Exploring The Fool Tarot Card
A Deep Dive Off the Cliff!
Ready to unpack The Fool Tarot card with extensive keywords, reversed card keywords (oh yeah, baby!). symbol analysis of the Rider-Waite-Smith card, pop culture archetypes, esoteric correspondences, journal prompts, affirmations, a Tarot spread and more? Let’s go!
Because he exists out of time, The Fool is “numbered” zero in most Tarot decks. He exists everywhere…and nowhere This archetypal energy serves as a blank slate: a canvas awaiting paint, a page ready to receive words, a computer after a “factory reset”, a baby newly thrust from the birth canal—or a complete reinvention or restart in life.
It’s a profound card, not only because of its timelessness (which suggests an eternal continuum of our soul)—but also because we can tap into The Fool archetype anytime we need reconfigured for a fresh start. Think of this triad:
The Fool - The World - Death
At the precipice of of the cliff, The Fool is about to enter The World (or a “new” world), with nary a preconceived notion (I like to think his bag is completely empty, awaiting all the treasures—i.e., experiences, memories, lessons and wisdom—he’ll gather on his journey in The World). When his earthly experience comes to and end, he dies (or transforms into something else, e.g. an emerged butterfly). Then, he’s ready to step off into another adventure, another world.
(You can read more about the “beginnings” cards of Tarot in my post about The Fool, Death, The World and Aces here.)
In addition to the blank slate aspect of The Fool, there’s also the “foolish” and child-like (or childish, depending upon the disposition of the observer) tendencies of this archetype. The nature vs. nurture debate has raged for eons when it comes to analyzing (or condemning?) a human’s personality traits and actions.
Is he just being silly? Is she crazy? Are they a wise divine messenger wrapped in a playful, guileless skin? *shrug* We really don’t know when it comes to The Fool. That’s why she can be so irritating, so confounding, so intriguing, so inspiring, so…dangerous. I mean, he’s stepping into a proverbial frying pan, for crying out loud! (Or off a cliff, in the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition). Will he be safe? Will he stay safe? Will she be rescued, ala deus ex machina? Or might she have some kind of cosmic force field protecting her? Think of Jesus about to walk on the water. Or—his telling his mother at the wedding at Cana “Hey, I got this. No wine? No problem…”
No guarantees…just trust.
Might that step lead to a new invention? A new religion? A glorious new lease on life? Or might it end in disaster ala “Grizzly Man”, who thought he had a special relationship with bears?
Before we get too serious (*sigh* esoterica!), here are some pop culture archetypes covering the range within The Fool archetype:
Characters, TV and Movies: Gilligan (Gilligan’s Island); Pee Wee Herman; Puck (A Midsummer Night’s Dream); Peter Pan; Court Jester; Pinocchio; Prodigal Son (Old Testament); Mad Hatter (Alice in Wonderland); Grover (Sesame Street); Mork (Mork and Mindy); 3 Stooges; Goofy; Don Quixote; Scarecrow (Wizard of Oz); Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney); Dory (Finding Nemo); Mater (Cars); Family Jewels (Jerry Lewis); Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Willie Wonka); Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure; Fisher King (Robin Williams); Apple Dumpling Gang (Tim Conway and Don Knotts); Grizzly Man (Documentary)
Do any of those examples surprise you? Resonate out the wazoo? Give you a new perspective on The Fool archetype?
OK, let’s get to the Rider-Waite-Smith image of The Fool (the most well-known) and examine its symbols:
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