Would it surprise you, though, to learn that this most common of meanings for rose is related to neither the Fool nor the Magician card? Not beyond that, the white rose the Fool holds represents that innocent, pure, blank canvas suggestion of the roses stained red with Aphrodite's blood. The Fool holds a white rose to let us know this is the beginning, the fresh, the existence prior to the change. And in many cultures, white flowers are customary funeral flowers, associating them with death, too. In fact, we see the white rose reemerge on the flag thirteen cards later with Death. Death being the ending that brings about rebirth, a new beginning. The Fool is that new beginning.