The Fool (Tarot card)
Encyclopedia
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
deck; one of the 22 Trump
Trump
A trump is a type of card in some card games.Trump may also refer to:* Trump * Trump * Trumps * The Trump * HMS Trump , a British submarine* The Trump Organization, a business conglomerate...
cards that make up the Major Arcana
Major Arcana
The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana...
. The Fool is unnumbered (sometime represented as 0
0 (number)
0 is both a numberand the numerical digit used to represent that number in numerals.It fulfills a central role in mathematics as the additive identity of the integers, real numbers, and many other algebraic structures. As a digit, 0 is used as a placeholder in place value systems...
--the first—or XXII--the last—Major Arcana in decks). It is used in divination as well as in game playing.
Iconography
The Fool is titled Le Mat in the Tarot of MarseillesTarot of Marseilles
The Tarot of Marseilles , also widely known by the French designation Tarot de Marseille, is one of the standard patterns for the design of tarot cards...
, and Il Matto in most Italian language tarot decks. These archaic words
Archaism
In language, an archaism is the use of a form of speech or writing that is no longer current. This can either be done deliberately or as part of a specific jargon or formula...
mean "the madman" or "the beggar", and may be related to the word for 'checkmate' in relation to the original use of tarot cards for gaming purposes.
In the earliest Tarot decks, the Fool is usually depicted as a beggar or a vagabond. In the Visconti-Sforza tarot deck, the Fool wears ragged clothes and stockings without shoes, and carries a stick on his back. He has what appear to be feathers in his hair. His unruly beard and feathers may relate to the tradition of the woodwose
Woodwose
The wild man is a mythical figure that appears in the artwork and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to Silvanus, the Roman god of the woodlands.The defining characteristic of the figure is its "wildness"; from the 12th century...
or wild man. Another early Italian
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
image that relates to the tradition is the first (and lowest) of the series of the so called "Tarocchi of Mantegna
Mantegna Tarocchi
The Mantegna Tarocchi, also known as the Tarocchi Cards, Tarocchi in the style of Mantegna, Baldini Cards, are two different sets each of fifty 15th century Italian old master prints in engraving, by two different unknown artists...
". This series of prints containing images of social roles, allegorical figures, and classical deities begins with "Misero", a depiction of a beggar leaning on a staff. A similar image is contained in the German Hofamterspiel
Hofamterspiel
Hofämterspiel, one of the earliest card games on record preserved in its entirety with all forty-eight cards intact, is a major 15th century medieval hand-made deck commissioned by Ladislaus the Posthumous, king of Hungary and Bohemia and Duke of Austria from 1453 to 1457...
; there the fool (German: Narr) is depicted as a barefoot man in robes, apparently with bells on his hood, playing a bagpipe.
The Tarot of Marseilles and related decks similarly depict a bearded person wearing what may be a jester's hat; he always carries a bundle of his belongings on a stick slung over his back. He appears to be getting chased away by an animal, either a dog or a cat. The animal has torn his pants.
In the Rider-Waite Tarot deck
Rider-Waite tarot deck
The Rider-Waite tarot deck is the most popular Tarot deck in use today in the English-speaking world . Other suggested names for this include the Rider-Waite-Smith, Waite-Smith, Waite-Colman Smith or simply the Rider deck...
and other esoteric decks made for cartomancy
Cartomancy
Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century...
, the Fool is shown as a young man, standing on the brink of a precipice. In the Rider-Waite deck, he is also portrayed as having with him a small dog. The Fool holds a rose in one hand and in the other a small bundle of possessions.
In French suited tarot decks that do not use the traditional emblematic images of Italian suited decks for the suit of trump
Trump
A trump is a type of card in some card games.Trump may also refer to:* Trump * Trump * Trumps * The Trump * HMS Trump , a British submarine* The Trump Organization, a business conglomerate...
s, the Fool is typically made up as a jester or bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
, reminiscent of the joker
Joker (playing card)
Joker is a special type of playing card found in most modern decks, or else a type of tile in some Mahjong game sets.-Name:It is believed that the term "Joker" comes from a mispronunciation of Jucker, the German/Alsatian name for the game Euchre. The card was originally introduced in about 1860 for...
in a deck of playing cards.
History
The Hermitage tells us that in the decks before Waite-Smith, the Fool is almost always unnumbered. There are a few exceptions: some old decks (including the 15th-century Sola Busca and the Rider Waite) label the card with a "0", and the Belgian Tarot designs label the Fool as "XXII". The Fool is almost always completely apart from the sequence of trumps in the historic decks. Still, there is historic precedent for regarding it as the lowest trump and as the highest trump.Traditionally, the Major Arcana
Major Arcana
The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana...
in Tarot cards are numbered with Roman numerals
Roman numerals
The numeral system of ancient Rome, or Roman numerals, uses combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet to signify values. The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman numerals as:...
. The Fool is numbered with the zero, one of the Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals or Hindu numerals or Hindu-Arabic numerals or Indo-Arabic numerals are the ten digits . They are descended from the Hindu-Arabic numeral system developed by Indian mathematicians, in which a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a numeral...
.
In tarot games
Tarocchini
Tarocchini, the diminutive form of Tarocco, referring to the reduction of the Bolognese pack from 78 to 62 cards, which probably occurred in the early 16th century, also known as Partita, is a point trick-taking Tarot card game from the 17th century....
and Tarock, the Fool has a unique role. In these games, the Fool is sometimes called "the Excuse". The tarot games are typically trick taking games; playing the Fool card excuses the player from either following suit or playing a trump
Trump
A trump is a type of card in some card games.Trump may also refer to:* Trump * Trump * Trumps * The Trump * HMS Trump , a British submarine* The Trump Organization, a business conglomerate...
card on that trick. Winning a trick containing the Fool card often yields a scoring bonus.
In occult tarot, the Fool is usually considered part of the "major arcana
Major Arcana
The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana...
". This is not true in the tarot game itself; the Fool's role in the game is independent of both the suit cards and the trump cards, and the card does not belong to either category. As such, most tarot decks originally made for game playing do not assign a number to the Fool indicating its rank in the suit of trumps; it has none. It usually has a star in French Tarot. Waite gives the Fool the number 0, but in his book discusses the Fool between Judgment
Judgement (Tarot card)
Judgement , or in some decks spelled Judgment, is a Tarot card, part of the Major Arcana suit usually comprising 22 cards.-Rider-Waite symbolism:Very clearly, it is modeled after the Christian Resurrection before the Last Judgment...
, no. 20, and The World
The World (Tarot card)
The World is a trump or Major Arcana card in the tarot deck. It is usually the final card of the Major Arcana or tarot trump sequence. In the tarot family of card games, this card is usually worth five points.- Description :...
, no. 21.
However, in some more modern tarot card games, specifically Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n Tarock games, the Fool is instead played as the 22 of Trump, making it the highest trump in such games.
Symbolism
The Fool is the spirit in search of experience. He represents the mystical cleverness bereft of reason within us, the childlike ability to tune into the inner workings of the world. The sun shining behind him represents the divine nature of the Fool's wisdom and exuberance, holy madness or 'crazy wisdomCrazy wisdom
Crazy wisdom, also known as holy madness, is a manifestation of certain spiritual adepts where they behave in unconventional, outrageous, or unexpected fashion...
'. On his back are all the possessions he might need. In his hand there is a flower, showing his appreciation of beauty. He is frequently accompanied by a dog, sometimes seen as his animal desires, sometimes as the call of the "real world", nipping at his heels and distracting him. He is seemingly unconcerned that he is standing on a precipice, apparently about to step off. One of the keys to the card is the paradigm of the precipice, Zero and the sometimes represented oblivious Fool's near-step into the oblivion (The Void) of the jaws of a crocodile, for example, are all mutually informing polysemy
Polysemy
Polysemy is the capacity for a sign or signs to have multiple meanings , i.e., a large semantic field.Charles Fillmore and Beryl Atkins’ definition stipulates three elements: the various senses of a polysemous word have a central origin, the links between these senses form a network, and ...
within evocations of the iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
of The Fool. The staff
Quarterstaff
A quarterstaff , also short staff or simply staff is a traditional European pole weapon and a technique of stick fighting, especially as in use in England during the Early Modern period....
is the offset and complement to the void and this in many traditions represents wisdom and renunciation, e.g. 'danda
Danda
In the Devanāgarī script, the danda is a punctuation character. The glyph consists of a single vertical stroke. The character can be found at code point U+0964 in Unicode. The "double danda" is at U+0965 . ISCII encodes danda at 0xEA....
' (Sanskrit) of a Sanyassin, 'danda' (Sanskrit) is also a punctuation mark with the function analogous to a 'full-stop' which is appropriately termed a period
Full stop
A full stop is the punctuation mark commonly placed at the end of sentences. In American English, the term used for this punctuation is period. In the 21st century, it is often also called a dot by young people...
in American English
American and British English differences
This is one of a series of articles about the differences between British English and American English, which, for the purposes of these articles, are defined as follows:...
. The Fool is both the beginning and the end, neither and otherwise, betwixt and between, liminal.
The number 0 is a perfect significator for the Fool, as it can become anything when he reaches his destination as in the sense of 'joker's wild'. Zero plus anything equals the same thing. Zero times anything equals zero. Zero
0 (number)
0 is both a numberand the numerical digit used to represent that number in numerals.It fulfills a central role in mathematics as the additive identity of the integers, real numbers, and many other algebraic structures. As a digit, 0 is used as a placeholder in place value systems...
is nothing, a lack of hard substance, and as such it may reflect a non-issue or lack of cohesiveness for the subject at hand.
Interpretations
In many esoteric systems of interpretation, the Fool is usually interpreted as the protagonist of a story, and the Major ArcanaMajor Arcana
The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana...
is the path the Fool takes through the great mysteries of life and the main human archetypes. This path is known traditionally in Tarot as the Fool´s Journey, and is frequently used to introduce the meaning of Major Arcana cards to beginners.
In his Manual of Cartomancy, Grand Orient has a curious suggestion of the office of Mystic Fool, as a part of his process in higher divination. The conventional explanations say that The Fool signifies the flesh, the sensitive life, depicting folly at the most insensate stage. When The Fool appears in a spread, he is a signal to strip down to the irreducible core, and interrogate whether the Querant's self-vision is obscured. It may also be a warning that significant change is coming. Another interpretation of the card is that of taking action where the circumstances are unknown, confronting one's fears, taking risks, and so on.
Alternative decks
- In German decks he is called Pagat ("The Entertainer"). He is also called the Sküs, from the French Tarot Excuse (or wild card). He and The Magician became the forerunners of today's lesser and greater Jokers.
- In the Flemish Deck by Vandenborre, Le Fou ("The Lunatic or Jester") is numbered XXII22 (number)22 is the natural number following 21 and preceding 23.- In mathematics :Twenty-two is an even composite number, its proper divisors being 1, 2 and 11....
. It depicts a bearded man walking through weeds with a bindleBindleBindle is a term used to describe the bag, sack, or carrying device stereotypically used by the commonly American sub-culture of hobos. The person carrying a bindle was called a bindlestiff, combining bindle with the Average Joe sense of stiff....
on a stick over his right shoulder and a walking stick in his left hand. A dog is biting him on the back of his right thigh. - The Vikings Tarot portrays LokiLokiIn Norse mythology, Loki or Loke is a god or jötunn . Loki is the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. By his wife Sigyn, Loki is the father of Nari or Narfi...
as the Fool, with a mistletoeMistletoeMistletoe is the common name for obligate hemi-parasitic plants in several families in the order Santalales. The plants in question grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub.-Mistletoe in the genus Viscum:...
in one hand and a fishing-net in the other. - Aleister CrowleyAleister CrowleyAleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
's Thoth Tarot Fool is walking on air, a symbol of "the creative Light", according to Crowley. Linked to the Universe card, coins of the planets and zodiac in his satchel, he embodies all of the twenty-two trump cards and none. - In the Trinity Blood tarot deck Abel Nightroad is depicted as the Fool card.
- H. R. GigerH. R. GigerHans Rudolf "Ruedi" Giger is a Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor, and set designer. He won an Academy Award for Best Achievement for Visual Effects for his design work on the film Alien.-Early life:...
's set depicts the Fool sitting in a chair, wearing headphones, with a woman straddling him (visible from the lower torso down), facing away with her bare buttocks directly in front of his face. He is holding a pistol-grippedPistol gripOn a firearm or other tool, the pistol grip is that portion of the mechanism that is held by the hand and orients the hand in a forward, vertical orientation, similar to the position one would take with a conventional pistol such as the M1911....
shotgun with the barrel in his mouth. - In the ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
Tarot, the Fool is depicted by FalstaffFalstaffSir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. In the two Henry IV plays, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is...
. - In the Mythic Tarot deck, the Fool is depicted by DionysusDionysusDionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
.
Popular culture
- The Fool is a boss from The House of the Dead 3 and is seen as a giant, deformed sloth with razor-sharp claws, which attacks by slashing and climbing around in a giant cage filled with human corpses. All bosses in The House of the Dead series are named after Major Arcana cards.
- In the Shin Megami TenseiShin Megami Tenseiis a console role-playing video game from Atlus that was originally released on October 30, 1992 and later on several platforms, although no installment was released outside of Japan. It was originally released on the Super Famicom and was later ported to the PC Engine Super CD-Rom and Mega-CD...
: Persona series starting in Persona 3Persona 3Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, originally released in Japan as simply , is the fourth video game in the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series of console role-playing games developed by Atlus, which is part of the larger Megami Tensei series of video games...
, the main character is represented by the Fool arcana. Such denotes his (or her) capacity to access the power of all Arcana. Additionally, the first Persona the Protagonist gains is 'OrpheusOrpheusOrpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...
', the same character depicted in Greek Mythology, and is a Persona of the 'Fool' Arcana.
- In Persona 4, a different Protagonist is depicted. However he still wields the same ability as Persona 3's Protagonist, but is weaker due to the fact that Persona 3's Protagonist also had the power of 'Death' at his disposal. The first Persona he wields is IzanagiIzanagiis a deity born of the seven divine generations in Japanese mythology and Shinto, and is also referred to in the roughly translated Kojiki as "male-who-invites" or Izanagi-no-mikoto. It is also pronounced Izanaki-no-Okami....
, the same character represented in Japanese Mythology, and is a Persona of the 'Fool' Arcana.
- In the Yu-Gi-Oh!Yu-Gi-Oh!is a Japanese manga created by Kazuki Takahashi. It has produced a franchise that includes multiple anime shows, a trading card game and numerous video games...
TCG, the Arcana Force subtype is an entire deck of cards resembling tarot cards. Arcana Force 0 - The Fool, is the embodiment of this particular tarot card. Also, in the anime Yu-Gi-Oh GX, the tarot-using villain Sartorious used The Fool to represent the series' protagonist, Jaden Yuki.
- In Jojo's Bizarre AdventureJoJo's Bizarre Adventureis a manga written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. Every main character's name in each part can be read as JoJo. The manga, published by Shueisha, first ran in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1987 to 2002, before being transferred to the seinen magazine Ultra Jump in 2004. The current story...
part III, Iggy, a dog, has a stand called "The Fool". Also a minor pawn of Dio BrandoDio Brandois a fictional character from the manga and anime series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. He is the primary antagonist of Parts 1 and 3, although he is also considered to be the main villain of the entire series, as his actions affect the JoJo universe long after his death...
controls a stand called "The Idiot".
- In Street Fighter Alpha 2Street Fighter Alpha 2Street Fighter Alpha 2, known as in Japan, Asia and South America, is a fighting game originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware by Capcom. The game is both a sequel and a remake to the previous years Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams, which is itself a prequel to the Street Fighter...
and Street Fighter Alpha 3Street Fighter Alpha 3Street Fighter Alpha 3, known as in Japan and Asia, is a fighting game by Capcom originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware. It is the third game in the Street Fighter Alpha series, following Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams and Street Fighter Alpha 2...
one of Rose's win poses show the tarot card called The Fool is revealed by getting a perfect in one round.
- In Super Street Fighter IVSuper Street Fighter IVis a 2010 fighting game produced by Capcom. It is an updated version of Street Fighter IV and has been said to mark the definitive end of the Street Fighter IV series. Having been deemed as too large an update to be deployed as DLC, the game was made into a standalone title, but given a lower price...
during Rose's prologue, Rose is actually holding the card of reckless heroism known as, The Fool. She attributes these qualities to Ryu, whom she believes is the last hope for humanity. However, they could also apply to herself equally well.
- In an episode of the Street Fighter cartoon, "The Flame and the Rose," Rose uses tarot to discern the three people who's increase in chi is a threat to the world. She draws the Fool in her reading, and decides that this indicates Ken, whom she sets out to capture along with Blanka (the Devil) and Bison, the man of doom (The tower).
- In Kaleido StarKaleido Staris an anime series produced by Japanese studio Gonzo Digimation Holding. The series was created by Junichi Sato, who also directed the first season, and written by Reiko Yoshida...
, the spirit of the stage is called "Fool." He practices Taromancy in Season One and AstrologyAstrologyAstrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
in Season Two.
- In the SNES video game Ogre Battle: The March of the Black QueenOgre Battle: The March of the Black Queenis a 1993 real-time strategy role-playing video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, directed by Yasumi Matsuno with artwork by Akihiko Yoshida...
, the Fool is labeled as 0, and depicted as a hobo-jester in ragged clothing toting a bandanna sack on a pole, with a big dog behind him. On drawing the Tarot card after liberation of one of the towns, it increases the characters' luck by 1 point, and also makes all enemies except their leader flee when used in battle.