Understanding the Major Arcana: The Fool Card

Let's explore the first card of the entire deck: The Fool

The Fool is one of my favorite cards; within just this one card are messages about adventure, opportunity & ease.

And that's not even everything.

There are in fact so many different elements to the Fool card, that over the millennia, there have been several theories and tons of scholarly thoughts published on the topic of understanding it in entirety.

Because there are so many aspects carved within the ink of this card, the Fool can seem confusing at first, at least until you realize that is part of it's message; treading into the unknown.

This is part of what makes this card one of my favorites; there are just enough elements and symbols within it to keep it eternally interesting, yet not so many things that it takes forever to memorize the various different interpretations and presentations when laid with other cards under various question topics.

Before I share some more thoughts, I've thrown together a list of various astrological, magickal, numerical and virbational associations, which I find are helpful when learning to work with the vibe of the Fool in all ways:


Direction: East

Chakra: Root Chakra & Sacral Plexus

Primary Element: Air

Planet: Uranus / Oranous / Caleus

Associated Deities:  Zeus? / Aditit (Hindu) / Dayeus /

Runes: Berkanan, Dagaz, Perth, Wunjo

I-Ching Glyph: Wu Wang - Innocense without Rashness

Colors: Yellow & Orange

Psychological: Id - Inner Child/Being

Stones & Gems: Agates, Herkimer Diamonds, Lepidolite, Tourmaline, Turqoise

Hard Symbols: Dogs, Mountains, Roses, Staffs, Sun, Pomegranites, Men/Boys, Scrotums, Feathers, Torches, Beacons, Blue Sky, Clouds, Butterflies, Staves/Wants, Bushes/Leaves, Ocean, Trees, Cliffs, Walking, Shadows.

Number: 0 - Masculinity, Infinitey, Absence of Everything, Potential for Everything, Blank Slate, Release from Cycle of Rebirth/Death, Beginnings after Endings, Adventure, Mystery.

Vibrations: Paths of Least Resistance, Innocence, Beginnings, Guidance, Fearlessness, Hope, Curiosity, Excitement, Ease, Expansion,



Stages: Young Adulthood - Before becoming a Page

Fool Specific Associations: Journeys, Potential, Blanks Slates, Ace of the Arcana, Sexuallity, Foolishness, Hope, Taking the Leap, Following Passions, Blind Trust.

Thoughts:

• More than anything, the Fool card is about seeking alignment with YOUR Inner Self/Being, and allowing it to lead you towards what you believe will satisfy you most via the nearest and easiest path of least resistance: in effect, for those of you who follow it, it is the Law of Attraction card. What it says to you first and foremost is: Get yourself into alignment with yourself and the universe; then just allow everything else will fall in line as if by magic.
• Being the "0" Card - Just this one element of the Fool card has called to it a great deal of controversy; mostly because the best of the best are still arguing over whether or not "0" can be considered a number at all. I feel safe settling with a simple interpretation that the number 0 is the energy that exists after endings and before beginnings. It represents primordial energy and the infiniteness of the universe and our true selves.
• In my experience, most folks tend to focus too much on the most obvious areas of the card: like the fool walking toward a cliff and the dog at his side. You don't want to overlook these elements, but they certainly aren't the only important components to this card, and the many others in it can vary in level of importance in a reading, depending on the other cards which show up with it.

• The Fools SHADOW is one of the components of the card that I find is most often overlooked andor taken for granted; which is sort of suprising to me. Shadows can represent many things to different people, though for me, when you're looking at the Shadow in the Fool card, what you're seeing is what the Fool is intentionally refusing to look at; which he needs to do if he is to have a successful journey. He doesn't need to do it right away, but the longer he waits to address his shadow self, the more it will grow until he can no longer ignore it.

• If you hadn't already noticed, the Fool card is the only card in the entire deck that has no astrological zodiac sign associated with it. This isn't a bad thing of course, but it's important to understand that the Fool represents the Traveller; or rather, he represents us as we travel through each sign and each card in the Major Arcana and the minor Arcana.
• One of my favorite lesser known aspects of the Fool card is that it's about taking a gamble or following a hunch; thus it often tells us that whether or not the gamble pans out, it will be worth the adventure.
• Another of my favorite lesser known Fool elements, is that it doesn't suggest what you want to do or what you are learing about, is important to your Soul's evolution andor to unlocking the next level in this lifetime.
• In my experience, the biggest message the fool shares with us in any reading, is that what's important is not where we end up, how many material possessions we have or even the relationships that flit in and out of our lives; what's most important is the Journey.

Interpretations

General:

Clearly, most of what the Fool card speaks to, is about your soul's journey in this lifettime and overall. Though in general, it can also represent:

• Another Person in your life (or who is about to come into your life); New, Old, Forgotten...who is starting a new journey, most likely with the querrent...
• a Transformation is about to begin in some area of your life.
• This is a good time to pay attention to syncronicities and coincidental experiences
• Pay attention to your upcoming dreams; you might receive important messages or lessons through them.
• Now is a good time to trust your instincts and primal urges.
• Don't listen to naysayers, doubters, negative Nelly's, Debbie downers, critics or anyone else who might suggest you can't achieve what you want; remind them and yourself, that what's always achieveable is experience and what's always most important is that you are satisfied about where YOUR journey is headed.

Love:

 In general, the upright fool is a good omen for most love related questions. Though it's wise to keep in mind it's most important love lessions:

• This relationship; if you choose to pursue it, can/is important to soul path in this lifetime. That could mean that this will be a short be impactfully passionate soulmate connection, or it could indicate this person is one of your life partners. The fool is a fool for love, so he'll never kiss and clearly tell you which. Though if you see him laid down with the Lovers, King of Cups, Queen of Pentacles, High Priestess, Ten of Cups, Empress, Two of Cups andor any of the Aces; it's highly likely that this will be an especially pleasurable and meaningful relationship for you both, for however long it lasts. 
• Have fun, embrace your sense of wonder and childlike sense of playfulness...
• Don't forget to attend to other just as important areas of your life. It's easy to get carried away by new or reignited love. Though to allow that to happen is foolish enough to ruin you both if you let it.

Business: 

The Fool card is pretty cut and dry when it comes to financial and business related questions. When upright, your odds are good. When it's reversed, the odds are against you this round. 

Spiritual: 

The Fool card is usually a good card to see when you're seeking answers in relation to your spiritual self andor current spiritual journey. It usually signifies:

• Your Spirit Guides support you on this journey you're taking or want to start taking. They want you to know that they will take care of all the unseen challenges they can, and help guide you through any they can't. All you have to do is trust yourself, trust them, and trust that you are on the right path now.
• Remember that the Fool is the character that travels through the cards and the signs of the Zodiac. With that in mind, it's common to interpret the Fool is a placeholder for YOU. In this instance, he is likely telling you that this adventure you want to take or have already started, is important to your soulpath, and should you follow it through to completion; the outcome will be profoundly important and meaningful to you.
• It could also be more simply, that the Fool is telling you that what you want and who you are, are in alignment with each other or will be as soon as you begin your journey.

Reversed Interpretation:

 The Fool Reversed is fairly easy to interpret and is one of the few cards that usually means the direct opposites to the messages it gives when upright. Some other messages that can be passed on by the Fool Reversed:

• In readings about yourself or another person (especially love questions): when spotted in bed with the Three of Cups, Three of Swords, Five of Pentacles, Three of Pentacles, Reversed Lovers, Reversed Two of Pentacles, Six of Cups (reversed or upright), Nine of Swords, Eight of Swords, andor any of the Ace's Reversed; can suggest this relationship is/will be stressful, painful, cathartic, taxing, risky/dangerous for your health, negatively addicting andor that there are many reasons not to trust this person.
• You're out of alignment with your true/inner being and the universe.
• Don't assume anything and watch out for Projections, Illusions and Delusions.
• Now is a BAD time to start a new journey; it's better to wait and be sure you've got everything you need in your sack.
• Should you foolishly decide to start a new journey now, it's likely that this journey, it's likely that it will either teach you an important lesson you need to learn in this life journey, especially if the Hanged Man card appears in the same reading. Alternatively, it could also be that you're working against yourself and the positive life lessons you've been learning, and getting back into bad habits you know you shouldn't be getting into; especially when paired with the Devil card.
• Look before you Leap: Depending on the other cards in the reading, the fool might not be trying to tell you not to take this journey, but rather to simply slow down and look before you leap. Otherwise you might unexpectedly walk off a cliff.

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