The Magian Tarok by Stephen E. Flowers

Author:Stephen E. Flowers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Tarot/Spirituality
Publisher: Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
Published: 2019-07-29T00:00:00+00:00

APIS THE FOOL

A = 1 [0] [1+4.1-4.3]

The general image of The Fool is that of what appears to be a court jester wandering in the countryside with a bundle on a stick. He is often being bitten on the leg or elsewhere by a dog. In the Gringonneur deck the man has the ears of a bull or some other animal. This is perhaps explained by the origin of the name of the image and the whole series of images discussed below.

The name (Il Matto in Italian and “The Fool” in English) is universal in its implications. Originally there were only three cards called “trumps”: The Fool, The Magician, and The World. Each of these are worth five points in the game of Tarock. The word “trump” has its origin in the Latin word triumphus but was also influenced by the word triumviri, “three men.” It was before these three men, the triumvirate, that the triumphal victory marches in Rome were made. In the symbolic language of the tarot, these three men were the human figures represented in the three cards in question, which came at the beginning and end of the sequence of images.

In fact, as mentioned earlier, the name of the whole system may stem from the original name for this, the first image. Agrell pointed out that the French Provençal word taruc, derived from the Latin taurus, “bull,” means a “stupid person,” a “bull-headed” person—a “fool.” Even more evocative is the idea that the name of the whole system is derived from the Greek term for the Mithraic “bull slaying,” ταυροκτόνος, which was later Romanized as tauroktonia (tauroctony). This act of bull sacrifice is, of course, responsible for the inception of the natural generative and regenerative universe; it is the beginning of all developing or evolving things. Therefore, from a Mithraic viewpoint, it is the beginning of the series of evolutionary and initiatory images, and a description of the whole series as well. This is much like naming a series of letters after its beginning: alpha-beta, ABC, fuþark, and so forth.

The original number of this image was one. The later assignation of the number zero to the image is a modern affectation. The number one, as a pure quality (not a quantity), contained most of the connotations zero has for the modern mind. Oneness contains everything and is therefore the virtual equivalent of nothing.

The Roman-Mithraic name of this image for divinatory purposes should be one that begins with an “A.” This name would have been readily available to the Romans of the time in the form of the name of the Egyptian divine bull of the Sun: Apis. Apis was very well known in the ancient world. This is what Agrell assigned to the icon in question here. However, it is my thought that this word, Apis, contains a great mystery. The Latin word apis also means “bee.” This is a symbol for the Mazmaga—the Great Fellowship of initiates responsible for spreading the philosophy of Zarathustra and for insinuating elements of it into other systems.

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