Thoth - The Fool

Re: Fool's Eyes

Hmmm...have we hit upon the esoteric Fool/David Bowie connection here (previously available only to Ninth Degree Adepts of the O.T.O.?)

I dont understand about the your post,Richard. Anyway i guess The Fool is looking at the dog?? And yet he didnt bother about it and look at "you".

Enh, it was a joke, and a lame one at that...
The Fool's looking at the dog? What dog?
Personally, I think he's just meant to be looking "past" the viewer, although I think it's interesting that, unlike, say, the Waite-Smith deck, very few of the figures in the Thoth deck face the viewer...most of them are turned away, or have their faces otherwise obscured. I wonder what it means that the Fool is looking at you, and yet NOT looking at you...
And it's been a few weeks...are we going to get to the Lovers?

I was just making a guess in my previous post. Dont bother about it.
I guess Moonlight is busy. Lets wait for her, be patience ^_^ In the meanwhile, lets continue to study so we cant contribute more when she return.

Richard said:

One of the things I find so interesting about this card is that it's impossible to look him in eye...he always seems to be looking past you (although I agree that it makes him look rather crazed).

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When I look at the Fool's gaze, I'm reminded of eagerness and innocence. Almost like that wide-eyed gaze that your kids give you when they're still young enough to believe everything you say. Sometimes I feel that when I'm looking at the card, I'm looking into a mirror, looking at myself and not seeing what everyone else sees, but all the possibilities that I have for myself in the future, all my plans, dreams and aspirations.

I had to look really closely at the deck to actually see the human figures entwined....couldn't quite make that out. There are some symbols still that I can't quite make out or understand what they are. And now as I'm thinking about it, with all the symbols and the cord being attached to the Fool, maybe the cord is like a road, a journey that will transform him, and yet, lead him back to the self he was all along? These are just thoughts off the top of my head.

In the Thoth deck his image is that of Greek God Dionysus.

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I was really stretching to see that one, it doesn't seem like an image that I would attribute to Dionysus, He's always seemed much more...worldly, lustful, male, than the Fool.

I am beginning to think of the Fool as the quintessential "Outsider". By this I mean that archetypal character who is very different from everyone else. These people have both an attitude and an intellectual predisposition which tends to alienate them from whatever society they live in.

They are often original thinkers, and major catalysts for change. The character in the Thoth image looks very much like this to me. I don't know when this deck was designed but the Fool in this image looks like the proverbial time traveller. The green suit could be a licra suit and everything else is modern too

The hoops that bind this Fool look like some cosmic springboard which propels him through time and through Tarot. The Fool makes metaphoric quantum leaps. No wonder his eyes are glazed - the things he must have seen!

I think he is the Tarot's "outsider" but the RWS depiction is a little inane and insipid. The Thoth and Sehiroth Fools are much stronger characters. People argue about twhere Fool belongs - at the beginning or the end? They argue about whether it is the Fool's journey or the Bateleur's journey. They attribute all sorts of vaccilation, clownery and, yes, frivolity to the RWS Fool, and in so doing undermine the strength of the archetype for us.

Thoth's Fool is not uncertain but bright, focused and aware.

They attribute all sorts of vaccilation, clownery and, yes, frivolity to the RWS Fool, and in so doing undermine the strength of the archetype for us.

Thoth's Foll is not uncertain but bright, focused and aware.

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I totally agree with you. as much as I like and started with the RWS Fool, I do see him as a little souless in comparison to this one. I really do like this one. I also see someone that is making a step but is aware of why he is doing it.

I apologise if I take a bit of a back seat with this study group. I know little to nothing about the Thoth deck and after reading some of these threads, feel like I have been moved up to the Top Set in Maths Class and am not bright enough to be here LOL. This seems to be a very in depth deck; I might have to go and do my hoework.

Thanks for your insights everyone (still a little bit confused)

Best wishes

Yaboot

Yaboot001 said:

I apologise if I take a bit of a back seat with this study group. I know little to nothing about the Thoth deck and after reading some of these threads, feel like I have been moved up to the Top Set in Maths Class and am not bright enough to be here LOL. This seems to be a very in depth deck; I might have to go and do my hoework.

Thanks for your insights everyone (still a little bit confused)

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Hey, Yaboot . This deck is new to me as well and several others in this group as well.

Hang in there!

Thanks Moongold. I definitely will. It is all very confusing though. I want to know more because so many people value the deck and hope it will help with my other tarot studies. I couldn't resist the Thoth's call anymore!

Yaboot

Dom't worry Yaboot, I feel the same way...as of everyone else is twenty times smarter than me. :/