Joker does not equal Fool

Well howdy! (I have a Texas accent today because we are's about uhxploar gamblin!)

The Joker, in modern playing card decks is often thought to be a direct descendant of the Fool. This myth is so pervasive that many pseudo-scholars have lined up in a parade to pass on this misinformation.

Well, they are wrong and should be made to eat poo for banging the drum and spreading so many lies that now the general tarot reading public simply assumes it is true "because it says so on the internets." The Joker was only recently added to French card decks, which have had tarot decks for over five centuries. You see, it was the French scholars who invented "the tarot" as we know it. At the time (circa 1790) they thought the old Italian cards were heiroglyphics from "Ancient Egypt" which was thought to be the well-spring of all things Occult. This has caused centuries of misinformation and to this day pseudo-scholars who refuse to do the most basic academic research claim the Tarot is Egyptian and that "no one knows its origins" when we can clearly trace it from China to the middle east (but not "ancient Egypt--this is more like the 1300's) and into Italy, Germany, then France, and finally centuries later reinvigorated in France and still later reinvigorated in England by one Arthur Edward Waite.

It is very upsetting that the scientific information is easily found but the vast number of "tarot experts" persist in clinging to outdated beliefs. All one has to do is look at any tarot website or read a book on the tarot with a highlighter to mark the glaring errors. These are not opinions; these are proven facts and it is sad that we, as pagans, look like idiots for swallowing such tripe without ever thinking. Oh well. But...

Also, the Joker evolved from the game of Euchre, and almost immediately spread to Poker, which was all the rage at the same time as Euchre. Original "Jokers" were not Jokers at all, or Jesters, or Fools. They were the best or imperial bower or bauer (as in Jack Bauer, which is funny because the whole thing ties into Jacks--whomever created the show 24 has some secret voodoo knowledge and hid clues in plain sight for those in the know; a subtle nod to signal other adherents).

So . . . let us put this to rest. This information comes from the International Playing-Card Society, who has a stake in recording card history.

So let's not add wishful thinking to the dog pile of myths about the tarot. Okay, now get practicing!