#TarotTuesday | A Closer Look at The Fool

Tuesdays are MAGICAL, a day for the celebration of all things TACO, TEQUILA, and TAROT. Each week, we're going to celebrate #TarotTuesday by taking a deep dive into one of the cards. We're going to start with the Major Arcana, and spend the first Tuesday looking at its upright presentation, and the next Tuesday studying the Rx. Let's get started with the first card in the Major Arcana: The Fool.

The first card in the Major Arcana tells us to expect the unexpected. In the Rider Waite deck, The Fool, dressed fresh to death, wearing a look of ultimate serenity, eyes heavenward, strides toward the edge of the cliff without taking notice of the fact that HE'S STRIDING TOWARD THE EDGE OF A CLIFF. In that bundle, he carries all of his earthly possessions (he was an early adopter of the minimalism trend).

The planetary ruler of The Fool is Uranus. Fun fact: Uranus has such an extreme tilt to its axis that it appears like it's orbiting the sun on its side. In astrology, Uranus represents eccentricity, originality, and individuality, making it a fitting ruler for The Fool, who balks at convention and walks through the world to the beat of his own drum. (n.b. second fun fact: British astronomer William Herschel discovered Uranus on my birthday, March 13, of 1781. The more you know 💫) The energy of Uranus is all about innovation, about ducking responsibilities and defying norms and expectations. 

The Fool is also associated with the element of air, which is all about ideas and dreams as they exist in the realm of inspiration before we ground them in space and time by actually acting on them. Air is pure possibility and potential, a vibe The Fool totally embodies. Robert Wang, in his text The Jungian Tarot and its Archetypal Imagery (FANTASTIC beach read! j/k It's super informative but definitely requires focus and a highlighter) sums it up: "Thus, The Fool, the first card in the modern tarot deck, may legitimately be viewed as the principle of universal becoming and the source of all that is known. It is symbolic of the very creation of the universe." (p 17). So when we draw The Fool in a tarot deck we are throwing it wayyyyyyyy back and starting at the very very beginning.

The Fool is enthusiastic and bursting with pure creative energy. When we embody the energy of The Fool, we have boundless potential and are ready to take that ultimate leap of faith, crowning  The Fool the ultimate YOLO card of the deck (you thought YOLO was finally over, didn't you. NOPE). When The Fool appears in a reading, be ready to experience profound change.

As all cards in the tarot, The Fool can present as either upright or reversed, light or shadow, a model or a warning. As a model, The Fool encourages us to be open, spontaneous, to follow that which sets our soul on fire. We're encouraged to trust our gut and follow our bliss, basking in how good it feels to be in the flow.

As a warning, the Fool cautions us against willful ignorance and arrogance and begs us to slow down and reflect. Like in the She Wolfe deck above, The Fool is ready to take that leap of faith...but there are wolves and dangerous-looking black holes below her. As a warning, we might want to look before we leap.

Regardless of direction, The Fool is brings with him a message: a big choice lies before us, and we need to be prepared for a whole new way of thinking and being in the world.

Want to learn more about The Fool and the other cards of the Major Arcana? Are you new to tarot and not quite sure where to start? The first Interior Creature Course, "The Tarot of Transformation: Using Tarot as a Tool for Decision-Making and Personal Spiritual Growth," is LIVE and we can't wait for you to join the class! It is chock full of videos and tutorials, downloadable cheat sheets, exercises and journal pages, and is designed to jump-start your journey toward giving yourself super powerful insightful tarot readings! The course is totally self-paced and priced less than the cost of a deck of tarot cards! Follow this link and enter the promo code TAROT101 at checkout to receive 22% off 💕💕💕

Bibliography:

TarotJaclyn MichelleTarot, tarot tuesday, Tarot of Transformation, tarot 101, The Fool, Uranus, AirComment