Heidekolb's Blog

The Fool and the Book

Within the imagery of the Tarot the Fool is the first card. It is he who initiates the journey. The head in the clouds,  he is dangerously close to the precipice, followed only by his canine companion. There is no way around it, I cannot escape feeling foolish when I enter new territory, when I start something new.  I am there now. There are two books on my mind. One of them is the book. It arrived yesterday in the mail. I don’t know what I was expecting, but  certainly not this. An eleven pound package?! This was clearly not the usual paperback that ends up on my doorstep. I must have had a neat, little red paperback in my mind. I know this is beyond foolish, it is idiotic. No, I have not made it to the Rubin Museum yet, yes, I regrettably missed all the introductory lectures. I just had this private little fantasy of Jung’s Red Book, which I was looking forward to holding in my hands. And here it is. Huge, red, heavy, (nine pounds, I put it on the scale) ominous, beautiful, weighty. Definitely not designed for small New York apartments. Both my apartment and I seem to shrink in its presence. (I am supposed to be the one who does the shrinking). The self-imposed task of working myself through the book has a dizzying effect. Once opened the book reveals  imagery that takes my breath away. And I only dare to get a glimpse of them, I cannot yet look too closely. I see Jung’s intricate longhand in German and Latin, the intensity of his focus revealed in the details of his paintings and drawings. I put the book on a the top shelf of a book case. The only spot where it will fit.

The other book on my mind is one I am not even sure it exists. I hope it does. I am in need of it and I will look for it online. Its title should be something like Blogging for Dummies. I need to learn the ropes. Categories? Tags? Links? I like the idea of writing and publishing my musings in cyberspace. It is like forming a thought and letting it drift back into the collective psyche. Maybe somewhere, somebody will come across it and pick up the thread. I will go now and search for this book. I just hope it is not another nine pounder. That would be more than I can handle. And then…let the journey begin.