Mystique, could you explain the correspondances you posted?
the fool is, according to BoT, associated with many things, parsifal, greenman, wanderer, etc. other symbols you see in the card, like crocodile also have their own story.
just recently we had a discussion about this card in #tarot on irc, why the hebrew letter aleph is associated with this card.
Quote:
Wander alone and sing! In the King's palace his daughter awaits thee (Aleister Crowley)
|
what's behind this?
if you go back in history to the time when succession was not through the first born son of the king, but through his daughter, the new king was always a stranger, a foreigner the foundation of the legend of the wandering prince, always being `the fool' of the family.
so, this fool is a wanderer.
in the book of changes, hexagram 56 is called the wanderer, here you find a similar story about a wanderer.
the wanderer in this story does not become king by marrying the kings daughter, but he does get a high position in government. the 5th line in the hexagram talks about the wanderer shooting a pheasant, shooting it down with the first arrow he shoots, which will bring him in the end praise and office.
this is a parallel to the story of parsifal. parsifal, according to BoT, can be considered a western form of the fool tradition, being the pure fool. his first act was shooting the sacred swan. also, parsifal acquires the sacred spear and the wanderer acquires an ax.
in line 6 of the hexagram the nest of the bird burns, making the wanderer laugh at first, later he needs to lament and weep. he looses his ox (cow) through carelessness, bringing him misfortune.
the hebrew letter aleph means ox, so here you find a reason to associate aleph with the fool i am sure there are many more reasons........
by loosing his ox, the fool/wanderer looses what the ox symbolises: modesty, adaptability, also docility, the ox being a castrated bull in order to make him gentle enough to work the fields.
so loosing his ox traits, letting himself go, forgetting he is a wanderer needing other peoples kindness, will cause him finding not so friendly receptions by other people, but maybe things like contempt and being insulted (line 1 in hexagram).
crowley said that the key to understand his tarot is in the relation between the fool and adjustment. associated with adjustment is the hebrew letter lamed, meaning ox-goad, a tool for controlling the behaviour of the ox, and adjustment is about law and just enforcement of it, controlling human and society.
kaz