Hello tarot enthusiasts! Welcome to the first installment of a trip through all 22 cards in the major arcana. I'm going to be envisioning this journey as a "trip" specifically because we're going to take a light look at each card, it's meaning and some of the mysteries that the card reveals. Be sure to follow my blog for future installments!
We begin with 0, The Fool. The very fact that this is the first card (and last) in the tarot but numbered 0 signifies something special about this card. It belongs in the realm of the occult. This card is about what exists before everything else, all that we do, all that we experience and see in our lives, this card is about who we really are. Because of this the card has such an innocent energy. The character is androgynous, meaning uncorrupted by expectations of what gender roles she's expected to adopt. The character is focused on the pleasure of being rather than the danger. The character is in a state of choosing love and not even worrying about what danger may lay ahead. It is unclear whether or not the fool character is coming down from the high mountains or merely took a dangerous trail. Either way the character reveals a sort of enlightenment in that they are totally open to the experience awaiting them. The dog at the fool's side seems to be letting out a warning of caution. This could relate to the fool's own natural instinct to sense danger and needing to listen to it. The fool carries very little and may not have everything she needs for the journey she is on. This is why the fool must interact with the other characters and experiences in the cards, to acquire what is truly needed. She's on the path to enlightenment here so it's not going to be easy though she may naively think so.
This card can represent new beginnings, innocence, youth, naivety and freedom - it can also represent recklessness, risky behaviors, being foolish and disregarding intuition depending on the situation.
The fool is us. Us at our core. The inner self. The inner child. The essence of us having to contend with all that life throws our way while still maintaining our own integrity.