From Touchstone TarotTM by Kat Black
The Fool
Meanings
Beginner's Luck. Naïve enthusiasm. A hopeful journey commences. A sudden, unexpected event may influence the matter in question. Listen to the advice of a loyal friend.
Reversed (?)
Foolhardy disregard for consequences. Inertia, pessimism. Unwillingness to accept reality.
Description
A carefree young man with a flower in his hat wanders by a cliff's edge. A dog looks up to him. In the
distance are hills and a bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds.
While this card traditionally has the young man carrying a bundle on a stick, this Fool instead carries
a flute. He stares away into the distance, as though a melody is playing in his head and he is about
to absentmindedly start playing along with the tune. He carries a basket, casually strung on his
back.
Perhaps he has been playing in a field, picking flowers, singing and dancing a jig with his canine
friend. Now he wanders close to a rocky cliff, but is oblivious to any danger.
Artwork
- Sky, mountain: WOUWERMAN, Philips, Landscape with Peasants by a Cottage, 1651-53, private collection.
- Cliff, rocks: MEMLING, Hans, Triptych of the Family Moreel, 1484, Groeninge Museum, Bruges.
- Flute, fool: BIJLERT, Jan van, Shepherd Holding a Flute, 1630-35, private collection.
- Borzoi dog: RUBENS, Pieter Pauwel, Diana Returning from Hunt, c.1615, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden.
- Basket: BEUCKELAER, Joachim, Woman Selling Vegetables, c.1560, Rockox House, Antwerp.
Members
78 Friends members who have chosen this card as their Significator...
There's some white thing (feather) at his back that's new.
In this particular rendition of the Fool, it really looks like the boy hears a tune coming from above (Heaven?) and is waiting for it to finish so he can perform the melody himself. In a nutshell, a touch of the Divine protecting the Fool.
What I noticed right away about this card was the loving way the borzoi is resting his/her head on The Fool's arm. It's so much gentler than the little white dog yapping at The Fool's heels that we usually see!
I'm not a dog person, but I love Borzois (and Italian greyhounds). They're such gentle, dignified, intelligent dogs. I wanted him to be more like a helpful companion than an 'alarm bell' - which is what the yapping RWS version always seemed to me.
The new 'thing' on his back (added in the final version) is a basket covered in a cloth. A few people commented that they missed the concept of the Fool's 'bundle' in the LE version. While the design didn't have room for the traditional bundle on a stick, I found this basket and slung it on his back. At least that's something for people who missed the symbolism of the Fool's 'taking things with him on his journey'. And it's a nice basket :)