The Fool

thinbuddha

The Fool is a card that rerely satisfies me in any deck. There is something that bothers me about the fool in many decks, but the Thoth Fool practically kills me. To me, this is one of the cards that is so bad that it drives me to try to find another deck to read with (I haven't been able to yet, but I do keep looking).

I love this deck- there are only a few cards that I would like to change, but the Fool is almost offensively bad to my eye. It's odd to me that a card that Crowley attached so much importance to (it gets far more pages written about it in the BoT than any other card) should be so wrong to my eye.

The face is the part that really doesn't work for me. it looks as if the Fool already drank all the Jonestown Kool Aid and is asking for another batch- in other words, the face seems to accentuate the negative meanings for the Fool, and ignore the positive meanings. This looks like a character whose grasp on reality is gone, and who believes he/she already has all the answers (instead of being something of a blank slate).

Can someone help me appreciate this card- Please? 'Cause right now, I'd trade this card for the Fool from almost any deck.

-tb
 

Abrac

Hi thinbuddha

It took me quite a while to get my head 'round Crowley's Fool. Personally, I think Crowley went way overboard in his analysis of it in the BoT (only adds to the confusion), but what do I know.

I get sort of a negative vibe from The Fool, especially this one. To me it looks as if he is on a bad acid trip, which he well may be. He represent chaos, while The Magus represents the organizing principle. This is basically how The Fool is portrayed in most tarots. He is a simpleton without a plan wandering aimlessly through life. He has potential, but has not yet figured how to take advantage of it or make use of it. I think a lot of people tend to view chaos negatively. It makes us uncomfortable. We usually spend most of our waking hours trying to avoid it. I don't think it is necessarily negative unless we view it as such. It is simply another aspect of our reality on this planet.

One thing I love about Crowley's deck is its rich symbolism. It does have artistic beauty, but there are some cards which I simply don't care for from an artistic standpoint. Crowley's main intention, I believe, was to convey ideas through a symbolic medium which, imo, he and Frieda Harris succeeded in masterfully.

Abrac
 

SerpentaAzothi

Hi, to me the fool is keeping a secret through negative means to make you not see the truth of the true divine if its there, its like a mask and a layer within layer to seek the truth. To me he is the godhead card the progenitor of all the universe, earth itself. He is on a journey to another land, a new land, with vast creative forces, that to the laymen is mere chaos, but to him this formlessness is actually going to be created. Maybe its there maybe not, thats the nature in my opinion of the fool. Hope that makes sense.

Serpenta
 

Zephyros

I have never given it much thought, since the Fool is a card I don't really like in any deck, but I suppose that you are right, that the Thoth Fool does bring out the negative aspects of the card. Well, why not? If Strength was changed into Lust, then why can't the Fool be a negative card? Personally I think he looks very chaotic, the embodiment of disorder, the instant before creation.

A very Devilish Fool indeed:)
 

ravenest

I like him. Because? Perhaps I am a bit of a fool myself!

When I am crossing the river and slip and fall forward and just happen to put my foot on each stone and 'fall' to the otherside. I know he is with me.

When I am sword fighting and I slip and the point of my sword happens to end up touching my oponents throat and he he is stuck frozen, staring (of course I dont admit to fluke, but feighn expertise) ... I know he is with me ('cause I won but also no one got hurt).

The close call, the blind luck, when I am told :"That was absolute arse!" ... I know he is with me.

Sort of like a clumsey, lucky Guardian angel.
 

thinbuddha

Oh- I can appreciate the meaning behind the fool- it's just this illustration that Harris did for this deck seems to convey an aspect of the card that I'm not confortable with. I find the illustration creepy, and it doesn't look to me like the type who has happy accidents so much as someone who belongs to a bizarre cult that he wants to tell you all about over a cup of pee.

(nothing against you pee drinkers in the crowd)
 

Sulis

thinbuddha said:
Oh- I can appreciate the meaning behind the fool- it's just this illustration that Harris did for this deck seems to convey an aspect of the card that I'm not confortable with. I find the illustration creepy, and it doesn't look to me like the type who has happy accidents so much as someone who belongs to a bizarre cult that he wants to tell you all about over a cup of pee.

(nothing against you pee drinkers in the crowd)

I know what you mean Thinbuddha, I really don't like the Thoth Fool either... I think it's that piggy snout he's got - not nice.
 

Edge

Personally, I kinda dig the Thoth Fool card and I do feel this card is very significant to any deck. The Thoth fool is absolutely loaded with esoteric meaning the study of which is very beneficial to the Great Work. Compared to other decks interpretation of the fool card the Thoth fool is freaking nuts! And that's one of the things I like most about it.
 

silverstep

Im a beginner at tarot and The fool in this deck is hard to interpret without looking at a book at first. I dont know anything about astrology or numerology except my sign. I was kinda scared to try to interpret the image myself but only because there is so many symbols in it, so many unfamiliar looking objects. It seemed overwhelming. I like it now and have respect for it.
 

ravenest

Yeah, he does have a piggy snout. But the eyes are pretty tripped out ... I like that. I like the way he stands on the crocodile, its like, as Harpocrates, it is his sacred animal, on the other hand it's like he ran over the stepping stones to cross the river and one of them happened to be a crocidile, but fat and lazy from eating too much. The color sceme is ok, yeah? Surely he is better than a lot of the other prancy Fools? or do you like the prancy look?

How do I get hold of that bag of money he is holding?