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Paul McCartney’s Tarot card, The Fool.
While looking for neat images with which to illustrate this post on The Beatles’ in-house astrologer, I stumbled upon an interesting article on The Beatles and Tarot.
As a sample, here’s a portion of the entry on Paul’s card, “The Fool”:
Interpretation: Paul needed the Beatles more than the others did. He thrived in the identity and framework provided by the group and flourished in the public acclaim of the concert stage. The Fool’s creativity made Paul the most natural musician, albeit wholly untrained, in the band. His innate Celtic romanticism revealed itself in a love of story-telling songs (as opposed to sharing personal experiences) and in a love of sounds for their own sake. More than the others, he writes from the heart, not the mind, and his imagery is more frequently drawn from nature. He is pastoral and reflective whereas George could be acerbic and admonitory, or John would take refuge in the surreal and grotesque. In his songs, Beatles music best expresses the pure joy of living.
In the words of the article, “Take what follows as an excursion into the collective unconscious or an exercise in voodoo musicology, whichever you like…”
PS—Here’s another take on Beatles Tarot, by Jeanne Fiorini and The American Tarot Association. And here’s a group of tarot enthusiasts matching cards to Beatles songs…
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I don’t think that suits him. The magician is much more applicable:
taking action
doing what needs to be done
realizing your potential
making what’s possible real
practicing what you preach
carrying out plans
producing magical results
using your talents
acting consciously
knowing what you are doing and why
acknowledging your motivations
understanding your intentions
examining the known situation
concentrating
having singleness of purpose
being totally committed
applying the force of your will
feeling centered
setting aside distractions
Karen, interesting that John’s the Magician in this reading. From my (extremely limited) understanding of the categories, looks like Lennon and McCartney shared aspects of the Magician and Fool roles. And I think both had problems with the “acknowledging your motivations” and “understanding your intentions” areas. Certainly an interesting thought experiment to map the Beatles onto the cards in this way.
I can certainly see John as magician in the early days. True enough that John and Paul both have the fool as well as the magician in their stars. (Stars? tealeaves? Don’t know what tarot cards read exactly, but you know what I mean.)
John: Temperance reversed, as he was a constantly out of balance Libra, swinging to extremes, lacking in self-control. Yet, those very qualities brought enthusiasm and creativity to the group. Paul: the Chariot, as his ambitions, confidence, strategic thinking, and positive attitude helped lead the group many artistic triumphs. George: the Hermit (as stated in the article referenced). I see Ringo as as the King of Cups, as that card represents an emotionally intelligent sort that doesn’t make a lot of waves. Sorry, I just couldn’t find a major arcana card that said Ringo to me.
J and P together: The Lovers, the card of partnership, union, and choice. To quote a tarot site called biddytarot.com, “their trust in one another gives them strength and confidence to overcome the obstacles in life.”
Paul mentioned that one of the women artists fromThe Fool used to read his Tarot almost every day and The Fool card kept coming up for every reading. I thought I did read somewhere that The Fool card means big things are about the happen and many changes. I thought that was appropriate for Paul at the time because there were many changes in store for him when he had these readings done in 1967.