Demiurge rev. – The Fool rev. – Hermit
Restriction – Recklessness – Compassion
Card of the day: The Fool rev.
Time: 10 PM to 12 PM
“I was not obedient, and rules made a rebel of me.”
Tali Sara
– What should you focus on today?
– Why are you doing reckless things?
The Fool card is probably one of the most interesting figures in the Tarot deck.
Most often unnumbered or noted with zero, it is a character out of line.
I wrote quite extensively in my book, Esoteric Tarot, The Fool (available exclusively on Lulu, about the history and traits of the card.
The book is divided into two parts. The first section, about 47 pages, deals with the Fool.
The second section is a daily journal constructed as a workbook for one year.
Each day has a specially selected Fool-related quote and the layout for a 3-card spread, and after each 26 days, there is a different spread, progressively larger from 4 to 21, a total of 12 spreads or exercises.
Besides the extensive exploration of the Fool, you get a journal and a workbook. Thus, it is an esoteric journey and, ultimately, the exploration of the world and yourself.
At the beginning of the book, there is an extensive and comprehensive quote regarding the Fool:
“The clown figure has had so many meanings in different times and cultures. The jolly, well-loved joker familiar to most people is actually but one aspect of this protean creature. Madmen, hunchbacks, amputees, and other abnormals were once considered natural clowns; they were elected to fulfil a comic role that could allow others to see them as ludicrous rather than as terrible reminders of the forces of disorder in the world. But sometimes, a cheerless jester was required to draw attention to this same disorder, as in the case of King Lear’s morbid and honest fool, who, of course, was eventually hanged, and so much for his clownish wisdom. Clowns have often had ambiguous and sometimes contradictory roles to play.”
Thomas Ligotti, The Last Feast Of The Harlequin.
Speaking about an esoteric journey, it is a common misconception that the Fool, being out of the sequence, incarnates in all the other twenty-one cards of the Major Arcana, performing an initiatory spiritual journey.
While that is a pretty appealing idea, practically, it makes no sense.
Like all of the Tarot cards, the Fool has an astrological attribution and function.
Depending on the system or different authors’ personal choices, the Fool’s colourful personality has been subsequently associated with the kabbalistic Fire or Air, Moon, Venus, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto, or, as it is with the UET, Mars. It makes no sense for these elements or planets to morph into the other Zodiac signs and planets represented in the deck. Mainly because the Major Arcana is not a linear progression through Zodiac signs or planets, but a combination of the two.
While the architecture and geometry of the UET are better arranged than most of the other decks, such a “heroic journey” or alchemical transmutation is still impossible. Not even allegorically.
A progression would have only made sense in the manner of Gurdjieff’s Ray of Creation, with an evolution from Moon to Absolute.
However, the Fool can embark on a journey and, on its path, encounter all the other seventy-seven cards of the deck. Each experience will change his personality and perspective, transforming him gradually.
From a psychological perspective, the Fool may embody the process of individuation. Each of these experiences is individual and explores a different aspect of life. We are the sum of our experiences and the wisdom we have gained from these experiences.
On the individual level, Jung stated that individuation results from growing up and becoming independent; therefore, maturity is gained by leaving home. Subsequently, individuation generates a conflict between the individual and society, as the individual seeks independence while society aims to keep the individual within its fold. While one struggles to be independent and original, society tends to level and equalise its members, combating individuation with uniformisation. Ironically, it is the Fool’s responsibility to choose wisely who he wants to be and to what extent he wants to become integrated into society.
On the other hand, I emphasised another aspect of the Fool in my book, the distinction between the Devil and Lucifer.
In the UET, the Devil represents Saturn and embodies the dark side of the Hierophant, the embodiment of Capricorn. On the other hand, the Fool personifies Mars as the dark side of the Emperor, the embodiment of Aries.
That is an interesting combination, especially considering that the Babylonians saw Saturn and Mars, Ninurta and Nergal, as brothers.
While the Devil is somewhat the incarnated evil, Lucifer is the Light-Bringer. He relates to the Greek Titan, Prometheus, who is a patron and protector of human beings. Thus, the Fool is the key archetype in understanding who we are, our role and purpose in this world and life, and our relationship to the universe and the divine.
Lucifer rebels against G_d, steals the light of knowledge and brings it to humanity.
The Fool is one of the most complex characters, as he borrows a bit of each archetype. Therefore, the Fool is a little bit of the child, the maiden, the hero, the protective mother, the trickster, the whore, the wise old man, the crone, the dreamer, and the philosopher. He is everybody and thus, nobody. He is so familiar and close to our hearts that he is a perfect stranger, and we do not know anything about him, but we judge and label him. Therefore, the Fool is our Shadow. He embodies everything we reject and do not accept about ourselves.
If foolishness could be graded, the reversed Fool is even more reckless than his natural self.
The question, however, remains: against what does he rebel?
What in your current life makes you reckless and rebellious?
The answer may lie within the two other cards.
On the one hand, the reversed Demiurge represents the system with all its restrictions and limitations, and on the other, the Hermit, which embodies compassion and the most genuine human empathy.
Subsequently, the cards’ combination embodies the Saturn-Neptune conjunction we cross – more on that at: https://www.patreon.com/posts/127336928
Therefore, it’s another opportunity to take a closer look at the world and decide where you fit into the new world.
We are here, where do we go from here?
These are general readings, and if you need answers in a specific situation, you should schedule a personal reading: https://tarotator.com/services/
#attilakarpathy #unifiedesoterictarot #tarot #threecardreading
