Let me start by saying for the record that coming up with a title for your blog site is no easy task. I agonized about it for weeks, dismissed ideas, revisited ideas, it was a freaking nightmare. What if I picked the wrong one? A good name is hard enough to come up with but a great name? That's a tall order. I was worried that if I finally settled on one, committed to it, that later on I'd regret my decision and wish I'd changed it. In the end it just sort of dawned on me, I had an epiphany, an Ace of Swords moment if you will. It was everything I wanted, it was perfect...
So, why The Fool?
Fortune favors the brave, the bold, the prepared, and sometimes even the wise, but not the fool. Right? If you are familiar with tarot, even a little, you might already know what the name symbolizes, but for those of you that are not let me tell you about The Fool.
(NOTE: The deck that I use is the Wild Unknown deck created by Kim Krans, I take no creative credit for any of the cards. I will use gender pronouns when talking about the cards but that is merely for the sake of clarity and by no means should be taken to imply that certain cards are geared more towards one gender over the other.)
The Fool is the first card in the deck, as is the case in nearly all decks. It is worth noting that some decks have this card at the end of the Major Arcana (the first 22 cards in the deck), but in my opinion that just doesn't feel right. This card begins the deck for a reason, because the tarot cards are all about journeys. The Major Arcana is a journey, as are each of the suits in their order.
In my deck's version the Fool is represented by a little baby bird sitting on a branch, one foot positioned as though he is about to step off his perch (a theme also seen in more traditional Fool cards). There is a lot of energy surrounding him, a feeling of new life and beginnings when you look at the little blooming flowers and the warm colors. He isn't afraid of his seemingly precarious position, nor that he can't see past the darkness below him. He simply trusts in himself and in his journey. It doesn't matter to him where the next step takes him, only that he takes it. Above all things the Fool is there at the beginning to remind us that in order to start our journey we have to take that first step, no matter how scary or uncertain it may make us feel. We have to take the risk.
When I first started to research tarot cards and their meanings, I didn't understand the Fool. I didn't completely dismiss him but I didn't recognize his importance. Sometimes we need a push, a guiding hand, a gesture of encouragement, and that's what the Fool provides for us as our introduction to the rest of the cards. I talk say that word "journey" almost as much as I'll eventually say p-word (POTENTIAL), and that's of course because life is a journey, something we hear all the time but is no less true. The Fool is the tarot's embodiment of all the journeys we take in our lives, and he represents the very essence of our desire to move forward, take those steps towards our true path.
With this in mind, I believe that fortune does indeed favor the Fool, because he is not afraid, he trusts that he is where he is meant to be, and doing what he is meant to be doing. He is a vital character in the tarot for another reason, because many experts are able to agree that you can view the Major Arcana as a journey being undertaken by the Fool, and the cards are the trials and lessons he encounters on the way. I encourage everyone to consider the Fool, don't dismiss him offhand because of his name, take him in and ponder his purpose. All of us sometimes need a little bit more of the Fool in our lives, like that little nudge out of the door like Gandalf did for Bilbo (and what a journey that ended up being!).
Well, I hope that this first post at least gave some of you something to think about. I know I was nervous writing it, but this journey means a lot to me and I must embody the Fool and take the risks to see this journey through. Future posts will include actual readings and different spreads, more of my musings on certain cards, and even some hilarious stories about my tarot experiences. Please leave any comments or questions below, and feel free to subscribe, just please bare with me as I get more familiar with the functions of the website. Thanks for reading!
Until next time...