Aquarian: the Fool

This Fool is not the Fool dancing along the edge of the cliff in the RWS deck. To me, this Fool is a man on a mission. He is going out into the world for the first time, and has no experience in worldy affairs yet. He holds a white rose, which represents purity (and silence). But like the hero in the fairytales, his innocence and purity will get him out of trouble and get him where he needs to go.

The Fool also holds a flowering Rod. Is it a weapon or a tool?

What do you think?

Foppish hat - white rose - staff.

He looks like he's dressed for winter, and for some reason, he's always given me the feeling that he's 'out of place'

I like how the curve of his collar echoes the curve of the feather in his hat, and the curve is picked up again in the flowers on the Rods in the deck. From a purely artistic standpoint, I like the design of the card; it's clean & beautiful. But it does seem pretty barren of symbolism, just the flower, feather, & staff. The zoomed-in perspective eliminated the Fool's usual accourtements: bundle on the staff, cliff, patchy clothes, companion animal either urging him on or warning him about the danger of the cliff.

The LWB places the Fool at the end of the Major Arcana, after the World. It says: Denotes the positive inner forces which influence an individual in his choices. Reverse: The choice made is likely to be foolish.

The rod on his shoulder to me symbolizes the stregnth, probably even the courage to move forward, considering his obvious youth and the fact that his style of dress makes him appear over dressed or over prepared for what's to come. I like how the delicate looking flower is held by the same hand that holds his stregnth (power, tool, weapon...). It says something about balance between two states of being.