We talk a lot about the fool’s journey in the tarot, but what does that even mean?
Most folks think of The Fool card as the hero about to embark on a quest. However the Fool–as we can gather by name–has not experienced any hardships and is floating into the world a new soul.
The cards following The Fool, numbered 1-21 in the Major Arcana, are the different characteristics and challenges faced by the Fool in their grand quest to become a fully realized individual. Beginning with Card 1, The Magician, they begin to manifest their reality from nothing. In card 2, The High Priestess, the Fool must mine their psyche and listen to what is sacred, searching within and without for solutions. And so the cards in the Major Arcana continue, offering lessons and experiences that the Fool faces in order to fully ascend into themselves and the world.
The Fool’s journey is our own. Like the Fool, we face doorways into the Self and in the world that ask us to create our life, fully and authentically.
A tarot reading is a look at this journey. And all journeys have a story. While our individual experiences differ, underlying them are universal truths. And these universal truths can be seen in the archetypes illustrated in the Major Arcana cards.
We see the universality of the hero’s journey in popular culture as well. Generally, in fictions books and movies there is a protagonist who heeds a call to overcome a foe, internal or external. And the quest begins from there.
Most often, the writers crafting these narratives are using a literary device called the “story arc,” which is an outline for constructing a meaningful and engaging story. I became interested in the story arc because it is essentially, also, the Fool’s journey.
The Story Arc and the idea of Storytelling is something I explore in my zine, Storytelling Tarot.
Where are you in your own heroic tale?
Are you just stepping into contact with an internal foe? Are you in the final battle with the Chariot in toe, your world almost changed? Grab your cards or connect with me and let’s take a look.