The Fool and the Hermit

Authors Note: Okay, this is a long one, too (5 standard double spaced MS Word pages) and it's not about karaoke. But it is an interesting bit of discussion on the tarot cards of the Fool and the Hermit, and how they relate to my life. My next post will be the second part of the evening at Elsie's Bowling Alley in Minneapolis, MN with Bret and the young woman who loved Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, and who may or may not have slipped something in my drink.


21st September, 2004

So I'm reworking the website, specifically the homepage. Armed with the help of a good suggestions from a friend in Saudi Arabia, Rico (keep your eyes open for his information when I get my referral page started), as well as the ever-ability of my webmaster, Georgie, we have some good ideas coming to this site. So keep checking back. And I'll try to get something new posted here at least twice a week.

but tying one to the other, while doing some redesign work on the home page, I've been searching a variety of playing and tarot cards looking for images (and optimally royalty-free images, at that). One of the cards is definitely going to be some sort of joker card ("other jokers I know"- the referral page), and originally I was thinking about using the tarot card of the Fool to represent my travelblog. A few words about the Fool.

I should probably stop before I go much further with this discussion for a few words regarding my opinion as far as the occult is concerned, more specifically the art/ability of seeing the future: Do I believe it's possible? Of course (didn't you read "About the Author"?). Do I think we should have access to it? Much as it would be great to know our future, probably not.

To quote my good friend, B.H. Duk, from his novel-in-progress Travels with Duk.

"Dante Alighieri put fortune tellers and the like on their own level of hell, where they circled for eternity with their heads on backwards, weeping into the slashes on their back. Or at least that’s what my translation said. Now I wouldn’t be so severe, but I do believe, regardless of whether or not these people actually have the vision, we shouldn’t be privy to it. Because anything you hear about the future will effect how you act in the present, when in reality, I prefer to just act in the present, and let the future play itself out as it will... but I won’t say that I’m not intrigued by the possibility."

But I was talking about possibly using the Fool's card as a link to my travelblog/journal/mind.


"With all his worldly possessions in one small pack, the Fool travels he knows not where... the Fool is the card of infinite possibilities. The bag on the staff indicates that he has all he need to do or be anything he wants, he has only to stop and unpack. He is on his way to a brand new beginning. But the card carries a little bark of warning as well. Stop daydreaming and fantasising and watch your step, lest you fall and end up looking the fool...

In addition, they likely have no idea where they're going or what they're going to do. But that doesn't matter. For the Fool, the most important thing is to just go out and enjoy the world. To see what there is to see and delight in all of it.

Unfortunately, in this childlike state the person is likely to be overly optimistic or naive. A Fool can be a Fool... they're so busy daydreaming of what might be that they're ignoring what is. They're about to fall right off a cliff. Time for them to listen to that watchful little dog, which might be a concerned friend, a wise tarot reader, or just their instincts.

As a card, the Fool ultimately stands for a new start... There's more than just change, renewal, and a brand new beginning in the Fool, there's also movement, a fresh, exciting new time."

(-courtesy of Aeclectic Tarot-- www.aeclectic.net)

additionally,

"...the original Italian name of the card, il Matto, should be discussed: "Fool" is a slightly too liberal interpretation of this expression, for which a closer translation would probably be "the Lunatic" or "the Madman".In older times, when freedom of speech was yet to come, lunatics have always been entitled to express themselves freely, to say things which others could not, simply because their crazy words would not be given credit, although sometimes they were true: their insanity almost acted as a sort of intellectual shield or privilege."

(--courtesy of "The Fool and The Joker" from http://www.geocities.com/a_pollett/cards.htm. Lots of other interesting stuff there.)

Anyone bored yet? If so, please reply to my email (manwithoutaband@yahoo.com) and tell me that I'm rambling on too long about nothing. Or, for those of you already tying this information to my life, feel free to tell me to stop talking about my self and get back to the karaoke stories.

For everyone else, I chose not to use the Fool card for two reasons, both more pragmatic than cosmic. The first was that the Fool card seemed too close to the Joker card which it would share close space with. Second, the main image of a fool that I could find that wasn't copyrighted (I've since started experimenting on my own with MS Paint) was the very familiar Rider-Waite-Smith Deck, which is a relatively effeminate Fool, not exactly what I was shooting for, cool as the significance of the Fool was.

Then I stumbled on the Hermit. The image immediately appealed to me because it is the same featured on the inside album jacket of Zeppelin IV. (I own all of their original albums on CD, as well as quite a few on vinyl.) Then I checked out www.aeclectic.net again.

"After a long and busy lifetime, building, creating, loving, hating, fighting, compromising, failing, succeeding, the Fool feels a profound need to retreat. In a small, rustic home deep in the woods, he hides, reading, cleaning, organizing, resting or just thinking. But every night at dusk he head out, traveling across the bare, autumnal landscape. He carries only a staff and a lantern.

It is during these restless walks from dusk till dawn, peering at and examining whatever takes his fancy, that he sees and realizes things he's missed, about himself and the world. It is as if the secret corners in his head were being slowly illuminated, corners he never knew existed. In a way, he has become the Fool again; as in the beginning, he goes wherever inspiration leads him. But as the Fool, his staff rested on his shoulder, carrying unseen his pack...was like the pack, whatever it was [that] he could be was wrapped up, unknown. The Hermit's staff leans out before him, not behind. And it carries a lantern, not a pack. The Hermit is like the lantern, illuminated from within by all he is."

but wait, here's where it gets good.

"Represented by Virgo, the Hermit is a card of introspection, analysis and, well, virginity. This is not a time for socializing; the card indicates, instead, a desire for peace and solitude. Nor is it a time for action, discussion or decisions. It is a time to think, organize, ruminate, take stock. There may be feelings of frustration and discontent during this time of withdrawal. But such times lead to enlightenment, illumination, clarity...

One of the important things about this card is that the Hermit is always shown on the move. He's never locked away in his reclusive cell, he's always out wandering, searching. The Hermit is the restless mind of the Virgo, always gathering information, analyzing, making connections. Virgos are skeptics, and if anyone is going to stick a lantern into a dark place and take a good look at what's going on, it is a Virgo.

The Hermit is a card of connections and enlightenment. Combined with a desire to just "be alone,"... they're likely to be grumpy and anti-social. But for the Querent (if no one else!) this is a special time. Like an artist who hides for days then emerges to paint a masterpiece, this quiet time allows all the pieces to fall into place. So go ahead and encourage them to go on late night drives, long walks, hide in their room or go on retreat for a month. When they come back, they'll see everything in a brand new light. It'll be the best thing for them, and for everyone else in their lives."

Whew! That was quite a little treatise on the Fool and the Hermit. And somehow I managed to say nothing about myself. Those of you who know me might chuckle a little here. For the rest of you, in reality I just summarized in five pages the past five years of my life and probably the pattern for the next fifty, a trail that will switchback and forth between Fool and Hermit.

I'll work on brevity in the future... maybe just say that I like to travel a lot, and then I stay inside for long periods of time.