Necronomicon Tarot - 0 Fool

cybermancer

Key 0 - Fool: Azathoth

"...that last amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the centre of all infinity - the boundless daemon sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin, monotonous whine of accursed flutes; to which detestable pounding and piping dance slowly, awkwardly, and absurdly the gigantic Ultimate gods, the blind, voiceless, tenebrous, mindless Other gods whose soul and messenger is the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep."

- H.P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

In the card art, an almost childlike monstrosity. Simple, horrible but ever creative and slowly spinning the threads of the Universe with his accursed cracked flute. There is almost a gentleness and innocence in the art.

Azathoth is referred to as the Blind Idiot God of Ultimate Chaos and Lord of All Things. In this entry from Donald Tyson's The 13 Gates of the Necronomicon, Tyson offers this observation:

"The ultimate blasphemy, which Lovecraft never dared to utter, is that Azathoth and God are one. Azathoth is God's dark mirror reflection, a role that is in part fulfilled in Christian myth by the figure of Satan. However, Azathoth is a much greater being than the fallen angel Satan. He is the chaotic shadow-twin of God, or to put it another way, God's alter ego."

Traditionally, the Fool is a card of infinite possibilities and chaos is truly infinite. So, a Blind Idiot God of Ultimate Chaos makes sense, I guess, for the Fool in the Necronomicon Tarot. We don't see the Fool going forward here as we do in other decks. We see the Fool sending his thoughts outward.
 

Sanctum_Priest

Yes, he's a slob with a little more self awareness than the traditional fool. Or maybe they both have the same level of self awareness it's just they both appear to be oblivious of their real state but that's just a game. The fool doesn't pretend he's cleverer than he is (or is it a double bluff!). Similarly with the slob.