Tarot has been a part of Barbara Moore's personal and professional lives for nearly twenty years. Right from the start, tarot intrigued her with its marvelous blending of mythology, psychology, art, history, mystery, and magic. She has studied under...
While it is true that every step we take affects our future, the Fool represents a crossroads of major importance. The next step will be the start of a new journey, or phase, in our lives. As the name implies, the method for deciding this next step easily can be described as foolish by those who prefer a rational approach with lists of pros and cons. Instead of making a detailed plan, the Fool makes the decision intuitively, taking a leap of faith. There is a sense of spontaneity, but in most images the Fool carries a bag, indicating some forethought. The Fool represents moving without knowing precisely where we'll end up or how exactly we will get there.
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The Universal Waite Fool stands under a shining sun, filling the image with optimism. He looks at the sky as if following a vision. The cliff indicates a potentially dangerous situation. The dog can be providing encouragement or a warning. This Fool is confidently following his dreams, but whether they will be ultimately realized is uncertain.
Core meaning:
The moment before the first step is taken.
#STAR
In tarot, the pentagram is the central symbol of the whole suit of Pentacles, associated with the element of earth as the final form of the microcosm, or the world of below.
The simple lesson of the pentagram in tarot is contained in one word-earth- and everything associated with it: wealth and possessions, health, and all appetites and sensations.
The eight-pointed star can be found in The Fool and The Star. In The Fool, the twelve stars on his tunic infuse the perfection of the eight-pointed star into the twelve signs of the zodiac. In The Star card, the entire path of spiritual ascent, represented by the seven lower stars, is completed in the perfect beauty of the eighth star. The Star card is called the natural intelligence and represents the perfection at the heart of nature.
#SUN
The sun in The Fool is the Qabalistic sun of the number one, called the Crown. It is the source of what is called the Scintillating Intelligence, which is associated with the path of The Fool. From its sparkle will be made the whole universe that is yet to be born.
It shows fourteen rays, which refer to the numbers one, two, and eleven- numbers one and two on the Tree of Life, called the Crown and Wisdom, and path number ii, called The Fool, which connects them. i + 2 + II = 14.
The importance of the sun in The Fool is that it is the very beginning of absolutely everything.
TheFool,TheSun,andDeath
In The Fool and The Sun, the red feathers are plumes of fire, connecting the crown of the head with the sun above and acting as a conduit for divine fire moving from above to below. In Death, the fiery plume is wilted, separated from the sun that lights the land of the living. Instead, the sun's fire is transmitted downward with reduced intensity, into the land of the dead. Pale and weak as it is, the sun finds its way back through Death's domain and rises again each day, completely reborn in all its original glory.
