The Fool Sketch

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions, and thereby of gates, doors, doorways, passages and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past.

One face was bearded, the other beardless. In Freemasonry they became the faces of the two Johns -

John the Baptist and John The Evangelist.

The fool sketch is something you do when your whole life appears to be falling apart. The principle is that you place your entire life in the hands of fate, and initiate a ritual whereby everything done is decided by the roll of the dice, the pick of a card, or the interpretation of chance events in the world around you. You provide a number of possible outcomes which are either sensible or progressively more outrageous, depending on how far you want to go. These are then put to the dice or cards, and whatever comes up decides what you do next, or where exactly you go from there.

The reason for calling it a fool sketch is that it echoes the madness attained at times of misrule, which in the past took place during the period between one year and the next, a moment perceived as occurring outside of real time when chaos rule (our New Year celebrations are a watered-down vestige of this practice). For instance, in the Roman festival of Saturnalia, held in honor of the god Janus at the ned of each year, whatever happened was seen as a microcosm of what could occur in the coming year. It was an indication of a nexus of activity that had the potential to direct, alter or influence your path in life.

Are such beliefs based on scientific reality? No, reality is not fixed as the scientific world would have us believe, and there are ways of bucking time and space and shifting our lives onto alternative possibilities, or parallel existences, which can be created and collapsed through infinite amounts of split decisions that occur all the time. In other words, if you can let go of everything we hold dear or value , if only for a few hours, we can switch or change our lives onto more favorable paths.

If you want to throw in your cards and be dealt a new hand then a fool sketch is the perfect way to do it.

Ultimately the only one who can put you on the next level is yourself and there are no demons or powers of nature holding you back in any shape or form, in any matter whatsoever.

Janus was thought to have been the inspiration behind an original Tarot card found in the earliest packs, first appearing in Italy during the mdi-fifteenth century. Entitled ‘Prudence’, or ‘The Female Joker’, it shows a woman, sometimes with two faces – who gazes into a mirror, in which is a reflection of herself in the other world, the mirror world. In Janus’s wine cup the surface of the wine it contains creates a mirror –like surface in which the whole world can be seen, past and present. The cards numbers 12/21 took to mean that Prudence was the mirror reflection of The Fool card. 1892: Etruscan Roman Remains in Popular Tradition  Charles Godfrey Leland ( 1824 – 1903 ) was an American humorist and folklorist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Princeton University and in Europe.

Mirror symbolism is usually associated with fools in general, who were often depicted holding mirrors where their grinning reflections could be seen.

Place two mirrors opposite each other and stand between them and you will see an infinite number of reflections of yourself. Each one represents a version of yourself as you gradually diverge from this reality, and so the reflections signify alternative linear possibilities of your life or what may be independent parallel existences.

Janus was often portrayed in Roman art with a baton in his left hand and a key or cup in his right hand.

From Twenty-First Century Grail (The Quest for a Legend) by Andrew Collins 2004

One of the things from The Seventh Sword (1991) by Andrew Collins was that there were no Jews, Celts or Gypsies prior to the Exodus. Gypsy is considered slang for Egyptian. The Tarot of the Gypsies maps onto the paths Tree of Life or Sephirot of the Jewish Kabbalah.

Just a curiosity. Alternative realities seems to be a new age thing. NOW is the only time.

Charles Godfrey Leland also wrote 1899: Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches. Wicca includes skyclad practice, or ritual nudity, is because of a line spoken by Aradia.

"And as the sign that ye are truly free,

Ye shall be naked in your rites, both men

And women also: this shall last until

The last of your oppressors shall be dead;"