The Fool

The leap. A new beginning, taken on trust.

The picture

A young traveller stands at the very edge of a cliff, face lifted to the sky, about to step off. He carries a white rose in one hand and a small bundle tied to a staff over his shoulder. A little white dog jumps at his heels. Behind him the sun is shining full, and snowy peaks rise in the distance.

Upright

The Fool carries no number at all, or a zero, which comes to the same thing. He is everything that could happen before any of it has.

When he turns up, something new is starting, and you will not see the whole path before you begin. Nobody ever does. You step, and the path appears under your feet. He carries almost nothing, because a new start does not need the old luggage. The white rose is an open heart. The dog is your instinct, and it will warn you if the ground is really wrong.

There is wisdom in that foolishness. The Fool trusts, and trust is what gets anyone off the edge.

Reversed

Reversed, the leap is held back. Most often the card is blocked: the new start is sitting there waiting and fear is keeping you on the cliff, checking the drop one more time. It can also be too much of the Fool, the leap taken with no thought at all, the dog barking and nobody listening.

Ask which one it is. If you have been peering over the edge for months, the card is asking you to go. If you have been leaping without looking, it is asking you to look first, just once.

When it turns up

What new beginning is waiting for you to stop checking the drop?

The Fool has also been a Tarot Card of the Week. Read that post to see the card at work on a real week.

If you would like the cards read against your own chart, my readings are here.

Related pages
Uranus · The Fool as a Birth Card · The Twenty Two Paths