Tarot Tid Bit: The Fool
Tarot Tid Bit: The Fool
What’s on the Card?
The Fool is the most recognizable of all the Tarot cards. In Pamela Colman-Smith’s illustration, a young man is ready to step off a cliff into whatever awaits him at the bottom. His little white dog accompanies him as his voice of reason, which he appears to disregard. He carries a walking stick with a satchel or knapsack attached to the end. This is widely interpreted to hold all his past experiences or everything he knows. It strikes me as very small. What is not shown is the height of the cliff. He’s stepping off into the unknown. It may be five feet…or fifty. Once he is no longer on the cliff, there are challenges to face, evidenced by the mountains that loom in the distance.
What does it all mean?
The Fool is card zero. This is absolute potential. The character on the card can go anywhere and do anything. Joan Bunning explained in Learning the Tarot: A Book for Beginners that this card can be likened to the court jester, who was afforded liberties others were not. The jester could make jokes at the king’s expense, or poke fun at an aristocrat, all without repercussions. No one could be sure what to expect when dealing with the jester. Therefore the Fool can leap into any number of situations without stopping to think what might befall him.
Sometimes the Fool is foolish. Other times he is simply naive. He carries the white rose of innocence, through which his indiscretions can be forgiven. You don’t hold a grudge against a baby who pulls your hair, do you? By the same token, the Fool is learning about the world through experiment and experience.
Interpretations: taking a chance, new beginnings, living in joy, having faith that the universe will provide, spontaneous actions, embracing your inhibitions, incurable optimism, ready (or not so ready) for a journey.
Comparative Tarot: Take a Look at These Fools
On the top left, you will find the Fool from the Medieval Scapini Tarot. A rather vicious-looking cat/lion is doing its best to keep him from stepping off the cliff. A crocodile awaits our poor Fool, representing the obstacles he faces. Although I have not seen this discussed, I see the cliff in this deck as stacks of books. Perhaps these are things he needs to learn.
Now to the right is the Fool from the Old Style Tarot. We have the classic components present in this illustration as the jester is ready to embark on his journey. Wish him luck as he isn’t even looking toward the cliff, but down at his dog who is inspecting the route his master may take.
Third, I bring you the Fool from the Universal Celtic Tarot. This Fool is a leprechaun walking on a rainbow. He might step off his magical path and land…where? Wherever. There are lakes and mountains to get in his way when he does drop down to explore.
Tarot Tidbits are short, hopefully informative, looks at the cards of the Tarot.