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The Tarot Project!
We are very excited to announce that Pino and the artist, Torey (Torey is an administrator of the Magicka Forum and creator of MagickaSpace) have now begun a Tarot design project. If you would like to follow the latest developments, please join Pino Longchild's Facebook page or follow right here on MagickaSpace! You can also get news on the project as it happens via Magicka School's new Twitter page at http://twitter.com/MagickaSchool.
The first phase of the project is now underway! Pino has now completed his vision of the first card in the project, The Fool.
by Pino Longchild - September 20, 2009
“The whole picture is a glyph of the creative light” Aleister Crowley, Book of Thoth, p.69.
I have deliberately tried to keep the symbolism of The Fool uncomplicated. This is because the essence of The Fool is innocence and simplicity.
The task of representing The Fool is a bit like explaining a Zen koan…The koan is simple and perfect, with a meaning that can be understood by those who are intuitive, yet, when trying to explain it rationally, the original meaning is lost in a blizzard of words…
I have done my best to write a light snow shower…and when [Torey] depict(s) the card it might be best if [he] tries to do the same…
Perhaps the most important thing about The Fool is that the card represents zero. This is the zero from where come all things; the Kabbalistic zero above the Tree of Life.
Because it represents zero it is also in a sense the beginning and end. It is where all things start and ultimately what all things become.
As the Beginning the card should have an overwhelming sense of freshness, and yet, as it is also the End, there should be a hint of finality (this is difficult to put into words…it’s not exactly a sense of death, more an air of unknowable nothingness, beyond existence…).
The card is masculine and feminine in balance. That this must be the case is again because the card represents zero. All things, male and female, emanate from it in equal measure.
It is hard to get our heads around an absolute state of nothingness from which all derives; the nearest explanation that makes sense to the Modern Mind is the scientific explanation of the Big Bang. The Big Bang is an appropriate phrase, because The Fool bursts into existence with a powerful, urgent and boundless exuberance. The Fool represents an unstoppable event, an unstoppable impulse.
The card is attributed to Aleph.
This is one of the Three Great Mother letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Aleph represents the ploughshare or Ox. The plough furrows the Earth and is a phallic symbol.
The Fool is also attributable to Air, a masculine Element.
Although these two masculine qualities are significant, the overall design of the card must reflect both genders in equal measure.
The Fool would perhaps best be shown as a fair haired individual on the cusp of becoming a sexual being…I have in mind a 12 year old…
Some cards have The Fool as a baby, others as a child, some as a full grown adult…I think ours is best as a pre-pubescent…because it will reflect the sense of growing power, wisdom and knowledge.
The Fool will one day join with the King’s daughter…this will make sense to those who have knowledge of the Kabbalah. Within The Fool lies the creative potential of Yod, Heh, Vau, Heh….this should be in evidence on the band of The Fool’s hat…the folds almost form the letters (Hebrew, of course, reads right to left…)
Another way of depicting this might be for The Fool to hold an egg within which these letters can be seen…..
The general attitude of the figure of The Fool should be one of joy, wonderment and innocence. The Fool has a kind of holy wisdom, he/she knows all and yet knows nothing….this is a difficult paradox to reflect in the card but see how it goes…..the eyes should be of piercing green or blue.
A tear below the left eye could perhaps be used to symbolize that the Fool (now manifest) will one day die…but this should be ambiguous, it could as well be a tear of joy.
His/her pose should be in the shape of an Aleph and preferably should suggest dancing. This is a dance of joy, a dance of creation…the spiral dance of life and death, the dance of Ain, Ain Soph and Ain Soph Aur…the spiral dance of the DNA helix…
At crotch level there should be a blazing sun (perhaps with a Yin Yang symbol of gold at its centre), symbolizing potential energy and energy of an obviously sexual nature. This is sexuality in its rarefied form though; the cosmic interplay of feminine and masculine…
The headgear should be a jester’s hat (the kind with bells on the end), and horns should be suggested by it (it might be best not to overdo the horns- not like a Viking helmet)….a nod towards Aleph, the ploughshare, and the symbol of the Ox.
In the headband should be a white feather, symbol of the goddess Maut, also known as Mut, an Egyptian mother goddess. She was a primal deity, associated with water through which all things were born through parthenogenesis (ie an asexual form of reproduction found in females). Her alternative titles included World-Mother, Eye of Ra, Queen of the Goddesses, Lady of Heaven, Mother of the Gods, and She Who Gives Birth, But Was Herself Not Born of Any, the latter in particular, fitting perfectly with the concept of The Fool. The Egyptians believed that vultures were very maternal creatures all of which were females and impregnated by the wind.
Statue from the nineteenth dynasty of Egypt, created during the reign of Ramses II (1279 to 1213 BC), Museum of Luxor. Source:
: http://www.egyptarchive.co.uk/html/contact.html
The bells represent Shin, Mem and Aleph….I want to tie The Fool firmly to The Hanged Man and Judgement (I may decide on an alternative name for this card).
The figure should also be a hermaphrodite; the Fool is Everywoman and Everyman. This is important and is a feature lacking from most Tarot cards…
The Fool should be dressed in green and yellow motley…(I am keen that it doesn’t appear similar to the Waite Smith design…). Green for the freshness of life, yellow for the energy behind it…
The Fool’s shoes or boots should be golden, representing the energy, which is his/her foundation…there is a sense of “walking on sunshine”…
Traditionally The Fool has a bounding dog at his side…
I would rather this were a wolf that The Fool has on a leash and under control.
This derives from the Golden Dawn symbolism. It will give the card a more wild flavour (rather than the anodyne Waite-Smith dog) and serves to show that we must all learn to live with our bestial natures during life’s journey and use them to our advantage. The wolf has obvious links to the Moon and has an unpredictable and changeable nature.
The eyes of the wolf should be of the same colour as The Fool…
The wolf contrasts with The Fool’s nature and hints at the idea that divine innocence counters worldliness.
As well as dancing, The Fool needs to reach up as if about to pick a rose from a rose tree to the left of the card.
Again this is borrowing from The Golden Dawn’s symbolism. The rose (along with the cross) was used by the Order to represent all things. The tree has two prominent gold roses…that of Joy and Silence.
On the rose tree should be a butterfly a symbol of transformation.
The Fool is standing on a plateau, which is surrounded by snow covered mountain peaks. There is a sense that he/she hasn’t yet come down fully to Earth. The mountains symbolize the spiritual realms from which The Fool has come…
The light, although clear, should suggest twilight…and one should not be able to tell if it is early morning or evening -again to reflect the duality of Beginning and End- no sun should be visible…
The sky is cloudless. In the backdrop [Torey] may want to hint at the Milky Way…
A white dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit, is flying in the air.
The Fool’s knapsack is on the ground to his right. Spilling out of this are the Four Magickal weapons (the Wand, the Chalice, the Sword and the Pentacle). This will tie The Fool firmly to The Magician card, as well as the Aces, Yod, He Vau, Heh and the Four Elements. The Fool as zero contains the potential of all things…
Note by Torey: As of today, September 20, 2009, I have completed a very basic sketch in an attempt to work out the pose of The Fool:
PLEASE NOTE: ALTHOUGH TOREY AND I ARE SHARING THIS PROJECT FREELY FOR ALL TO ENJOY, THE MATERIAL THAT WE POST IS COPYRIGHT. WE HAVE SPENT MANY HOURS ON THIS PROJECT AND WILL SPEND 100s OF HOURS OVER THE NEXT 4 YEARS OR SO, PLEASE RESPECT OUR ENDEAVOURS AND DO NOT COPY OUR WORK...THANK YOU.
BB
Pino
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