0 – The Fool (Air ⨺) (Uranus ♅)
The Fool by G A Rosenberg
One small step…and off
Fall into a new cycle
Journey commences
I contain all, unexplored
everything shown and hidden
comes to zero
I fall and show myself
yet still my shadow falls with me
bringing me naught
The wind carries me
to new adventure
new traits and reactions manifest
yet others are left hidden
to emerge through testing
or saved till the next time
You may laugh at my motley
yet isn’t it my perogative
to make you smile at shadows
I make you uneasy
with my songs
but easily dismissed you go on
as I do,
just wait until you see what happens now…
— G A Rosenberg
Many people see the sequence of the Major Arcana as representing a journey towards self-actualization. This journey may be a physical one, a psychological one or a spiritual one. Following the Golden Dawn teachings, this journey starts with The Fool. The Fool’s number is 0 and as such he or she holds the potential for all things. The Fool is beyond duality and indeed one way of looking at the Major Arcana is as the journey back after the fall into duality (represented by the Magician and the High Priestess) and the reconciliation thereafter. The Fool is both seed and egg, representing the potential to be all. He / She is the hero of Joseph Campbell’s Hero cycle. We represent the Fool anytime we embark on a new phase of life especially ones where we leave our safety zones and enter the unknown. Consider Alice jumping down the rabbit hole or Jack about to climb the beanstalk. It is not accidental that so many of these metaphors seem somewhat Freudian. In adolescence we individuate from our families and awake to our own sexual identities, almost a literal fall to adulthood.
Above everything else this breaking away and embarking on our own adventure is exhilarating as it is frightening. Jack joyfully climbs the beanstalk as Alice slides down the rabbit hole as Dorothy travels to Oz. They maintain their curiosity, their nerve, their instincts and their intelligence.
In typical depictions of the Fool, he has his belongings tied onto a staff he carries representing the qualities he brings into the adventure. In my version, the guitar symbolizes exactly that. The dog barking at his feet represents the Fool’s instincts and intuition which help guide him or her along their way.
Astrological Attribution : Planet:Uranus (Element of Air) When the tarot was first popularized, the only planetary attributes that were used were the Sun, Moon and the five classical planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). Uranus was not discovered until 1781. This was followed by the discovery of Neptune in 1846 and Pluto in 1930. Originally The Fool, The Hanged Man and Judgement were said to be ruled by the elements of Air, Water and Fire respectively while the World had both the planet Saturn and the element of Earth attributed to it.
Air is the element of thought and any undertaking begins with an idea. We wish to learn something or find out what will happen when try something and we do it. Often this requires a leap of the imagination if not faith. Air is the element of Spring and of all new beginnings and starts.
Uranus is often called the ‘awakener’ astrologically there can be many startling changes in whatever area of our chart Uranus is travelling through at the time. The influence of Uranus is innovative, intuitive and inventive and encourages us to use the talents we have in ways we had never thought of before.
Astrological Attribution : Planet:Uranus (Element of Air) When the tarot was first popularized, the only planetary attributes that were used were the Sun, Moon and the five classical planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). Uranus was not discovered until 1781. This was followed by the discovery of Neptune in 1846 and Pluto in 1930. Originally The Fool, The Hanged Man and Judgement were said to be ruled by the elements of Air, Water and Fire respectively while the World had both the planet Saturn and the element of Earth attributed to it.
Air is the element of thought and any undertaking begins with an idea. We wish to learn something or find out what will happen when try something and we do it. Often this requires a leap of the imagination if not faith. Air is the element of Spring and of all new beginnings and starts.
Uranus is often called the ‘awakener’ astrologically there can be many startling changes in whatever area of our chart Uranus is travelling through at the time. The influence of Uranus is innovative, intuitive and inventive and encourages us to use the talents we have in ways we had never thought of before.
Runic Correspondence: Note on correspondences : These are given more as a matter of contemplation. When comparing two very different systems of divination and classification such as the tarot and either the I Ching or the Runes we can see definite resonances but seldom is there a one to one correspondence. I believe that as long As long as you realize that two things are not necessarily equal than only benefit can come from examining one in the light of the other and thus I include them. I strongly recommend that those who have an interest meditate and form their own correspondence before using two different systems in alignment with each other.
Of the Runes that various people associate with the Fool, the one that I believe matches closest is Wunjo (also called Wynn). The meaning of this is ‘harmonizing joy’, which is definitely that elation the Fool feels at the start of his journey. The implications of Wunjo are those of success and even when the grand undertaking of the Fool does not meet with the expected outcome, success accrues in the experiences of the adventure. Wunjo or wynn also has associations of wind and air and its ability to get inside and through all things.
Path on the Tree of Life – Path 11 – Aleph (‘Ox’) linking Kether and Chokmah. If the first path on the tree of life Kether is the point that contains all within itself, and Chokmah is the first manifestation of that point then the path that links them is the very act of manifesting. It is a joyful awareness of everything that may flow through without any value judgements ascribed.
When the Fool turns up in a reading it is often an indication that we cannot reason ourselves out of our current state. Instead, we need to trust the adventure and our instincts and jump. It may indicate that we have embarked on a new stage of life and we need to go with it in a spirit of openness and joy. The Fool tells us to trust our heart and let go of fear based thinking. It is possible that the Fool is cautioning us against reckless behaviour and telling us that we are close to ‘falling off a cliff’. Usually we seldom come that close to disaster without feeling it on some level so once again the Fool is telling us to trust those instincts.
