The Fool’s Journey

Tarot is storytelling and uses archetypes of common life experiences to tell those stories.

The Major Arcana is big picture things: themes that can show up in life.

The Minor Arcana is more like day to day stuff, how those themes are playing out.

The reason why this is important is because we are a social species and we use stories to relate to each other, to connect, and to share knowledge. When we think of tarot in terms of the story it’s telling, it makes it easier to connect with the cards and the messages that they’re sharing.

Anyone can read tarot! If you read tarot, you are a tarot reader. The learning is in the doing with tarot, so as soon as you start reading cards you are a card reader. I started out reading cards for myself for years before I slowly branched out to reading for other people and I didn’t identify as a tarot reader because it was a solo practice. But even solo practitioners are still practitioners.

The Fool’s Journey starts and ends with the Fool, which is the zero card. The Fool goes through their journey and meets or embodies different characters along the way. This is infinite potential, it’s ideas being born. If we’re writing a book, the Fool card represents the idea that oh hey– maybe I can write a book. And then playing with well, what’s that book going to be about? It could be about anything! That’s so exciting, I’ve never written a book before, I don’t even know where to start.

And then as soon as the Fool starts their journey, they meet or become the Magician. This is the first draft. The Magician has a basic understanding of the material world and has learned how to shape that world. In the Waite-Smith deck, the Magician is working with all four of the minor arcana in order to create the world that the Magician wants to see created.

Then we move on to meet the High Priestess. The High Priestess is realizing that there is a world beyond the material. I would say that in this metaphor, this could be the editing process. What is the underlying message in this book we’re writing? What is going to be read between the lines? The High Priestess helps us read between the lines of the material world.

Then, the Empress, card number 3. This is publishing! The book is born into the world and we get to enjoy the fruits of our labor. The Empress receives– this could be feedback, this could be praise, this could be wealth. The Empress is bringing things into being in the world. Often this card is related to pregnancy and birth. 

The Emperor comes next, I like to think of this card as learning how to nurture what we’ve birthed. How to engage with the fruits of your labor. What are you doing to keep this thing alive?

The Hierophant comes next, teaching us about tradition. This is the way things are done, the way things have been done, and why we do them this way. This is the structure, this is what works and has been proven works. This is how everyone does it, this is how it’s always been done. This is the tradition.

The Lovers are the rebels. Yes, maybe things have been done that way but we’re going to go our own way. We want to try something new, together. Yes, this card often indicates a union of two but sometimes that’s not two people. Sometimes the two that comes together is your knowledge from Spirit and your desire to explore that knowledge in the world. 

Which is where the Chariot comes in. We’re moving. We’re on the new path that we decided to forge and it’s heart-centered and divinely guided. It feels like home to us because it’s our path that we chose. This is where we find our Strength, the next card or character we meet on our journey. 

Strength embodies all the queens in the minor arcana put together. This is where we find our courage and learn to embody our power. In the Wilds of our journey, we learn to tame the beasts and face our fears.

But there is still more to learn. Facing our fears and dangers on the road is quite scary. The Fool might need some council again on this road, someone who has been this way before and can lead them through the dark. This is the Hermit. The Hermit lights the path forward with the lantern they carry.

And on this lighted path, the Hermit helps us see the patterns. The Hermit guides us to notice the lessons we learned but haven’t quite integrated yet. This is the Wheel of Fortune that the Fool is being shown. It signifies the completion of the first half of The Fool’s journey. Knowledge that the Fool has learned is clicking into place.

With this knowledge, the Fool is no longer ignorant and therefore must suffer the consequences of their actions, so to speak. They have come to learn right from wrong and Justice comes to bring those consequences. This isn’t necessarily bad, per se, but it is a decision point.

The Hanged Man is the sacrifice that is made after justice has been served. The Fool is giving up their autonomy finally to see things from a new perspective. Wisdom is gained through sacrifice and this is where on our journey, we meet Death.

Death comes for us all and in this death we are reborn again. It is the great equalizer. This could signify an ego death after the practice of humility with the Hanged Man. And with this ego death, this rebirthing of sorts, comes exploration.

Temperance is a practice of moderation. Temperance is the Divine Androgyn, a balance of practicality and spirituality, of knowledge and ignorance, Temperance is discovery and a new sense of awe for the world.

But, the Fool is only human and curiosity and wonder leads them to seeking pleasure, especially having gone through such trials and tribulations of Justice, Hanging, and Death. And so they meet the Devil, who is all ties them up in their addictions and pleasure seeking. Until–

The Fool hits rock bottom.The Tower: the protection they sought from worldly pleasures, falls. A foundation built on only partial knowledge. It’s outside of their control for the most part. With The Tower, the Fool learns powerlessness and is humbled once again but this humbling is a bit more intense than that of the Hanged Man. The Fool is left with nothing.

But in this nothing, is great potential. The Star is the next character on our path. The tragedy of the Tower frees the Fool from their stuck ways of thinking and gives them room to dream of a new future. The Star offers solace in imagination and a new beginning. Once again, anything is possible.

This meeting allows the Fool to see the way by light of the Moon. The Fool is freed from the abuse they experienced at the hand of themselves or the hand of another. They can move out of the waters of emotion and through the gate of initiation, straight on til morning.

Where they are greeted by the Sun. A new lease on life. The Fool is experiencing the freedom that they dreamed of, they have traversed the underworld and arrived, truly reborn. Ready to shine and be all they can be.

But, of course, because life is cyclical, as we have learned through our journey, Judgement reawakens that which the Fool thought to be dead already so that they might look at it a second time, with their new eyes. This is the time where the Fool discovers what is meant to stay at rest and what is meant to be integrated.

This gives the Fool a worldly understanding. Coming to a close on their journey with the World. They have learned all there is to learn on this particular journey and of course, the more you know, the more you know you don’t know and so… 

The Fool returns to the void of unknowing, of infinite potential and curiosity that leads them into the unknown once again. Starting their journey over.