grgr (22): the fool in the tarot

[Lorentzen / Nicklaus]

  "in the tarot he is known as the fool ..." (p. 501)


  the  f o o l, one of the 22 major arcana "representing" the divine pneuma,   
  path 11, aleph, air & spring ...


   on the kabbalistic tree of life path 11 connects the sefirah ... 

   ... keter
   
   (- hebr. "crown", number 1, pure white brilliance, "ehyeh", metatron,        
   primum mobile, the lotus crown above your head, the four aces in the tarot)  
   
   with the sefirah ...
 
   ... hokmah 

  (- hebr. "wisdom", number 2, grey, "jehova" [- practically pronounced like 
  "youhowwow"], raziel, the zodiak, the left side of your face, the four 2s in 
  the tarot).

  in one of the tarot sections of the published golden dawn documents s.l.   
  macgregor mathers thus writes about the fool [- like all the following   
  passages as usual in m.o.p.a.r.t.]:

  "the crown of wisdom, the primum mobile that effects the zodiak through air."

  in the golden dawn deck you see on the card "the fool" a naked child standing 
  under a bush of yellow roses. child & rosebush symbolize, following here the  
  comment of of israel regardie [- who also did, by the way, reichian bodywork  
  in la], both, the golden rose of joy and also the rose of stillness. while the 
  child is reaching for the roses, it keeps on lead a grey wolf [!]. the perfect 
  innocence and the divine nature hold in check the purely wordly knowledge. 
     
  on the card of the rider/waite deck you see a young man who, while walking 
  into a precipice, keeps his eyes in the air. in his left hand he is holding a 
  rose. the white dog, which is barking at his feet, looks a little like milou.

  in contrary to the golden dawn system, crowley and most other approaches i 
  know, a. e. waite [- see "the pictorial key to the tarot", 1959(?)], very 
  probably pynchon's tarot source, places "the fool", to whom the number 0 is 
  attributed [- digitalization?!], not at the first but at the last but one 
  position, right before "the world", which will be, in the context of   
  weissmann's tarot, the last mentioned card in the novel: "his future card, the 
  card of what will come, is the world." (p. 749). [- in the context of qbl this 
  would probably mean to place "the fool", switching positions with 
  "judgememt/the aeon", on path 31, connecting the sefirot hod & malkut. perhaps 
  that's the reason why we heard earlier in gr about "problems with 'judgement'" 
  (page ?)].

  weisenburger, in his companion (p. 224), gives a very short sample of 
  ouspensky identifying the fool with an "ordinary man ... separate man. the   
  uninitiate lower consciousness. the end of a ray not knowing its relation to  
  the center". it would be interesting to know the context of the quote. like   
  that it's just too simple. right, in the practical tarot context, "the fool"
  s o m e t i m e s  means simple foolishness in material affairs. head into 
  clouds, not getting the wave. & to dance on path 11 is in any case risky ... 
  waite, taking the card away from the primary position, does not seem to have  
  too much sympathy for it.

  but aleph, together with mem and shin one of the three hebrew "mother     
  letters", is the root of all creativity! the  p u l s a t i n g  rhythm 
  of nothing & being , life & death, positive & negative, explosive action 
  & instant transference. "jedem anfang wohnt ein zauber inne"   (- about "in 
  every beginning there is magic") ... anyone remembering significant details 
  from that famous borges story?

  weisenburger goes on: "as 'fool', slothrop will approach his 'holy center' in 
  the next episode, will not know the place. so 'groweth his preterition sure' 
  (p. 509)". but perhaps that's what he learns: to leave that social world of   
  organizations & emotional plague, to transcend  i n   e f f e c t  
  socio-ontological distinctions like center/periphery or preterite/elect. &   
  this goes, too, for spiritual traditions like the tarot or qbl (- or alchemy 
  or i-ging or ... [fill in your favourite symbol system!]. tyrone simply lets 
  it  b e ... gives up all his seeking ... a l l  of it ... simply [- oh well   
  ...] realizing what's always already the case ... being a tiny divine spark in 
  this great eternal vortex of energy ... tyrone steps out of the whole   
  historical frame ... it's only we who cannot help but place him on side of the 
  preterite. tyrone escapes into the primary process of what reich calls "the   
  living core". (yes, a center metaphor, too). speaking more technically in 
  psychological terms, this means to realize that these symbol systems are 
  on the one hand useful tools to get into the streaming, on the other hand,    
  nevertheless, "projections" & not the the energetic being itself. slothrop is 
  getting beyond his personal point of no return [- like we have collectively by 
  becoming the "modern world-society" ...]. he throws, like the early 
  wittgenstein suggested, away the ladder after he has climbed up on it all the 
  way out ...         

  waite also writes about the fool: "he's the prince of the other world, 
  traveling through this one - on a gloryful morning [- "morning glory"?!] in 
  the uncorrupted mountain air. the sun behind him knows where he comes from, 
  where he will go and how he - after a long time and on another way - will 
  return [- am i the only one thinking here of nietzsche's "teaching of eternal 
  return" in "also sprach zarathustra"?!]. he's the spirit searching for the 
  experience of life. many symbols of the official mysteries culminate in this 
  card, in which all prior confusions are turned into their contrary, as it is 
  guaranteed by high authority." 

  in the crowley/harris deck the fool card shows us, among other things like 
  grapes, the holy ghost dove, a wild tiger & a crocodile, the green man of 
  spring with shining xtc eyes. in "the book of thoth" [1944] crowley writes 
  about this card: "it's the kabbalistic zero. it's the balance of the universe, 
  the primary and final adjustment of all contradictions. the air in this card 
  has essentially the meaning of a vacuum. ... the unification of father and 
  mother gives birth to twins, the son goes to the daughter, the daughter gives 
  the energy back to the father; through this circle of change the stability and 
  eternity of the universe is guaranteed. ... at spring's return the fool in all 
  of us awakes. since we are a little confused and embarrassed, it was 
  considered to be a healing custom to embody the unconscious impulse through 
  ritual aid ... parsifal (...) represents the western form of this tradition of 
  the fool ... the differences in the forms of expression - even if they seem to 
  contradict each other - should lead, by refinement and transcendence of the 
  intellectual, to an intuive reception of the symbol. all these symbols of the 
  major arcana do, eventually, exist in a region beyond and above reason ...

  do not know anything!
  for innocence all ways are allowed!
  pure foolishness is the key to initiation!
  silence penetrates the ecstasy!
  be neither man nor woman, be both in one.
  be silent, little child in the blue egg, that you will grow to carry the spear 
  and the grail!
  do wander alone, and sing! in the palace of the king his daughter expects 
  you."                      

  
  ... the baby in the blue egg ... the last picture of "2001" ... kfl ...