Deck 1: Universal Waite Tarot
Card: 0: The Fool
Description:
A young, blond figure that could be a boy or girl is walking toward the edge of a cliff. The fool is facing to my left and is currently about a foot away from the edge. S/he wears a deep blue tunic with an ornate pattern of green leaves and yellow circles with a red pattern inside them (flowers or a sunburst design). The interior of the flared sleeves on the tunic is bright red. The fool is wearing a green laurel wreath and a long red feather in the hair, bare legged with short yellow moccasin boots.
In the fool's right hand, slung over the shoulder, is a long staff with a red bundle at the end. In the left, in a raised position, the fool carries a white flower. The fool's face is raised up to the sky, not paying any attention to the ground below, and the expression is calm and content.
At the fool's feet, a small white dog is up on its back legs - it is either barking to get the fool's attention or about to leap off the cliff itself.
Far beneath the cliff is an indistinct greyish-green land or sea mass with white objects extending out - mountains or icebergs? In the distance behind the cliff are blue alps topped with snow. The sky is yellow and in the upper right of the card, a bright white sun blazes - it appears to be mid-morning.
The primary colors on this card are yellow and red.
Deck 2: Osho Zen
Card: 0: The Fool
Description:
The Fool in this card is a darkhaired boy dressed in a white shirt with puffy sleeves and a bright harlequin style overtunic, green tights and red boots. On this card, he's already stepped off the cliff and appears to be launching - I get the sense that he's going to take off in flight rather than falling. He is carrying a white flower held aloft and the other arm is straight out - he looks like he's spreading his wings and his facial expression is more emotional and ecstatic than the RWS Fool. He is facing the left of the card.
The angle on this card is somewhat different from the first one - more of the ground below can be seen - a green valley with a road leading off into the distance. Snowy alps are visible in the distance. The time is either twilight or dawn - the sky on the horizon glows yellow, but higher up, it is dark and starry with a visible thin crescent moon. Far below the cliff there are wispy clouds, adding to the sense of being at a great height.
The primary colors on this card are yellow and red in the sky at the middle of the card. The rest of it is earthy browns except for the bright multicolored clothing of the fool. Most of the space on the card is occupied by the surrounding scene - the fool is more distance on this card that he was on the RWS card. There is no dog or other animal visible in this version.
Deck 3: The Mythic Tarot
Card: The Fool
Description:
This card is very earthy - a barefoot boy in animal skins and a leafy wreath around his head is on the edge of a cliff, one foot midair over the edge. In this deck, he is facing right and behind him is a cave set in the cliff face that he seems to have just emerged from. He is not looking at the ground below him and his face has a humorous, slightly mischievous expression on it. He has small horns on his head, like a faun.
Below him is a barren, brown series of hills with a deep valley cut into it - it's either a road or a brackish river, deep brown. Far in the distance, the sun is just rising - the sky is yellow near the horizon and light blue higher up. Just over the Fool's head is a branch without leaves and sitting on the branch is an eagle.. The only non-brown color on the card is the Fool's wreath.
According to the book, this fool is Dionysos, the son of Zeus and the mortal Semele, who became the god of wine.
Deck 4: Revelations Tarot
Card: 0: The Fool
Description:
In the center of this card, at the point where the upright version is separated from its reversed image, there is a pink rose with an unborn child in it, curled up in fetal position with its hand in its mouth. The fool in the upright position wears red and gold and has long, fiery golden hair. In his left hand he carries a staff with a white hankerchief bag on the end. His right hand is raised upward, just about to capture a blue and white butterfly. The sky is shades of blue and lavender and a white sun is on the far left of the card. A rocky mountain peak is behind the Fool but he appears to be mid-air, with his right leg lifted as if taking a big step - there is no land visible nearby for him to stand on. Blue chains of rectangles emanate from his leg and trailing behind and above him, suggesting movement that is both going forward and falling.
In the reversed position, the Fool wears blue and has one hand up to his mouth as if surprised to find himself falling. The sky behind him is dark and brown, with hints of fiery darkness and the trails of motion are shaped like cutout chains of paperdolls. A full moon with craters showing is to the far left above him and a tiny figure in the distance is falling head first toward the ground (shades of the falling figures on the Tower?). The Fool's staff is in front of him but he's let go of it and appears to be out of control of his descent.
Deck 4: Da Vinci Enigma
Card: 0 Fool
Description:
The card's color is grey, showing a charcoal sketch of an older man facing right with longish, wild hair, dressed in rags and leaning heavily with his right hand on a staff as if it is a crutch. His ankles are shackled together and the shackles are tied by a rope around his waist. Hanging from his waist on his rope belt is a cup. His left hand is held out slightly, as if in greeting or supplication. There is no background scenery to indicate where he is.
This drawing is titled 'A Ragged Beggar in Fetters' and it is the only one of the Fools not to be specifically drawn to symbolize the Fool. Unlike the other Fools, there is little to indicate any sense of either freedom or risky unconventional movement being taken here, nor is this fool young like the others.
I'm honestly not sure why this work would have been chosen to represent the Fool - the book does discuss the early years of Da Vinci's life, where he agreed to enter into service to his patron doing such odd jobs as putting in central heat into his patron's bathroom - that is, doing unconventional and menial tasks that most people would have advised against as a way to secure a future where he could do what he wanted to, and in that sense (service, lack of freedom, and humbling tasks) those early years might have been the start of Da Vinci's Fool's Journey and this image shows that beginning, but I get much more a sense of the Hermit from this image than the Fool. It's not one I would have selected.
Summary of descriptions:
In comparing these five fools, I see three facing left and two facing right - I'm not sure that that means anything by itself. All but the Da Vinci version depict young people - the most androgynous version being the Universal Waite Fool. The UW and Osho Zen Fools are dressed in brightly colored, almost clownish clothing, while the Mythic Tarot and Da Vinci Fools are dressed in drab, makeshift rags. The Revelations Fool is too abstract to call what he has on clothing - it seems to be an extension of his body, either red or blue according to the orientation of the card.
Times of day are all over the place, from early morning to early evening, and the Fools all seem to be at different points in their step off the cliff - the UW Fool hasn't reached the edge yet, the Mythic Tarot Fool is just about to take a step over the edge, the Osho Zen Fool has just stepped off but hasn't started falling yet, and the Revelations Tarot Fool is falling midair. Meanwhile, the Da Vinci Enigma Fool is standing there in chains. Hmm.
Only the UW and the Osho Zen Tarot show the Fool holding a white flower, but a flower (pink this time) is also shown in the Revelations Tarot holding the unborn baby. Only the UW Fool has a dog for a companion. The Mythic Tarot Fool shows an eagle (the bird sacred to his father, Zeus) and the Revelations Tarot shows a butterfly. Neither the Osho Zen or the Da Vinci Enigma cards show any animals in the picture.
Snowcapped mountains are visible in 3 of the 5 cards (UW, OZ, RT) and hills are visible on the Mythic Tarot. Both the Osho Zen and the Mythic Tarot show a path of some kind leading away to the horizon, suggesting that there is a way to get there, while the other three don't show any clue that there is an established path available to the Fool.
Now that I've got my impressions of the way these cards look written down, I'll explore further about what the Fool might mean tomorrow.
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