Post by stepnwolf on Apr 23, 2013 16:43:02 GMT 9.5
In another matter I had occasion to lay out the majors and my attention was attracted to this card, the Fool. Kinder commentators have called him the Wayfarer, and a teacher once spoke of him as a “regular Li'l Abner type.” Forumites born after 1977 may want to check Wikipedia for a description: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li%27l_Abner.
The Hero appears to be stepping off the precipice and into the abyss, except that his little dog, representing his baser self, is nipping at his feet, drawing him back from the edge. The rose in one hand seems to indicate that with all his apparent failings, the Fool is sensitive to beauty. The purse he is carrying attached to his staff contains the baggage, the prejudices and attachments of this earthly life.
All these minutiae lead one to believe that The Fool, or Wayfarer, may represent the Candidate in the 1°. Wherever I look I see the candidate. He might as well be in a state of darkness for he sees nothing.
The step into a chasm has a frightening aspect as does stepping into a lodge sightless. While in the key the movement is downward, with the candidate he is urged to move inward. The white rose demonstrates a condition rarely mentioned in reviewing candidates. As the expression goes, “the Craft makes good men better,” the operative word being “good.” My grandmother would have said, “you can't get blood from a turnip.” Not everyone will respond to the magic, may I say, to the institution of Freemasonry. The rose represents the sensitivity one brings with him upon entering the lodge for the first time.
Also coming in with the Candidate is that bundle carried on his staff. We enter the lodge for the first time with all our prejudices, passions and shortcomings. In most versions of the Fool, the container hangs loosely and can be discarded.
There are so many other symbols here that point to the Candidate. In a way the study of a Tarot card is like a yoga that draws ideas out from inside, that integrates them and makes them conscious.
I think I remember reading that in Cabala The Fool represents the Hebrew letter Sin and its right place is between Resh (judgement) and Shin (the world). is also designated as Zero ... which indicates it can travel in any direction.
Sin came into this world ?
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting…trailing clouds of glory do we come from God, who is our home -Wordsworth
Note he has a white garment beneath the tattered one.
And is that a pomegranate pictured upon the garment?
I never noticed the white undergarment: good catch. My attention was always drawn to the red lining of his garment, the passions covered over by an appearance of culture and civilization.
In painting the card at home the instructions are to draw these characters on the collar. Pomegranates figure in another key, but not this one, as far as I know. Actually they are circles divided into 12 segments, the 12 houses of the astrological charts and the Zodiac.
I think I remember reading that in Cabala The Fool represents the Hebrew letter Sin and its right place is between Resh (judgement) and Shin (the world). is also designated as Zero ... which indicates it can travel in any direction.
Sin came into this world ?
In the system I learned Alef () is assigned to the fool. As the first letter of the alphabet it can be assigned to the first key of the Major Arcanum.
Regarding Sin, you made a good guess, but no prize! Sin is a variant pronunciation of Shin (), assigned to key 20 called Judgement. It's original meaning is "tooth" (you see the 3 teeth?)
Aleph is assigned to the Magician by some - I don't know enough about it to make a choice. Sin = s and Shin = Sh. Did you know that if you add a Shin to the middle of the Tetragrammaton you turn Jehovah/Yahweh into Jeheshua/Jesus? No - I don't see three teeth, I see a paw
Fool-ing around with you on this topic is fun stepnwolf - must see what I can discover about this young man and get back to you. My gut feeling is that he represents the reincarnating soul, about to descend into the valleys on another voyage of discovery, a sojourner.
Talking about his white garment and his topcoat of many colours ... Is our physical being merely spirit manifesting through a prism? Noah's rainbow of the covenant ...
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting…trailing clouds of glory do we come from God, who is our home -Wordsworth
The fool also appears in Wagner's Parsifal (pure fool). Wagner considered the more usual Perceval (pierce the veil) but chose the pure fool.
Paul has added another thread to the tapestry of The Fool tarot card. Almost the last words in Act I of Parsifal is: Durch Mitleid wissend, der reine Tor! = “Knowing through compassion, the pure fool.” In the Tarot card the Fool carries a rose, which can symbolize compassion.
In the second act, Parsifal meets the temptress Kundry in a flower garden and is surrounded by flower-maidens. In this case, at least, a flower is not just a flower. It seems to me that Wagner intuitively detected another mode of knowing (wissend) independent of our intellectual efforts.
Sounds a bit like the Tree of Life. If so it appears in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Wagner in the Prize Song. When Walther sang the Prize Song and got to the part about a "tree richly hung with healing fruit" - the first time I heard that all my major and minor chakras lit up as if saying - hey we can do that!.
I found it very important to listen to Wagner while having both the German and English libretto open. This is because the intent of the music is quite complex and if I did not understand that intent in detail the music would tend to wash over me without engaging my energy structure properly.
The German libretto is necessary to synchronise the English libretto with the music and secondly because the German has multiple levels that do not translate easily.
In the case of the Prize Song the initiate is taken through a stage of initiation in each of the 3 verses and it is as well to understand the libretto so that the listener may cooperate.
Sounds a bit like the Tree of Life. If so it appears in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Wagner in the Prize Song. When Walther sang the Prize Song and got to the part about a "tree richly hung with healing fruit" - the first time I heard that all my major and minor chakras lit up as if saying - hey we can do that!.
I found it very important to listen to Wagner while having both the German and English libretto open. This is because the intent of the music is quite complex and if I did not understand that intent in detail the music would tend to wash over me without engaging my energy structure properly.
The German libretto is necessary to synchronise the English libretto with the music and secondly because the German has multiple levels that do not translate easily.
In the case of the Prize Song the initiate is taken through a stage of initiation in each of the 3 verses and it is as well to understand the libretto so that the listener may cooperate.
Paul you might recall that we have previously discussed this songs effects on me.
This time around it went straight to my neck, quite a powerful force resonating instantly. It is rising up my neck to my lower head (1.45 ish). At 2.15 it is refinning. At 2.50 as it reaches nose level my chest is relaxing nicely - calmness. 3.28 the sword appears though this is much less of a shock this time around obviously. 4.20 new sensations above neck. By 5.00 at my eyes. By 5.30 I think I have knowingly reconnected again with dragon energy. And that was that. That song continues to have profound effects on me. Much more refined this time around compared with last.
Last Edit: Apr 29, 2013 5:30:37 GMT 9.5 by stewartedwards
A Simple Man, who tried and failed to reilluminate this planet.
Slogging Scotsman Ma’at Ankh Re
Who am I trying to kid for I can’t even resolve family darkness. Whoever is next to step up, please do.
The journey begins with the Fool, the zero card of the Tarot deck, representing innocence and inexperience. It is the inexperienced child, fearless, filled with curiosity, and ready for most anything. It is also Forest Gump, as depicted in the movie of the same name starring Tom Hanks. The Fool is seemingly oblivious to much of life, is often naive, invariably wide eyed and innocent at much of life’s travails, and is someone clearly in dire need of divine protection. And in this respect, the Fool receives it... on a continual basis!