Apr
April and the Fool
The Fool is a well-known image. He is the Court Jester, the Harlequin, the Clown and the Buffoon. You can see him as the Zero card in the Tarot deck. In some Medieval-style chess sets, the Fool takes the place of the Bishop. Among Heathens, he is connected to Loki. Loki is the Jester. Loki is also the one who reveals men for the fools they are.
The Fool, archetypically, is the Neophyte, the Student and the Innocent. He is as yet “clean slate.” The Fool is innocence and ignorance. He is the traveler at the beginning of a journey. His nature is one of curiosity and wonder, seeing all things as if new. His mind is unconditioned. Within the Fool is no cynicism, no guile, no suspicion. He is not jaded by the woes of the world. About the Fool one finds a feeling of clarity and freshness.
On April 1st, the freshness of Spring is felt. It certainly goes with the image of the Fool, for both speak of that which is new, clear and untrammeled.
**************
The other side of April Fool’s Day is harmless pranks. There was a time when phone pranks were fun. You could call someone and ask, “Is your refrigerator running?” If they said yes, then you said, “Go catch it before it gets away.” Another one was to call a tobacco shop and ask if they had “Prince Albert in a can.” (Prince Albert was a popular brand of pipe tobacco.) If they said yes, you said, “Well, let him out!” Silly pranks, indeed, but lots of fun. Thanks to Caller ID and other technology, phone pranks are going the way of the Dinosaur.
*******
By the way, if you would like to help play a prank on an entire continent, just go to this blog’s March 21 entry “A Loki Prank.” A friend of mine wrote those definitions and he gets a kick out of these sorts of things.
*******
Loki is the God of Pranks and Fools. If you would like to know more, please check out our book, Loki for You. It tells much of Loki’s place in the world, and even has a section of “The Runes According to Loki.” You have never seen the Runes like this! Order from here: http://www.thortrains.com/bifrost/specials07.htm
