December 31, 2013 - January 2, 2014: 0. The Fool
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THE FOOL
(Air)“Thou art the breath, caressing my cheek, in thine incessant going;
yet Thou art with me always.”**MEDITATION COLOR: **Yellow (infused with white.)
HEBREW LETTER: Aleph, bull or ox; also, “to learn.” The vital motive power in an agricultural community, that which makes the crops grow. a is the sound of free breath, silent, unstructured, unconditioned.
CARD NAME: Latin follies, “a bag or sack, a large inflated ball (balloon), a pair of bellows.” Users of the word in Late Latin saw a resemblance between a bellows or inflated ball and a person who was what we would call a “windbag” or “airhead.” Fool is first recorded in English in a work written around the beginning of the 13th Century with the sense “a foolish, stupid, or ignorant person.” (This was near the origin date of Tarot.) From the Indo-European root bhel-, “to blow, swell”; with derivatives referring to various round objects and to the notion of tumescent masculinity (bowl, bull, ball, phallus, full; cf. Aleph = Ox). Contrast this name to “wisdom” (= Chokmah).
ESOTERIC MEANING: The Scintillating (or Fiery) Consciousness. It is the essence of the veil that is placed before the ordered arrangement of the Powers. Who walks this way acquires a special dignity: he can stand face to face before the Cause of Causes.
TREE of LIFE: Chokmah to Kether. (Links ‘Wisdom’ and ‘the Crown’; or Infinite Will with Unconditional Being, Chiah with Yechidah; or ‘the Father’ with ‘the Ancient of Days.’ Wisdom (which is Folly) stepping off into Nothing.)
ESOTERIC TITLE: The Spirit of Æther
TANTRIC & ALCHEMICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Alchemical Mercury (Sattva). Kundalini, Life Force.
DIVINATION: In spiritual matters, The Fool means idea, thought, spirituality, that which endeavors to transcend Earth, originality, audacity. In material matters, it means (if badly dignified) folly, stupidity, inconsideration, eccentricity, or even mania.
http://thetarotroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Fool-Crowley-Thoth-Tarot.jpg
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Notes from Day 1:
Life force, essence, kundalini, 3 1/2 turns, aimless, bull's-eye, the sun shining on and empowering all life, "Aum! Let it fill me" That which expands to fill the void.
A warm pasture, the sun is shining. A golden pull stamps and impregnates the warm earth. A tramp walks jauntily down a dirt road, feeling the sun on his skin. He is drifting like a leaf on the breeze, aimless, head upturned, singing, "the world owes me a living."
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I recorded my voice and got a lot of information, I am going to try and steer clear of anything which you can read in a text book, forgive me if I fail in this endeavor.
Day One and Day Two
-Yellow Background reminds me of the sun, which brings to the surface thoughts of fun and joy.
-Unhindered energy of a sexual nature- connections to Pan (horns) , Bacchus (grapes) , Cerrunos (stag antlers) and the suit appears to be made out of vines which reminds me of the pagan 'Green man', the sun reminds me of Hadit as the antlers remind me of the winged disk (the sun also being a symbol of unhindered energy). Pan and Hadit are present within all creation, just s the fool is.
-Baphomet is also implied.
Sexual, kundalini energy concealed by the sun, Hadit. "Arouse the coiled splendour within you".
-The Crocodile to me references Hoor-Paar-Kraat which made me think of the fool as emerging out of the womb of Nuit. The crocodile appears to want him to break out of this state of union, yet the tiger wants to keep him where he is.
-The symbols flowing out of the cup of Binah I put down to union between adept and angel within th supernal triad i.e. Binah is Married to Chokmah and both attain unity in Kether (the same works with tiphareth and Malkuth- the embracing infants also symbolise this unity factor. However that was only a passing final thought, not fully developed.
The total Potentiality of all of existence- Nuit and Hadit combined.
Day Three
-"Light in Extension"
-The white speckles are the diamonds of kether which the fool uses to create his world.
-His face shouts concealed wisdom amidst chaos and folly.
-He is ever connected via the heart to this spiritual experience; it is his lifeline for his journey back home. -
The Fool is a personification of the radiant energy of the Sun.
We humans are all literally personifications of the radiant energy of the Sun.
Actually further back - the Big Bang, but the Sun's a more concretely present image of the same energy.A feeling of happy expectation. A memory of expecting Christmas morning as a child. A memory of getting ready to go to Astroworld as a child (theme park). The Divine on a journey to experience itself – its own inherent possibilities. “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories from childhood.
The White Rose – purity of desire
The pack – memories collected along the way
The garment suggests the stars and matter of Space.Which mountain next? Which experience next?
“I am that Life, now and forever.”
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Notes from all three days (as taken, in succession day by day):
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Sol – Phallus – Potence; Star – Hadit
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his animals are babies!
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tremendous Power, destructive as much as creative (I feel it focused in my chest-area)
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three aspects of flowering = Gunes
his face like a mask, looking at it I’m in rapture
his animals dance; I’m filled with humongous energy, and the feeling of vastness;
words of the fr-Pi’s poem “Thou art the breath….” initiate intense Bhakti.
- the unpredictable; growth, development – a being is defined by this, its motion
- warmth, love – this Card is full of it!
- sexual charge
- pure creativity, Free and forceful (=can not be hampered)
- abundance, fullness, the essence of every wealth
yellow infuses me; intensity of sexual energy – fullness – potence
- “His is the Spiral Force…” – Pan
- the dove is where all the spiral paths cross each other, and just beneath the Cup, glowing
- the butterfly and Caduceus are progressive phases of a motion, but the Fire-bird (?) and Dove are not?
dove – fire-bird – butterfly; dove: not in sequence with the others; it is the Seeding, the very moment of splashing the seed; it’s Hriliu... (Bhakti)
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Notes from Days 1-3:
Aleph - Ox - intense masculinity and male sexual energy, virility
Golden Background with White Air Hexgrams: Sunlight containing life, Life containing Sunlight
Rainbow: The full-spectrum of power
Diamond: made from the application of extreme pressure & heat, hardest substance on Earth - Strength.
Fire: passion, aspiration, force, masculinity
Chalice: Utter receptivity, giver of form
Horns: sexuality, masculinity directed upward and outward
Peacock: mating, being different, standing out, "peacocking"
Dove: spiritual peace, purity
Butterfly: transformation, metamorphosis
Caduceus: the word from the heart, speaking from the heart, authenticity and nakedness
Muscular Green Man: potent masculine energy, strong force
Sun: radiance, life giver, providence
Tiger: agita, nagging, inevitable dangers on the path
Crocodile: animal nature, reptilian nature, unrefined aspects of the psyche tripping us up
Twins: the fool now and the future fool existing simultaneously and staring at each other
Moon: instinctual nature
Edit:
3 upright triangles: fire increasing in intensity and expansion, spiritual fire that is at the source of the heat giving rise to all of the activity in the card
The fool is the beginning and ending of the journey, containing everything in between. It signifies unbridled orgiastic enthusiasm, venturing out into the unknown, fascination, fixation, with the willingness to be devoured, to fail, to falter, to live to be alive.
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I'm intrigued that the attention is so much on the details in the card and their individual symbolism.
This isn't in any sense a criticism - you get what you get, and the gettin' has been good
. I just find it interesting, probably because my own routine is so much different: I nearly always go for the essence of the card in a deck-independent way (using a particular deck, e.g., Thoth deck, to trigger the lines of thought etc.), to develop a sense of the Path/Letter in and of itself.As I said... interesting.
On this particular round, some of the physical details have been catching my attention, though - particularly the background. I always start "upstage" in a card and move forward (downstage). That's been holding my attention this time: The bright yellow of Alef, appearing solar and in full-blown solar intensity, yet with the white bursts. Historically, these have usually struck me as semen (the solar-phallic idea inherent in the word Alef). This round, they have been speaking as individual units of consciousness (individual Hadit-locations) emergent everywhere (He is everywhere present - each individual nondimensional point in infinite space), a veritable swarm of emergent life (ok, semen after all
) marking the first step from Kether into the rapid stream that is Ḥakh'mah.Probably this line is related to the most persistent thought I've had about the 11th Path this year in other work I've been doing (I think I mentioned this in Pearls
That first thought, first movement of the mind (like a first step away from the North Pole) that sets in motion the whole stream of ideas that distinguish a particular point of view emerging from uncharacterized stillness. (And yes, that First Movement is spiral until we select rectilinear coordinates in which to anchor the point of view.)Just some thoughts... meanderings... foolishness. Anywhere the wind blows...
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@Avshalom Binyamin said
"A warm pasture, the sun is shining. A golden pull stamps and impregnates the warm earth. A tramp walks jauntily down a dirt road, feeling the sun on his skin. He is drifting like a leaf on the breeze, aimless, head upturned, singing, "the world owes me a living.""
Beautiful imagery, Av! This is my first time participating in this sort of meditation (I've meditated on the Trumps before, but never in a systematic fashion as we are doing here.) The Fool is one of my favorite cards, not only because I was for a time "the Wandering Fool," hitchiking North America without a care in the world, despite many dangers (so in a sense I fulfilled the Fool archetype,) but also because my Mercury/Sol in Gemini manifests itself in flippancy and foolishness much of the time; 'tis an innocent flippancy for the most part. So I devoted some meditation to the Air aspect of the card, and the operations of Air so as to plumb the depths of that part of my nature.
My notes, in full:
Day 1, Tarot Meditation 1.1.14 [I'm a day behind]
5:32-5:47 P.M. Chardonnay and Cannabis Sativa invoked before meditation.
O. The Fool
Aleph represents aspiration, [Air symbol written here], and [also] aspiration in another sense--and this other sense reveals an aspect of the dual nature of Things. Every breath is an aspiration to the Highest,--and so we aspire to achieve union with the Divine Light, which the Fool manifests to man.
This Fool appears oft in history as the Bard, disguised as a Troubadour, and also often as a Hermit or Beggar. The Bard wanders the Earth, like Homer and Bacchus of old, igniting the minds of men with the flames of the eternal. The Troubadour enters the court of the King, and woos his Daughter: for Fools often woo by music; all heavenly powers are made to manifest in harmony. The Hermit, the Madman [Le Mat in certain old Italian packs], is perceived as such because the Divine or "Pure Fool" is unbound by the restraints of mundane law. The Wisdom of Kether is transmuted by the Pure Fool--the mad genius--and becomes the Logos, the Word.
Thus the fool fulfills the Will of Heaven.
The Beggar steals into the house of the King, and by jest and revelry takes the King's Daughter for His own, slays the old God, and sets Himself upon the throne as Lord of Air.
The invisible influence of the wind: acorns fall.
--J.F.
[Here I append a quote of Jim's from the prior "Fool" thread:]
"The Aleph only forms words when restriction is applied to it."
Day 2, Liber Theta Meditation: 1.2.14
8:22-8:38 A.M.
[Ingestion of one cup of coffee before meditation.]
[Notes during meditation]
--Halo of light around the dove: influence of the Holy Spirit [the breath of Kether.]
--Peacock or Vulture? Vulture=Le Mat (Madman), corresponds to Maat--cycle of Aeons represented by the Fool?
--Air: element of Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
--Divine twins embracing: issue of spring.[Notes after meditation]
Very fluid activity of the Triple Veils, they coalesce at the Fool's heart; the Dove represents the Divine Influence of the Holy Ghost (the Aether manifest) by impregnating the Androgynous Fool. Yellow w/flecked white: growth: the glint of dew on the wheat at the first Rising of the Sun at the Spring Equinox.
Sensation of purity-in-emptiness and the comprehension of the void quality of air--the vacuum--this is the Supernal basis for manifestation; Light is able to travel through Air and is not impeded by it.
Good meditation: clear focus; spent too much intellectual force on the study of the symbols at first, but after minute 5 or 6 I allowed the card to sink in as a whole.
[End notes for first two days.]
All in all, excellent "results" (insofar as I seek to understand the Tarot more deeply, I seek "results")--the contemplation of the card for 15 minutes (sometimes I go a few minutes over) seems to permeate the rest of my day when done in the morning. For instance: I went went to make breakfast just now and I realized that the three egg-yolks in the pan represented the Solar principle of Nascent growth; also Harpocrates, another form of the Fool (and the basis of the Crocodile or Dragon upon which he treads)--Harpocrates is considered the "Babe in the Egg." So even breakfast has been permeated by the energy of the meditation.
I was reading the old thread on the Fool, and someone brought up some interesting questions about the symbolism of the Dragon as it is described in the appendix to Liber Theta (traditional signs of the Tarot). I went a little further into the symbolism of the Dragon/Crocodile and Tiger/Lion and found that they represent definite alchemical influences. I won't post quotes from outside sources or divert needless attention to the issue, but the article I found on alchemical animal symbolism did much to elucidate my understanding of the card. The article can be found here if you would like to read it. www.levity.com/alchemy/animal.html
At any rate, I have another meditation to do today but first I'd like some feedback to see if I'm doing this correctly/posting correctly.
Edit: Well, here's my notes from the third meditation.
Liber Theta 1.2.14 10:05-10:25 A.M.
Air Hexagram/Chalice/Fire/Clusters of Grapes--four elements as pertaining to Air/other elements?
Astrological symbols from Zodiac Veil: [Here I list them.]
Zodiac in background.
Androgynous: Pan: both all-begetter/all-devourer. Self-moving, self-generated.
After meditation: the Fool bursts forth in wild-eyed wonder at the advent of Spring. His stance is that of an individual open to every impulse/experience. Unlike the Magus, whose operations are based in Knowledge/Form/etc., the Fool is full of the teeming, wild influx of the coming of Spring.
His eyes bespeak the innocence, wonder, and the energy of the Child--hence the Purity of the Fool. Good and Evil are not yet manifest, as no Dualities have been established. "O" cannot be used in reference to any other number--the point has not yet been formulated--and so the Fool represents the unmanifested Source from which all Light and Love spring forth.
Very rewarding meditation.
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And so the story starts....
This would be the unnumbered blank page, between the cover and the title page. Our cover is the beautiful rose cross, upon a checker board like background displaying the suits.
That blank page is very important, opening up a book you never can be sure of what's really inside, and some say you can't judge a book by it's cover.
This card is very much that blank page. Like the silence befor the storm. These cards tell a story and each page adds it's own part as the story unfolds. Here we have the unlimited potential offered by this Fool, one bright point in a sea of bright points. As if unfolding a cloak filled with any and all delights, once he catches wind of your fancy he will ignight your spirit and follow you on your hearts desire. Who knows where this story can go, but if you keep at it you will find yourself right where you need to be.
This is a page of spirit. Books have the wonderful gift of transforming the reader. This book is not a fairy tale for the weakhearted. To continue on the path you must have a strong heart, training and pereserence. Stay true to what enflames you.
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On the first day of meditation, my mind followed the spiraling path that wraps the Fool. It is a curved, unformed path and with it comes transformation (butterfly) and healing (caduceus). I also saw the coins with astrological symbols as Norse runes, but not manifest though there, as if held in a bag. The card - and my meditation - brimmed with vitality and it was difficult to remain seated.. and then I realized the card seemed to be about creative frustration, but not of a bad kind, but the kind that fills you. All dressed up and nowhere to go, but full of energy!
On the second day I saw the runes as the astrological symbols and the parallel between the two kept occurring to me. I soon felt full of the same creative frustration and I realized it felt much like an erection and physical arousal! There was a great enthusiasm about everything. The Fool seems oblivious to dangers and threats.
The third day's meditation's quality was less aroused and bursting with energy and more post-coital. I noticed the fruit, with the connotation on seed. The Fool is like a boy who had just discovered the function of his penis to his amazement. There is no shame for the Fool! I felt bewildered by all the imagery, just like the Fool before me. In his right hand was a crystal, reflecting all light like a prism and that was displaying all these images before me. All seems illusion.
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Day 2 Notes: Embracing all without distinction. Bacchus drunk with ecstasy. Painless--because pain requires judgement, which the fool lacks. The crest of karma, the product and cause of evolution. Zoe.
I close my eyes and approach a door with an Aleph, a circle, and the symbol for Air. Noises disturb my concentration, and I realize that Aleph is the silent breath. Silent, because he is alone; alone because he is as one with all.
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This is my first post on this forum. So be gentle with me. I am a virgin. I've been doing these meditations, and they are interesting. This one is the Fool, but I am working on The Magus now. The Fool is more descriptive than I like, not as much emotional. (Yetzirah vrs. Briah)? New ones will be different. But you have to start somewhere, and the Fool is the way to go.
...............................................................................................................................................................................Day 1
Flying creatures spin loops around The Fool. Three times plus. They form an egg shape or a zero, that encases him, except for his hands and feet. His feet are not on the ground. A Hadit-likecreature leads the charge around him. It is about to circle his heart, followed by a butterfly, and a radiant dove. They pass a peacock along the way.
His left hand holds fire, his right holds a tetrahedron, Earth.
He wears green with a Solar Disk, where the crocs roam. He'll be ready to create, whenever he gets his feet on the ground. Beneath the Disk between his legs, are 3 flowers. One upright toward his crotch, bloomed. 2 pointing down, one bloomed and one not. Beneath this, on the lining of the egg are are two naked people, embraced. A crocodile is lurking beneath him. Money fills his egg, as does grapes, which I guess is to be made into wine. A big party.
He's all green inside his inner egg. Feet yellow, without. He is working some kind of magick, with Fire and Earth outside. He's in the Air. I guess he's above the Water, where the crocodile roams. So he's enveloping the elements. It feels like he's doing something creative, that's about to start up. Like Spring- the bloom between his legs about to open, and his greeness. -
Day 2
(I had to do this individually, because I kept getting timed out. Wouldn't post).
Yellow inside egg shaped spirals, seem to have been permeated with sperm. A controlled chaos. Maybe. The Solar Disk at his groin is creative, like an egg yolk.
The Air swirlings seem to be led by Hadit, with a cadeusus about to circle his heart. He initiates the Air between Fire and Earth. The Air swirls seem to begin out of the Earth tetrahedron. He is a creative guy. Obliviously happy. His feet are still above the Water.
............................................................................................................................................................................Day 3
The Fool has a look of surprise, or bewilderment. Red Lion doesn't seem to be eating him, just trying to get his feet back on the ground. Keeps him on the path. Maybe one of the three buds between his legs have been spent on the twins created below. I think he is as yet unaware of his earthly nature, as indicated by his horns and green outfit. -
I'm starting Theta over again, as I got caught up in doing the Holy Days meditations. It was too much doing both. But after that, I feel better about this. Especially since RHK day is the first day. April 10, 11,and 13.
Day 1
Meditated on white infused yellow egg. Opened my eyes and was drawn into the background right away. The word "opened" struck me as I opened my eyes. Looking it up in the dictionary, "to move (as a door), from a closed position.To make available for entry. Removing (as a cover). To expose to view". This seems revealing. (I wonder about the opening of a door as to daleth?)
The swirlings are an opening. The 0/Nothing spiraling. The first manifestations of nothing. Active nothing. But the seeds are in the Air within the background of his non existence. The seed/sun at his crotch, exposed within his egg.
His green suit is like an armor. He is protected. Nothing can harm Nothing, not even the lion on his leg, or the crocodile below. He is the possibility of all around him. The elements get touched by his swirlings. His eyes in amazement, begin to see the possibilities of creation.Day 2
He approaches Wisdom in wonder. Once he gets there, he's going to have to get to work, but his smile says he's ready. The 3 flowers between his legs are Kether and Chokmah, Binah yet to be formulated, not yet blumed. He has no earth/place, on which to walk yet. The lion warns him, when his feet land in Chokmah, some changes will have to be made.Day 3
I am drawn to his face tonight. The card is full of action. A lot going on. Swirlings,wildlife, elements reacting,.. but where to go? But his face is stationary. His eyes stare right at me. His "Scintillating Consciosness, that can stand before the Cause of Causes, is staring dead on to the viewer. He matter of factly looks, and draws you in. You become the Cause of Causes. And he smiles, because he knows you are with him. -
93 Everyone
OKAY - Better late than never! I finally started my Liber Theta 3 days ago, so here we go.
THE FOOL
Babes on the bottom, below the flowers – a symbol of new life and further to me they symbolically communicate that Fool embodies the two polarities that are still intertwined - before they split into dualistic separation. One way of looking at it - intuition and intellect have not yet split into distinct separate qualities, but are acting as one and as such are closer to God principle. Descending dove also points out that the Fool embodies this element of the Divine.
Fool is carrying a bag containing planetary and zodiacal symbols – to me alludes to the sephiroth Chokmah as Mazzaloth - the sphere of the Zodiac; also ties into the fact that the path of Aleph connects Chokmah to Kether on the Tree of Life.
I perceive an invisible vertical line that divides card into 2 polarities:
- on bottom water and fire (crocodile and leo)
- line splitting two babes into their own individual polarities (intellect and intuition aspects)
- in Fool's hands diamond on one side (spiritual realm/spiritual power) and wheat on the other (physical/material
realm/matter) - on the right - bag full of planetary symbols which resemble coins, also grapes and vine leaf – again material
realm, things of earth, and on the left side – descending white dove – divine symbol, also blue bird - ? (perhaps
symbolizing freedom, in this case spiritual freedom), also butterfly alluding to transformation – hence left
might indicate spiritual realm, and the right material realm – the Fool is in the midst of the two, bridging both
as a material/embodied entity with divine qualities
Butterfly – creature of Air; pointing out a specific quality of Fool by symbolizing a brand new life, innocence in a sense of being yet unspoiled/uncorrupted – the virtue of youth, childlike quality, naivette. Also butterfly comes out of cocoon in Spring – the season representing the beginning/youth of the year.
Horns on Fool also seem small and not fully developed and therefore to me confirm his youth aspectFool’s suit – armor-like – in Serbian we have a saying “God takes care of the fools”, here to me indicates that in spite of his foolishness he is protected and safe from harm that might otherwise come from his folly
Right arm – looks like he's holding a diamond. In Tibetan tradition diamond = vajra – a symbol of wisdom and spiritual power. (The pointy thing on his head also resembles a shape of a diamond)
Crocodile – first association I got was Sobek - Egyptian God of fertility
Fool's facial expression – immersion into his experience, absorbed by the moment, sense of presence, "perplexed Zen" moment
Mercurial, childlike Trickster nature – putting together child quality and Trickster quality seems to correspond to “Trickster cycle” in Jungian terms, though this cycle expresses only his immature/child-like side (see Man and his Symbols, Part 2, Heros and Hero Makers).
Light behind his head – might be a sort of an aureole with colors ranging from dark to light, from gross to subtle? Perhaps indicating the koshas - I do seem to count 5 colors which might correspond to 5 koshas
I see indication of three Mother Letters in this card through their corresponding symbols - ALEPH (indicated by Fool/Air), MEM (Crocodile/Water), SHIN (Lion/Fire)
93 93/93
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Oh, thou Fool.
Pure of Heart
And unafraid to die.93,
Old man,
93 -
The Fool is the heart of the Tree of Life. Tiphareth; Tav, Peh, ALEPH, Resh, Tav.