O – The Fool
“the idea of having ideas”
symbols positive: creation, curiosity, imagination, search for change, departure
symbols negative: traps, chaos, irresponsibility, infantility
element: Air
ritual: doing nothing, relaxation
path of Aleph: Kether – Chokmah
On the one hand The Fool is an incredibly positive archetype – if he is aware of his actions. He is a symbol of the forces of creation and creativity. On the other hand, this archetype can represent a very tactless being whose actions are imprudent and who sticks to nothing. On the card, you can observe the many fools below who represent a third side of this archetype. „The Fool“ represents the beginning of the physical universe, even before matter and antimatter came into being. On a cosmic scale this card communicates the idea of having ideas. He is the ultimate imaginative beginning in every dimension or cycle, and exists beyond duality.The Fool represents the idea of the translation from „not being“ into being. The entity in the center of the card is the impulsive generator of the symphony in the movement of creation, symbolized by the DNA double-helix which comes out of the flute. The people below pray to the fruits of creation instead of listening to the symphony for inspiration. Instead of being creators themselves they worship rotten fruits and follow external idols, ideas or institutions which lead them into the abyss on the left. These idols are symbolized by the smaller hurricanes which carry wine, coins, and the hermetic planets (compared to the gnostic idea of the archons). The “rotten fruits“ are the visible proof of the Great Opus (Gematria, Hermeticism, Gnosticism) which tend to be used to mislead in their general festered state. This does not mean that the fruits are initially bad, just that they have the tendency to emerge rotten when used for purposes of “worship, power, capitalism“ or „social pyramid building“.
The idea of this card would be to climb up the tree and get fresh fruits instead of revelling into mummified ideas of others – in other words: experiencing the divine ourselves.
In the abyss to the left, serpents and greedy hands are already waiting for the victims of these fallacious currents – they are falling helplessly. Often the act of falling is not recognized while it happens because the outcome takes a while to manifest. The obvious (and sometimes extremely hard) solution to this dilemma would be to stop following outside influences and start to question one’s own demands and addictions. The abyss represents the beginning of a new cycle because seduction will manifest itself repeatedly until the lesson is learned. The Fool is neither serious nor steady. He has an intuitive understanding of the tides and currents which manifest around him and can react to them very quickly. This corresponds to his airy nature and the hurricane he is riding. Also consider the magical symbols of the hurricane: The eye (the Fool) is the center in the vortex (of creation) 0 →1. It is also intended to refer to Crowley’s Hadit and the many mysteries which are connected to this term. The symphony/DNA is evolving and passes through the different masks or aspects of transcription into matter. It takes a long time from idea to manifestation into matter – don’t give up so easily if you’re involved in this process.
Only if done properly and accurately, an idea can evolve into an opus. Unfortunately many amazing ideas struggle and collapse on the way because they do not correspond to the individual true will. The rabbit on the Fool’s shoulder is a symbol for Osiris and emblematizes the especially important indication for the old Egyptian mystery that „Osiris is a dark god“.
Another positive aspect of this archetype is that „the Fool“ does not think things through or prepares for a certain goal to reach. The only thing that matters is the impulse of creativity for its own sake – which is almost holy because it represents „being the one that you are“ without consequences or relations to any other thing. Of course, should someone try to catch this „holy“ moment and stretch it into a longer period, this process ultimately leads to great destruction and recklessness. This is the other side of the coin, as there always is one.
