0 The Fool (Rider Waite Tarot)
First Impressions
For the start of his journey the Fool carries a bundle on his back. It looks like a satchel that a student would carry, or a messenger bag or purse. Not very big for all his worldly possessions, so he is obviously traveling light. Light on possessions, light on experience and knowledge. No doubt at the end of his journey his pack will be much heavier with all he has learned, done, seen and gathered on the way.
I never saw this clean-shaven, pretty and somewhat effeminate Fool as a vagabond like le Mat of the Tarot de Marseille decks. His clothes are a little bit flouncy and crazy, but they look fine and elaborate. He looks like the youngest son of a wealthy family slumming it, backpacking, off on an adventure with his joyously frolicking dog and his backpack. The pampered youth having an adventure without Mommy and Daddy for the first time, out to see the big wide world.
This card is supposed to represent new beginnings. But he’s standing right at the edge of a cliff. Despite the dog’s supposed role to stop him, or warn him, looks like his adventure is going to end badly and soon. So what is the dog doing, anyway? Just along for the ride, loping alongside, just happy to be at his master’s side in the sunshine? Or is he trying to warn his master, herd him away from the edge?
They say that
God watches out for fools and small children, and I always thought that this adage fits the Fool in this deck particularly well. The oblivion of a fool, unaware of his surroundings, and the innocent and heedless joy of a small child. The security of knowing that whatever they may do, whatever dumb move they may make, Someone is looking after them.
So how have I usually considered this card? Innocence, beginnings, the start of a journey. Physical or more commonly metaphorical. Not looking before you leap. In fact, not feeling that you have to: that security, that feel of divine protection. Actions without considering the consequences. I also associate this card with children, as well as childlike innocence and heedlessness.
As card number zero, and as a card originally unnumbered in traditional Tarot decks, the Fool is essentially outside the realm of the Major Arcana. I made the following notes last year on the Tarot de Marseille card:
my TdM notes said:
Unlike later decks that number the Fool as card 0 and place him at the front of the deck, le Mat in the Tarot de Marseille is commonly unnumbered and placed at the end of the trumps. This is a throwback to the Tarot deck as a card game; le Mat was a "wild card" and so was not ranked among the other trumps, as it could "trump" any of the other cards. For all intents and purposes, le Mat is outside the trumps; some explanations of the structure of the Tarot actually consider there to be three distinct groupings within the deck: the trumps, the minor cards and le Mat. It is often considered an outside or transitional card.
What does le Mat represent to me? In the Tarot de Marseille it represents freedom. A completely untrammelled card, free as the Air it is linked to elementally. As the song says, freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose. And le Mat shown here, the vagrant on the road with his faithful or goading dog at his heels, has nothing left to lose. He has nowhere to go but up. This freedom means that he is truly outside the trumps and need adhere to none of the rules that hem in the rest of the archetypes, the rest of society.
As a person, he may manifest as a child or someone with a particular childlike or naive outlook in life. Like the innocent ramblings of a child, this figure does not pay attention to where he is going or what he is doing. There is something deliciously liberating about that. He can pop up anywhere he likes – before le Bateleur, after le Jugement, after le Monde, or anywhere else he so chooses. Like the zero he is not assigned in this deck, he can be everywhere and nowhere, anything and nothing. The possibilities are endless.
Creator’s Notes
From
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot :
Waite said:
With light step, as if earth and its trammels had little power to restrain him, a young man in gorgeous vestments pauses at the brink of a precipice among the great heights of the world; he surveys the blue distance before him-its expanse of sky rather than the prospect below.
A typical younger son, I always thought. The rich and irresponsible son who sets out to see the world rather than stay home and learn the family business. Not looking out, Daddy’s money was always there to cushion him.
Waite said:
His act of eager walking is still indicated, though he is stationary at the given moment; his dog is still bounding. The edge which opens on the depth has no terror; it is as if angels were waiting to uphold him, if it came about that he leaped from the height. [emphasis is mine]
I bolded that bit, because it seems to me to be so apt; it heralds back to that sense of divine protection that I associate with this card.
Waite said:
His countenance is full of intelligence and expectant dream. He has a rose in one hand and in the other a costly wand, from which depends over his right shoulder a wallet curiously embroidered. He is a prince of the other world on his travels through this one-all amidst the morning glory, in the keen air. The sun, which shines behind him, knows whence he came, whither he is going, and how he will return by another path after many days.
To me, this links the Fool to the element of Air. Light, airy and untrammeled in his wanderings, his role as prince of the other world.
Waite said:
He is the spirit in search of experience. Many symbols of the Instituted Mysteries are summarized in this card, which reverses, under high warrants, all the confusions that have preceded it.
So many of the symbols in this card (the rose, the sun, the mountains) are common Rosicrucian emblems and similar. Seems a little presumptuous to assume that it clears up all confusion, but that’s typical of Waite’s confidence (or arrogance).
Waite said:
In his Manual of Cartomancy, Grand Orient has a curious suggestion of the office of Mystic Fool, as apart of his process in higher divination; but it might call for more than ordinary gifts to put it into operation. We shall see how the card fares according to the common arts of fortune-telling, and it will be an example, to those who can discern, of the fact, otherwise so evident, that the Trumps Major had no place originally in the arts of psychic gambling, when cards are used as the counters and pretexts. Of the circumstances under which this art arose we know, however, very little.
The conventional explanations say that the Fool signifies the flesh, the sensitive life, and by a peculiar satire its subsidiary name was at one time the alchemist, as depicting folly at the most insensate stage.
“The flesh, the sensitive life,” can perhaps represent the innocence of the childlike state.
Others’ Interpretations
In
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, Wait says the following of this card, in terms of interpretation in reading:
Waite said:
ZERO. THE FOOL.--Folly, mania, extravagance, intoxication, delirium, frenzy, bewrayment. Reversed: Negligence, absence, distribution, carelessness, apathy, nullity, vanity.
Symbols and Attributes
Not being overly conversant with Qabalah (or overly interested at this point, I must add), I intend to largely ignore it in the context of the Rider-Waite Tarot. My study, my rules.
Astrologically, this card is one of the three that is lately tacked onto the relatively new discovery of three new planets. The Fool is astrologically linked to Uranus; prior to its discovery it was associated with the element of Air. Uranus is apparently an unpredictable planet, and so is connected to the Fool’s erratic and unpredictable nature, prone to whims. Personally I prefer the elemental association with Air. Free, unfettered, unpredictable, intangible. Seems to be a lightweight element, but anyone who has survived a hurricane or tornado would argue this point.
The Fool’s pack dangles from a staff he carries over one shoulder. Waite called it a wallet, but in the way it is suspended from the staff over his shoulder it recalls le Mat’s hobo’s bundle that holds all his worldly goods. In this case, though, it most likely contains less tangible possessions. The pack holds all the knowledge and experience he needs to begin his journey, and it will likely expand to hold more and more as the Fool progresses. Something also that has been pointed out: is that it is slung over his shoulder to be carried behind him. They are past experiences, and therefore behind him. His future, before him, is wide open. It is hard to make out what the symbol is on the front of his pack. It may be a shell or scallop, some say, such as the type that pilgrims used to carry for luck on their pilgrimages. [
ETA: studying the scans from the PKT, I see it appears to be the simplistic outline of a bird, a creature of the air.]
The little white dog is said to represent the animalistic, instinctual side of the human psyche, and the unconscious. This is emphasized by the fact that the Fool hardly appears to notice him there. Rather than seeing him, he is looking up at the sky. Is the dog barking a warning to the Fool? Some other renditions of this card would have us think so, as the dog looks more worried or anxious, and is more aggressive in attracting the Fool’s attention. Or, as in the Robin Wood Tarot’s Fool card, silently anxious: you can almost hear him thinking “I wouldn’t go there, please watch out, please …” But in this version he seems as oblivious of their danger as the Fool, and is barking merrily at his side.
Rosicrucian and similar secret society allegories aside, a white rose like the one in his hand is supposed to represent innocence and purity. Here at the start of his journey this is appropriate for the Fool and his outlook. He is childlike in his innocence and inexperience.
On his head, the Fool wears a hat crowned with a wreath of laurel leaves, an ancient symbol of victory or success. It bodes well for the Fool’s endeavours. Or, as others argue, because the Fool represents a point in a circular journey, this is victory from his last go-round. Waite apparently wanted the Fool to be at or near the end of the Major Arcana; he would have earned his laurels by that point. A red feather tops this hat. Feathers, coming from birds, are commonly associated with the Fool’s element of Air. Red is the colour of passion, energy and desire: that which drives the Fool forward on his quest.
His boots are soft and comfortable, made for walking, a physical representation of his journey before him. They are yellow, a colour associated with air and mental activity. His tunic is ornamented with a pattern of eight-spoked wheels. These are symbols of Spirit, which ties to its esoteric title: the Spirit of Æther.
The sun represents illumination and enlightenment, obviously. These are what the Fool hopes to find in the course of his journey. However, he is not looking at the sun directly, but rather away from it. It could be that he has already absorbed this illumination, or is he oblivious to the source? Or is he just smart enough to not look straight at the sun?
Some say that the distant mountains represent boundaries. Note how far off these boundaries are. I disagree, seeing them as representative of his quest. Many mountains to cross, miles to go. The sky’s the limit.
The edge of the cliff represents the extent of the Fool’s oblivion to his surroundings, the precariousness of his position as he is about to step off into the abyss.
My Interpretations and Final Thoughts
Innocent and free as the air, the Fool is not as foolish as he may seem. Or at least, he does not wish to remain so for the rest of his life. A latter-day pilgrim, he is on an adventure, a quest, a search for enlightenment and wisdom, which he hopes to gain in the course of his travels. He travels light, but not completely empty-handed. With the guidance of his unconscious (whether he heeds it or not) and his past experiences and wisdom carried behind him, the Fool is joyful in his quest. In his innocence he is not always cognizant of the dangers he faces, but that very innocence is also a shield and he is well-protected.
He represents a childlike innocent, a novice or student, or a holy fool with special privileges. He is oblivious and perhaps foolhardy or reckless, but in his naïveté will seek wisdom and illumination in the unlikeliest places, and find it. In the abstract, he represents new ventures, trusting your heart rather than your head, and divine protection. It is a very positive card, especially when pertaining to new beginnings.
Overall, this version of the Fool pleases me. Maybe it’s because it was the first version of the Fool I knew, but it is the one that I like, that best embodies how I see this card.
Recolouring
I think the prevalence of yellow in this card is important. Not only is it a bright and optimistic colour and so appropriate for this card, but it represents the element of Air. But rather than white sun and yellow sky, I much prefer the cheerful optimism of a blue sky, so my version will have a blue sky and yellow sun. I would have preferred a sunrise-coloured sky, but the height of the sun in the sky contradicts that.
His clothing I varied somewhat, to combine the red, yellow, blue and green of le Mat and convey a more carefree and flamboyant personality. His boots are red, because this card makes me think of Dorothy on her journey through Oz, ruby red slippers and all.
