Episode 77: What a Fool Believes: On the Unnumbered Card in the Tarot

"What a fool believes he sees, no wise man can reason away." This line from a Doobie Brothers song is probably one of the most profound in the history of rock-'n'-roll. It is profound for all the reasons (or unreasons) explored in this discussion, which lasers in on just one of the major trumps of the traditional tarot deck, that of the Fool. The Fool is integral to the world, yet stands outside it. The Fool is an idiot but also a sage. The Fool does not know; s/he intuits, improvises a path through the brambles of existence. We intend this episode on the Fool to be the first in an occasional series covering all twenty-two of the major trumps of the Tarot of Marseilles. REFERENCES The Fool in the tarot St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey Into Christian Hermeticism Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth Plato, Phaedrus Weird Studies episode 60 - Space is the Place: On Sun Ra, Gnosticism, and the Tarot Till Eulenspiegel, folk figure Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears Weird Studies episode 75 - Our Old Friend the Monolith: On Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey Weird Studies episode 76 - Below the Abyss: On Bergson's Metaphysics Rider-Waite Tarot Deck Richard Wagner, Parsifal G. W. F. Hegel, German philosopher Ramsey Dukes, Words Made Flesh: Information in Formation George Spencer Brown, Laws of Form Alain Badiou, Deleuze: The Clamor of Being Punch and Judy, British puppet show George P. Hansen, The Trickster and the Paranormal Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living Thomas Mann, Death in Venice Phil Ford's lecture on Death in Venice (Patreon exclusive!) Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot Hal Ashby (dir.), Being There Alejandro Jodorowsky and Marianne Costa, The Way of the Tarot Frank Pavich (dir.), Jodorowsky’s Dune Tarot of Marseilles André Breton, French surrealist artist