This month I am looking at the Fool card. This card is a very powerful card and contains a huge amount of symbolism and depth – I will just scratch the surface a little here this month.
The card shows the Fool as the main character with feet up suggesting an ungrounded quality – it is almost as if he has his feet in the air sliding along joyfully on ice – I feel this connects us with the Fool’s trustfulness qualities – not fully owning his responsibility but completely trusting all will be well. An innocent childlike faith in things. The cord wrapped three times round the card is likened to the umbilical cord and is seen coming from his right nipple. There is a sense that he is nurtured and fed by his connection to the great Mother, hence his ability to have such complete faith. The universe looking after him as he follows his heart in all things. We see this manifest practically in someone’s ‘beginners luck’ with no conscious knowledge of how something ‘should’ be done often we find our first attempts at something are very effective, and decline as we start to impose our will, control and learning upon them before returning to a more conscious competence. This umbilical cord has a caduceus entwines and represents the healing that can spontaneously come as we follow our hearts into situations we then learn from and heal old wounds with the experience. It is also a symbol of transformation which is often apparent when this card appears. A new start and a complete transformation of how we view the world; we have fresh eyes on things and an excitement and heart based joy arises.
The bag he carries contains disks – each with an astrological symbol upon it. they are arrange around the sun symbol in the center, the planets surrounding and the constellations surrounding the planets, thus we have a representation of the universe. The fool carries with him the potential of all the universe and a potential wealth of everything that exists. Nothing is formed as yet – however the possibility is there as he sets out on his journey. The sun in his genitals and the sun as center in the bag both suggest that it is his own viewpoint that he is starting from, he has confidence, even where a more mature approach would consider this ‘foolish’. His moves forward are all about him, yet also he is in tune with himself in this starting position, there is rarely error in his approach, only the potential for great things to develop from the learning situations he encounters.
He ignores his fears and his animalistic desires, even his wounds, he is not ‘trying’ to heal, merely healing through the process of what befalls him naturally. Often we find this on our life path, that without conscious determination to heal our past we are put in situation which show us more and more clearly where we need to develop and heal. Our life in a sense is its own therapy, once we pay attention to it we can gain a great deal from following where we are drawn to go. The foll doesn’t have that awareness yet – however it is likely to come, through the situations he places himself in, and through his inner Will being adhered to. Fear does not make him careful and this is a strength.