off the cliff and follow the inner voice of their heart (as yet undeveloped) the small white deer, so that they can walk on the land and meet the first guide on their journey-The Ancestor.
 

Bat Chicken

This card is one I have had the most difficulty with. The crimson butterfly leaping of the white cliffs made of the same stuff that the Uffington Horse and the two other chalk giants in the deck. If she can fly, what is her risk? She is accompanied by the white deer, the guide to the Otherworld.

In reading some of the Irish Epics in relation to the Tuatha da Danaan (the divine beings representing the highly intelligent culture that preceded the Celts), I discovered a story about a woman, Etaine that was desired through many lifetimes.

Mider, her lover, is already married. His jealous wife uses a red service tree branch to 'kill' her, transforming her into a pool of water. In the pool is a crimson larvae that becomes a crimson butterfly with powers of healing. She returns to her lover. Etaine goes through a few incarnations, immortal as such, but does not remember each incarnation. This is a pure immortality of the soul. Jealous rages surround the couple through two more incarnations until Mider finally steals her away and they transform into swans.

It seems that Etaine is always at the whim of the gods and kings, like a butterfly in the wind. In light of Mi-Shell's post on peacocks, the feathers on the Fool's head further connect to this story. Adding a link to Mi-Shell's post.
 

BodhiSeed

Bat Chicken said:
This card is one I have had the most difficulty with. The crimson butterfly leaping of the white cliffs made of the same stuff that the Uffington Horse and the two other chalk giants in the deck. If she can fly, what is her risk?
First, let me preface this by saying I have neither the Greenwood book or deck, but I do have the website with the awesome scans of the cards.:)
Bat Chicken, this card gave me the same thought - what's the risk if she can fly? I had to put my on spin on this card to be okay with it. Have you ever seen the movie "City of Angels" where the angel (Nicholas Cage) decides to be human (as an angel he experiences no emotion, no pleasure or pain). He is told he must "fall" to become human (not in the sense of "sin" but of becoming earthly without the protection of spiritual form). I see this card as one who is about to "fall" into the physical world, snapping off her wings, but also bringing her the ability to physically experience life, with all its pleasures and pains, joys and sorrows.
I'm sure Chesca didn't interpret it this way, but it helps me wrap my brain around the butterfly image!:D
 

Bat Chicken

Funny you should say this... The "Fall" is the very apparent in the Blake deck and the Greenwood in reference to the Blasted Oak. It seems to be a necessary part of the 'story', I just may have not seen it as a foreshadowing in this Fool, even though the card itself in all the classic decks indeed foreshadows it. Thanks for that Bodhran! :)
 

Mi-Shell

My take on the card:
She is holding up these huge Butterfly wings.
There are handles for her hands. = She is handling the situation.
But she has put down her burden bundle, she will not take it along; because, were she to pick it up, she would either have to let go of one of the handles or she would fly quite “lopsided“, if at all she is able to soar.
What however, ifff the Butterfly dress she wears, is an expression of her alternate reality? If she is wearing the garb of her Guardian Animal Spirit, as we so often do in shamanic ritual.
She could jump after the fleeting Deer, her instinct, and stay in this realm....
Behind her however is the spiraling tunnel. Just one jump into the air will suck her inside and down the trance journey spiral into the alternate reality of the Greenwood.
It would be a blind jump into the unknown and yet unseen....
And for that she is ready....
 

Mi-Shell

I better also mention, that her bundle, although left behind, for now, is dotted red and white, the colours of the Amanita muskaria - Fly Agaric.
The dots continue to create the spiral or tunel behind her, leading into the realm of the Otherworld.
 

Bat Chicken

Yes! It is dotted! One of us needs to get an image of that Fly Agaric onto this thread.

The tunnel behind is actually another copy of the seven fold labyrinth... That journey thing again! ;)
 

BodhiSeed

Fly Agaric

From Wikipedia:
Although generally considered poisonous, deaths are extremely rare, and it has been consumed as a food in parts of Europe, Asia, and North America after parboiling in plentiful water. However, Amanita muscaria is now primarily famed for its hallucinogenic properties with its main psychoactive constituent being the compound muscimol. It was used as an intoxicant and entheogen by the peoples of Siberia and has a religious significance in these cultures. There has been much speculation on traditional use of this mushroom as an intoxicant in places other than Siberia; however, such traditions are far less well-documented. The American banker and amateur ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson proposed the fly agaric was in fact the Soma talked about in the ancient Rig Veda texts of India; since its introduction in 1968, this theory has gained both detractors and followers in the anthropological literature.
 

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BodhiSeed

You two are so observant! I didn't recognize that the spiral was actually a labyrinth. It looks like a labyrinth made of a snake I think?...
 

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flying black kat

I think the halo (for lack of a better word) that surounds her head has the eyes of peacock feathers as well as the eyes on her wings. I also think that the orbs at the end of her hands are yellow (sun) and white (moon) to help keep her balanced between day and night, right and wrong, up and down, etc. no matter what she is doing.

Peyote is considered to be a sacred by some of the desert natives.

This is a web site about it.

www.peyoteway.org

Kathy