Only The Dead Are Resurrected

Dear Insane Children, 

I'm finally back at my keyboard and trying to get caught up on several days of unanswered emails and overflowing to-do lists. 

Omri "bumped" a particular email thread regarding Tarot Cards and sent me down a rabbit hole of symbology and narrative. I thought you might like to chime in as I know many of you are experts on these topics. 

Omri wrote, " "the Fool" he is the first card, numbered 0. He really fits into the realm of Denial, we should find him around a cliff. in gameplay as the fool is always near a cliff.

I don't know what to do with the dogs but i thought of 2-5 dogs with him and him with a reversible head, the character is the symbol of new beginnings and endings. His symbol is a flower with a harlequin hat, i merged those in. somehow the flowers should turn weaponized.

An initial sketch but i feel this is a good direction. I imagine that if we can break him apart and Him- Getting merged back automatically... he can look wonderful. he can have 3 dog heads with tons of teeth with dog speed and with two extra long arms etc. we can merge these "parts" together so wrong it can be wonderful.

He is the beginning and he is the end, that's his literally his symbolism. "

To which I replied, " 

The Fool

The beginning and the end... if you look at our outline for Asylum you'll see where we begin and end isn't in Denial. It's in a state called Slumber. As I've described during several of our livestreams and design sessions... Slumber is the state you're in when you drive to work and have no idea how you got there. It's the state we live in while thinking we're in reality, in control, and aware of the direction we're heading... when in fact we're lying to ourselves and the people around us. 

It's Slumber that we're in as we walk towards that cliff (Chaos). 

Once Slumber has led us over the cliff we're forced into Denial. Denial is the state of telling ourselves that, "Hey, dammit! I WAS AWARE OF WHAT I WAS DOING!!!!" when, in truth, we were not. 

So... The Fool is the perfect representative of Slumber. 

Before you resist this interpretation... remember when you asked me, "Why the hell is The Moon in Denial??"

I finally remember. 

It's because The Moon represents illusion. Such as "Another reading of the Moon card is the existence of illusion. Some hidden truth must be discovered, for what you are seeing now may just be a trick of the light. You must search for the hidden forces that must be unraveled."

That's why I put the Moon above Denial. Hur dur. I knew there was a reason! :P

Back to The Fool... 

If we're going to use this card for Slumber - and I think we should - then the character portrayed should be Alice in her Circus Outfit. She is the fool - the one who walked over the cliff into Denial. Those dogs... surely they should be Cheshire Cats? In most of the cards there's only one dog - and he appears to be warning The Fool of the dangers along the path ahead. Wouldn't be better... Alice walking towards the cliff dressed in the Circus Outfit with the Cheshire Cat behind (but being The Cat he's not really bothering to warn her...) - If you want someone who looks like he cares then insert the Rabbit (white, plush, or other). If you want some symbolism with that... 

The rabbit as well as the hare have been associated with moon deities and may signify rebirth or resurrection. 

Which might suggest that our rabbit is actively LEADING Alice towards the cliff because he knows that she must face Chaos if she's going to grow and transform."

“We have two lives... the life we learn with and the life we live after that. Suffering is what brings us towards happiness.”

Your Turn

Let us know in the comments below your thoughts on this exchange and the representation of these narrative elements in the symbolism of Tarot. Right direction? Wrong direction? Or perhaps you've got a creative twist to share? 

From Shanghai in The Moon,

-American