The Fool Cushion

pencil drawing on 9″×11″ sketchbook paper coloured on computer I chose to represent the fool as a woman on a journey. The Fool or The Jester is one of the 78 cards in a Tarot deck; one of the 22 Trump cards that make up the Major Arcana. 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 wisdom’. I drew the Fool as a woman and I put the moon behind her to represent the lunacy implied in holy madness. On her back are all the possessions she might need. In her hand there is a flower, showing her appreciation of beauty. The Fool 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. Instead of a dog nipping at her heels, I drew a cat trying to bring the Fool back to Earth and with it’s wisdom putting a paw on her robe to keep her from stepping off the cliff. She is seemingly oblivious that she is backing towards a precipice, apparently about to step off.