Today we begin our journey as The Fool, Number 0--meaning nothing and everything, the circle that is the beginning and the end, the unformed and the uninformed. Think of the womb and our emergence from this circle or sphere of existence into the world at large, also circular. Where we begin, we will come full circle, and end where we started--in the formless void. As Ray Bradbury put it, “The first thing you learn in life is you’re a fool. The last thing you learn in life is you’re the same fool.”

But who is this Fool, you might ask, who begins as a nothing and becomes something along the way (even if a more evolved fool)? How are we the Fool? What does it mean to be the Fool? We will find out as we begin our journey for 22 weeks through the Major Arcana of the Tarot, starting with the humble fool. In many ways, we will always be The Fool as we travel along the path of life and it may be wise not to forget it. As we gain experience and knowledge and wisdom and love and meet challenges and obstacles and have our mettle tested, we might well remember that we are always the Fool at heart, learning as we go, stumbling, making mistakes, starting over, discovering anew--and the learning never ceases.

Yet we are also evolving as spiritual beings on a human path as much as we are human beings on a spiritual path. So let’s pay attention as we see our own life’s path reflected in this Tarot journey we are starting. Let’s remember what it means to transform, to shapeshift, to become the Magician, the High Priestess, the Lovers, Strength, Temperance, The Devil, etc. That beneath it all we are still and always the beginner, The Fool, the one who doesn’t know, even while we gain experience and wisdom--knowing we will never gain it all. And knowing, too, we just might find our way back to 0--to Wholeness--by investigating and integrating these many parts--and not taking ourselves too seriously.

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“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” - William Shakespeare

All it requires to make this journey is a willingness to step off the cliff, a willingness to take one of life’s many risks and encounter life’s mysteries, the unknown, the path that lies before us--the one that waits for us to take the first step... So here we stand, on the precipice, our little dog--our instinctual nature--nipping at our heels, urging us forward--or is it warning us we are about to step off into the abyss? Are you ready? Let’s leap!

The Fool is generally depicted as an androgynous youth, carrying both masculine and feminine qualities, most often looking up, not down, in mid-action, ready to take the leap of faith into the unknown. Will it be safe or dangerous? Creative or destructive? Irrational or rational? Who knows?! The Fool does not concern himself with such details. He is following The Call to Adventure, the first step on The Hero’s Journey, as laid out by Joseph Campbell. And so you are here, having heeded The Call from your own wild soul to take this SoulCollage® Tarot journey. What will you discover? Will you learn things about yourself you didn’t know? Will it be easy or hard? Will it be worthwhile? The Fool is full of questions.

In the Mythic Tarot by Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene, The Fool is described as “a highly ambivalent figure, for there is no guarantee at the beginning of such a journey whether we will arrive safely, if at all. Yet not to begin is to deny the god, which on an inner level means to deny all in us that is youthful, creative, and in touch with that which is greater than ourselves.”

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He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. - Chinese proverb

The Fool by Ari Fuller

Because The Fool has no number, in a sense, he is free to wander and try on all of the different guises of the trump cards of the Major Arcana. In some ways, too, he acts as a bridge between the mystery world of the tarot deck (and the archetypes that inhabit our soul) and the real world we live in, between the unconscious and the conscious. He is able to step out of linear time. In that way it could be said that he is the most powerful of the trump cards for he is able to move freely through space and time.

He is our representative on the soul’s journey, dancing between worlds, at home everywhere and nowhere. He is the court jester who could get away with speaking truth to power. He could entertain the masses while acting as the king’s spy, reporting back what the king’s subjects were gossiping about. Could it be that The Fool is reporting back what he learns of us to the realm of mystery and imagination, to the realm of the gods? Is it possible that he is the messenger who provides the feedback loop between ordinary and non-ordinary reality?

The Fool is akin to the Joker and Trickster archetypes. The joker often acts as a stand-in or wild card--outside of the 52-card pack of a standard playing card deck. The trickster in literature is known to upset the apple cart, to bring the hero down a notch, to wreak havoc, and by so doing cause the hero to learn an important lesson. The youngest son or naive suitor in many a fairy tale is often the bumbling idiot, the one who is pure of heart, who wins the hand of the princess by being guileless and true to himself. Parsifal, the youngest knight in the Grail legend, starts out as the innocent, the simpleton, and through the many challenges he meets and overcomes on his quest for the chalice of the missing divine feminine, becomes a great warrior and Knight of the Round Table.

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Parsifal The Fool by Willy Pogany

Animal Wisdom Tarot

“The trickster's function is to break taboos, create mischief, stir things up. In the end, the trickster gives people what they really want, some sort of freedom.” - Tom Robbins

The archetype of The Fool is often depicted wearing a fool’s cap with bells hanging from it and a multi-colored motley, suggesting the discordance of spirit and the union of opposites (masculine/feminine, conscious/unconscious, upper/lower worlds, wise man/fool, etc.) Bells are symbolic of connecting the realms of heaven and hell. Again, the Fool knows both worlds well and travels to and fro with ease. He is usually depicted under a shining sun, the beacon of conscious daylight, while some cards show him beneath the moon, symbolic of the unconscious. We are reminded that The Fool is comfortable with these dichotomies.

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Most images portray The Fool with a small dog, cat, or other creature at his feet. The animal symbolizes the primal instinct to meet life as it comes without forethought and planning. Often the little dog depicted is barking or nipping at the Fool’s heels, as if to say, “Wake up! The game is afoot! Let’s go! Let’s play!” This instinct will not forsake him on his travels. The dog or animal at his side also represents the loyalty of the imaginative realm, once engaged. We will be calling on that intuitive, instinctive spirit when we make a SoulCollage card to honor each archetype we encounter on the path.

The Fool usually stands on the edge of a cliff, not looking where he is going. In such a way, he will be plunged into life, he will fall into the abyss and have to find his way out for there are mountains to climb.

In the Rider-Waite Tarot, The Fool is depicted as a vagabond with a knapsack--he travels light--hanging on a stick or wand, foreshadowing his next stop as The Magician. His cap, often with a feather in it--his achievement thus far being only that he is starting an adventure--suggests his connection to the divine, either through the king he serves or the gods on high--realms to which he has access.

There is sometimes an eagle or eagle feather depicted on the card, linking him to Zeus, the king of the gods. The adage, “In every fool there is a wise man and in every wise man a fool,” links The Fool to The Emperor and The Hermit, both archetypes that contain him as their opposite. They are two sides of the same coin.

The Eclectic Tarot

We could say life is a fool’s errand if we never stop to contemplate its meaning, to dig deep, to plumb the depths, to live consciously, embracing the light and the shadow, enjoying the riches of the symbolic life, continuing on the path, knowing not where it leads. As the mischievous trickster Puck exclaims in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as if to remind us, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

Journal prompts:

How are you The Fool in your life right now?

What are you wanting to begin in your life now?

What is the first step you are willing to take?

What attitude or spirit do you need to go forth?

What fears might you have of being The Fool?

What mistake have you made recently?

What did you learn from it?

What would it take for you to let it go and move on from your folly, if you haven’t already?

Where have you shrunk from life?

Where do you need to take a leap of faith? How have you taken a leap of faith recently?

What does The Fool want you to know?

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Attributes

beginner’s mindspontaneous unafraid, courageousenergeticunconsciousanarchyhumilityrenegadefree spiritanticipationuntriedwondermenttrustingcuriouspurity, innocenceplayful

Shadow

gulliblelacking directionguileconventionalimmatureirresponsiblestuckunawareuntrustingfearfulnoncommittalrisk averseloose cannonoverly-carefullack of spontaneitynot learning from mistakes