The Tarot Journey: The Fool

This card has no number in the Tarot. It represents the Fool, the universal questor, setting out on a journey. Like a babe starting out in life, the Fool starts the journey with only the bare necessities, bundled into a kerchief. The bundle carries all the Fool’s possessions, worldly and otherwise – mostly otherwise, because it is the qualities we bring to the journey that count, and they will be tested – courage, faith, strength and wit.
In the traditional Tarot cards, the fool is often depicted stepping off a cliff, because life is a great leap into the unknown. As the Fool continues the journey, there will be many encounters, many adventures before the final destination – and that, the Fool hopes, will be the fulfillment of a dream, a chance to begin another quest, not an end in itself.
The Fool reminds us that it is often the journey itself that is the quest – and that the journey, and the way we choose to travel, is more important than the final destination. The Fool is always optimistic, always hopeful, always setting out on some new quest. The gypsy reader sees the Fool many times, because we all seek our heart’s desire, and even when someone prosperous and settled comes for a reading, she expects to see the Fool – because it is not gold and silver that give us our heart’s desire, but love, creativity, laughter and adventure. Without them, all our journeys lead nowhere.