Astrological Arcana- The Fool

Welcome to the Astrological Arcana series!

This is a tour of the 22 major arcana cards through an astrological lens. The purpose of this series is to showcase the latent astrological foundations within the major arcana. Each major arcana card has its own article. Feel free to search through the archives for a particular card— or take the entire journey from start to finish. I’m a traditional astrologer, so the astrological correlations you see here will reflect those traditions.

We begin our examination where every good journey begins— The Fool.

One of my favorite things about tarot is the story of the Fool’s Journey. When taken in numerical order, the major arcana cards tell a story centered around The Fool. The cards showcase his trials, triumphs, and growing pains throughout his journey. While I won’t be recounting that here (I’ve already done it on Moon Matters), it’s important to know that The Fool is a central figure that we’ll see time and time again in various iterations.

A tarot deck begins not with the number 1, but with 0. This was purposeful and not meant to be tricky for numerically-challenged people such as myself. Zero is circle. It is complete, whole, and contained. The Fool contains all experiences— past, present, and future. He can go in all directions while simultaneously having no direction.

What I’m getting at is that The Fool is both the ambition to try something novel and the wisdom of having already failed at it. It contains everything all at once while claiming none of it as its own. It’s the consciousness of a fool’s ambition and the subconscious wisdom carried throughout each iteration of the journey. Without The Fool, we would never know what it means to begin or begin again.

The Fool is of the element of Air. There is no zodiac sign or planetary association. This means that the element of Air entirely encompasses The Fool— which is fitting since we just learned how it’s everything all at once while also embodying nothingness. It’s both rudimentary beginnings and wisened endings.

The airy nature of The Fool showcases freedom. The freedom to learn, to fail, to explore, to think, to inspire— to be entirely free. The Fool’s main energetic component is inspiration, and we’re free to do with that as we see fit. There are no constraints on the element of Air. It can feel like a ‘choose your own adventure’ book moment when The Fool makes an appearance in our lives. We know something is about to change, but the path to that change is often unclear.

We aren’t alone in needing to parse out what it is The Fool is asking of us. If we take our time with The Fool’s inspiration, we’ll see that we have wisdom and experience behind the inspiration. While the endeavor we’re about to embark on may be new, the life experience that brought us to that moment is not. We have a plethora of subconscious energy pushing us— guiding us— towards the precipice of the newest iteration of the journey.

The element of Air lets us know that The Fool is smarter than he leads on, even if he is unaware of it himself. The airy nature also indicates that there is change on the horizon. If we can become pliable in mind, the body will follow.

This isn’t to say that The Fool always knows what he’s doing! Even with wisdom and guidance nipping at his heels, he can be like the wind— gusty and erratic. While the element of Air lends possibility, it also lends rash decisions and spikes in unfounded ideas. The Fool is named aptly and we would be wise to remember that.

As we explore these cards, you’ll see that the Thoth deck is much more ornate, intricate, and sometimes obscure. The RWS deck does a fabulous job at conveying what it means, while the Thoth deck tends to shroud the intention in occult hubris. It should be noted that the RWS deck is roughly 60 years older— based on publication date.

Both Fools showcase the idea of a sacred jester. A man who is both God and a vagabond. One is about to walk off a cliff, the other is completely airborne and floating with nothing holding him up but his golden shoes. The Fool represents the idea (Air) that God was born from nothing, and yet created everything. The Fool holds our fertile ideas and grants them life in the form of inspired action— pushing us to burst forward like a seedling through the dirt.

The element of Air makes a home out of The Fool because it so easily invites liminal moments and the abstract mind. It’s both the beginning and the end. Everything springs from The Fool, and yet, it was born out of nothing.

There is an air-headed, innocent nature to The Fool as well. Again, it carries its wisdom in a place that’s not on its person. The corruption of the mind only happens once The Fool becomes aware of its own experience— its own worldly ambitions. The mind is the inception and the incineration of an idea. When The Fool graces us, we need to stay connected to the purity of our ideas and ambitions as best we can. As we say in meditation, embody a beginner’s mind. Even when you’re confident, walk as if you know nothing and are ready to learn everything.

The major arcana starts out strong with the first card embodying the entire element of Air. It’s the perfect introduction for an esoteric modality. It demonstrates how something can be both rudimentary and complex, innocent and corrupt, conscious and unseen, and even everything and nothing.

The Fool is a card that stands for fantasy and optimism, and the element of Air reminds us that we shouldn’t put limitations on our foolish daydreams. Even if we get stuck in the clouds from time to time, it’s better than never getting off the ground in the first place.

Our next stop in the major arcana is a card that utilizes every element in any way it sees fit. Can you take a guess as to who it is?

See you soon.