Learning the Tarot: The Fool

Life is full of journeys. Mini—and sometimes major—adventures that we find ourselves in. New jobs. Friendships. Vacations. Learning Mandarin. Training for a marathon. Finding the perfect local cheeseburger. Learning to love yourself more. Starting a business. Starting a family. Starting therapy.

You get the idea.

Tarot talks to us about our lives through the journeys that we’re on. The goal is to use the cards to look at our behaviors, actions, reactions (etc) from multiple perspectives. Our instincts will help us determine what exactly the cards are talking to us about, so practicing the tarot also helps us build and strengthen our relationships with ourselves.

In Tarot, there are two types of cards: the 22 cards of the Major Arcana and those from the Minor. The cards of the Major Arcana take us through the different stages of our journeys, from start to finish. Each is numbered, from 0-21. We start with The Fool.

FROM ZERO TO HERO

The Fool is card zero of the Major Arcana for the simplest of reasons. The Fool IS ground zero. The Fool IS the starting point. Straight up? Without The Fool there is no tarot since…

TAROT IS THE JOURNEY OF THE FOOL.

Yup. That’s right. It’s all about The Fool, baby. And guess what? Folks, we are The Fool.

Remember, those tarot cards are talking about OUR journey. They are giving us advice about our lives. They are tools made specifically with us in mind. Without us, they’re just cards with pictures on them, as pretty or interesting as they may be.

So when you’re thinking about The Fool, you should be thinking about yourself.

Now before you go getting bent out of shape about being called a fool, it’s important to understand what that means in terms of tarot. The Fool is blissfully curious.

They are full of wonder, a desire to learn, and a deep need to discover what they don’t know.

Let’s try a little exercise. Go back in time to when you were young. See if you can’t search your memory for a childhood adventure. It doesn’t have to be complicated, something simple will most definitely do. Catching lightning bugs. Exploring a neighborhood creek. Building a fort with your friends in the woods. Something like that.

Once you’ve selected your memory, try to put yourself back inside of it. Try to remember how huge it felt. It wasn’t just an afternoon, it was an event. Every step along the way was something new and different: an experience to live inside of. Think of how excited you were.

You wanted to touch everything; smell everything; feel everything. You wanted to get up close and put your hands in everything. Dip your toes into the water. Chase the fireflies everywhere and grab at their shiney little butts. You wanted to climb every tree, seek out each and every hideaway and satisfy the myriad of curiosities you had.

The world was a vast mystery that you looked forward to enthusiastically peeling back the layers of and sinking your teeth into. Everything was thrilling. Everything was a chance to explore and discover and learn from.

That is The Fool.

TRUST THE PROCESS

The Fool embarks on their journey with the wonder and curiosity of a child. They’re unconcerned about the risks ahead, a mere fleck in their periphery, if that. They’re focused solely on their adventure, trusting their instincts to guide them along the way. They have faith in the process of discovery and everything it may turn up. Not just the ups but the downs.

They embrace the possibility for mistakes, understanding that these are sometimes the best ways to learn and get a feel for foreign territory. They don’t let worry hold them back. They don’t let fear dictate their behaviors. They don’t get caught up in the minutiae of perfectionism, control issues or other mental hurdles we often find ourselves jumping over.

Think about a time you discovered a new obsession. Knitting. Playing the guitar. Everyone’s desire to master the perfect pandemic sourdough starter. Whatever. Remember how you felt getting really into it? You thought about it all the time. Wanted to be practicing or learning or watching a YouTube video about it all the time. You scroll through Instagram. You buy a book about it. You discover your favorite experts in the field and favorite artist practitioners.

Coming back to you?

You dove into things head first. You didn’t stare at the guitar strings, not making a move. You played. You put your fingers on the strings. You strummed. You sounded terrible. You didn’t care. You did it again. And again. And again.

You were too busy learning and exploring and practicing to be worried that you’d be terrible forever. You were too excited every time you got something right to beat yourself up when you got something wrong.

That is The Fool.

They trust themselves to make it through their journey and to come out on the other side better than they were when they started. They seem to understand that the rewards in life are the journeys themselves and all of the experiences that come with them.

It’s not about creating the most exquisite vase. It’s about learning the art of pottery.

It’s not about winning the race. It’s about learning how to swim.

Not about becoming a Michelin starred chef but learning how to cook a meal they like eating; learning how to knead a loaf of bread or bake their grandmother’s favorite cookies.

It’s truly about the experience and not the destination. They’re not interested in putting limitations on what can and cannot be a part of it.

FIGHT THE POWER

Another beauty of The Fool is their natural inclination to question the rules and stipulations put before them. It’s just another part of their need to learn. They want to know why they’re being instructed to behave in a certain way—to follow a certain, prepared set of rules. They want to understand why things are the way they are. Nothing is taken for granted. Nothing is assumed. They want things to be explained and if they can experience the workings of the rules themselves, all the better.

It’s not about pushing back against the establishment, it’s about understanding the establishment. The Fool doesn’t want to simply follow the rules because they were told to. The Fool needs to make sense of the reason they’re in place. The Fool wants to be in the know.

If they end up improving the society around them because of their natural inclination to question, wonderful. There won’t be hesitation in making important changes. Life is about learning and growing. It’s about trial and error. Hypothesis and experimentation, then moving forward with the results to improve, improve, improve!

Progress does not frighten The Fool. Growth and change only excite them. They know that we’re constantly learning and because of that, are never destined to be stagnant. If we don’t adapt to the changing world around us, we’ll go extinct.

The Fool wants to be in the front seat of that car. Driving, if possible. Worst case scenario, they want to ride shotgun and be in charge of the GPS. Not because they want to be in control or because they think this is some kind of competition but because they want to be involved. They want to be in the thick of things, getting their hands dirty and feeling the wind in their hair. They want to be in the perfect position to make any split second decisions that need to be made. The Fool knows that plans change and they’re always ready and willing. Spontaneity is their jam.

INNOCENCE IS BLISS

The Fool is about openness and possibility. The willingness to face whatever their journey throws at them. It’s about potential and optimism and impulse. Most importantly, The Fool is about having an innocence and enthusiasm that protects them from those fears that prevent happiness.

That worry I mentioned earlier that we ignore when obsession starts? When we let that worry win, we prevent our own happiness. Those mental hurdles we talked about before? Again, keeping us from happiness. All of that enthusiasm and curiosity The Fool is buried in—living in the moment of—keep those fears at bay and let them experience more happiness.

So truly, The Fool’s eternal optimist tendencies pan out because their behaviors ensure it. It’s genius. Talk about making your own karma.

FICTIONAL CHARACTER FOOLS

• Alice
• Dorothy Gale
• Simba
• Charlie Bucket
• Bastian Bux
• Forrest Gump
• Harry Potter
• Miguel Rivera (Coco)
• Luke Skywalker
• Peter Parker
• Moana

Check out my YouTube video about The Fool: