jmd
Given its numeration on this deck, it just seems appropriate to begin here.
The Fool, as all the other cards drawn by Pamela Colman-Smith, incorporates numerous subtle elements, which I personally find worthwhile comparing to depictions in earlier (and some later) decks - and hope no-one minds if I at times mention some of these.
Unlike many earlier depictions, this younster has far more of an upright and bright Perceval/Parzival like depiction than the motley and somewhat horrid-looking rendition of the woodcuts (which I, nonetheless, prefer
). Here he faces the left of the card, near a cliff, with a tunic upon which are depicted numerous wheel-like representations.
Two of these are of especial significance, and carefully maintained by Paul Foster Case in his later deck: the Flame and the Hebrew letter Shin (which also corresponds, incidently, to the element of Fire).
If one did not know that Waite, following the Golden Dawn tradition, connected this card with Alef, and hence the element of Air, correlations with Shin and Fire would probably be made to this representation.
As a beginning, I'll leave it here and eagerly a-waite other responses!
The Fool, as all the other cards drawn by Pamela Colman-Smith, incorporates numerous subtle elements, which I personally find worthwhile comparing to depictions in earlier (and some later) decks - and hope no-one minds if I at times mention some of these.
Unlike many earlier depictions, this younster has far more of an upright and bright Perceval/Parzival like depiction than the motley and somewhat horrid-looking rendition of the woodcuts (which I, nonetheless, prefer
Two of these are of especial significance, and carefully maintained by Paul Foster Case in his later deck: the Flame and the Hebrew letter Shin (which also corresponds, incidently, to the element of Fire).
If one did not know that Waite, following the Golden Dawn tradition, connected this card with Alef, and hence the element of Air, correlations with Shin and Fire would probably be made to this representation.
As a beginning, I'll leave it here and eagerly a-waite other responses!