The Fool

 

The Fool   The Fool

Interestingly, in this deck  the Fool (called "The Materialist") is numbered 22, rather than the more familiar 0. The accompanying book, however, identifies this as part of a dual nature, by which it is simultaneously 22, and zero. It depicts a blind man carrying bags on his left shoulder. He leans on a black staff, and walks toward a fallen obelisk, behind which a crocodile with open mouth waits to devour him. Above is an eclipse of the sun. The eclipse signifies that the spiritual light from within has been obscured by material interests; or it signifies that dark forces from the inner plane are trying to shut away the spiritual illumination that guides the neophyte. The bags over the shoulder of the blind man indicate the material things of life he has spent is efforts acquiring. The staff of experience with good and evil is black, indicating that prudence is subservient to the demands of the senses; or that the demands for uplifting and protecting others is so great that, though enlightened, he ignores all danger. The fallen obelisk symbolizes the final overthrow of material work and power. The crocodile indicates the ultimate fate of all who are blind to spiritual things, and also the persecution of those who work to spread the true facts of spirituality. The blind man is the atheist or materialist, and the man is so absorbed in material aims that he neglects all thought of spiritual things. It is a man who is a slave to his desires.