I. Il Bagatto - The Trickster

[fire cat pickles]

Minchiate card deck - Florence - 1860-1890 - Trumps - 01 - Papa uno
A. Baragioli (editor) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

As Il Matto continues on his journey, after some strife and discord, he meets Il Bagatto, the "Trickster"...

How do you feel about this card in other decks? Is it the same as this one? There are other people present in this card, too, as there is in the Minchiate Fool. This lends another layer of meaning onto this card, I think. There are two people in this card, as in the Fool, but they are older. Are these the same people as in the first card, now maturing? Is the Fool learning his way through life, as we all do, by trial and error? 

 

 

In the game of Minchiate the first five numbered cards are called Il Papi or "The Popes". For me, this suggests a type of guidance for the querent (or yourself if you're reading for yourself). The Trickster, therefore, has not only to finagle but finesse their way through the first part of their adult life, this adolescent period. The figures that the Trickster is talking to appear to be in this age range, if we look closely. Like all of us do in life, we make mistakes, we fall down and get back up again, we try what works and doesn't work. We are not all saints! As we learn what works and doesn't work for us; in other words, how we temper our lives by adjusting to it; we suffer the consequences of our actions as much as we reap the benefits.

 

 

So there is a dichotomy in this card. After all, it is the second card in the deck. For me, this card is about choice as much as it is about circumstance. We sometimes find ourselves in situations that require action. But of course actions have consequences. Are we going take on the philosophy of the Trickster or of Papa uno? Are we going to say to ourselves, "All is fair in love and war" or "Ill-gotten gains do not prosper"? 

 

 

Of course in life there are no easy problems or solutions. The Fool had a solution in search of problem, and he's found it later in life with the Trickster. Perhaps a little bit of both of the above philosophies can be applied in situations we are faced with. Life doesn't come with an instruction booklet. Such is the paradox of The Trickster.

Edited May 5, 2019 by fire cat pickles