The Fools Journey
This week on the blog, I’m diving into the Major Arcana of the Tarot Deck and taking you on the Fool's journey. There are 22 Major Arcana cards in a Tarot deck, starting with The Fool, which is assigned the number 0, and ending with The World, number 21. We can follow the journey of the Fool through the cards as they embark on their spiritual quest.
The Fool is the starting point of the story. This card represents a blank slate, a new beginning, the start of a journey. In the Alice in Wonderland deck (which I use and will reference through the blog), we see Alice jumping down the rabbit hole, which happens at the start of her story and is the beginning of her adventure.
The first character that the Fool encounters is The Magician. In the Alice deck, he is represented by the Caterpillar who helps Alice to take control of changing her size by eating the different sides of the mushrooms. This helps her to navigate Wonderland as she often finds herself either too big or too small. In the image we see the Caterpillar holding a Wand, a Cup, a Sword and a Pentacle (representing the four suits of the Minor Arcana) whilst also seeing those four items in the smoke above him. This represents our dreams (the smoke) becoming our reality (the physical items) as we travel on our journey. We will need to take action if we are to succeed.
The second character that the Fool meets is The High Priestess. In the Alice deck, she is shown as a young Alice looking in a mirror and seeing an older version of herself looking back. Even though the Fool is at the start of his journey, he isn’t a completely blank slate, he brings with him everything he has learned so far. The High Priestess teaches us that we have the answers within ourselves, we just have to trust that over time, we will see and understand them.
The third character the Fool meets is The Empress. On this card we see Alice helping the White Queen to dress. Alice is showing her nurturing side here, and this card often represents a positive mother figure. If we put together the inspiration from the Magician and the intuition from the High Priestess, then the Empress shows us that we create our own reality.
The fourth character is The Emperor, the male counterpart to the Empress. This card is represented by the Dodo handing out sweets as prizes. In the book, everyone gets wet swimming in the pool of Alice's tears, and it is the Dodo who organises the Caucus race to get them all dry. Like a true leader, he identifies the problem, forms a solution, and then distributes the resources available. This card teaches us about structure and power.
The fifth character that the Fool meets is The Hierophant. Here we see the Cheshire Cat in the tree talking to Alice. When Alice meets the Cheshire Cat she asks him for directions and as she doesn’t know where she wants to go, he tells her that it doesn’t matter which way she goes. The Hierophant represents our belief system, the way we view the world. This card asks us if our actions are in alignment with our beliefs.
The sixth Major Arcana card is The Lovers, which represents a choice we have to make. In the Alice deck, we see the Knave of Hearts between Alice and the Queen of Hearts. The Queen is well known for her temper and rash decision-making, while Alice is calmer and kinder. The question here is, will you be driven by your ego like the Queen, or take a more grounded approach, like Alice?
The seventh card is The Chariot, shown here as Alice with her Flamingo and hedgehog trying to play croquet. Often The Chariot is associated with travel or that move from stepping blindly onto our journey and now having a more determined course. The image on this card is one of using the tools and resources you have available to you to the best of your ability, even if they at first don’t appear fit for the job. The Fool has learned many things so far on his journey and The Chariot is all about putting those things together to form a plan.
I hope you are enjoying the Fool’s journey and can see how these characters and experiences might show up in your life. We will continue next week.
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