Before we begin…
The so-called “Fool’s Journey” is one of the best-known contemporary readings of the Major Arcana. It organizes the 22 cards (of the tarot’s major arcana) as symbolic stages of a single human trajectory. In this series, I invite you to follow this interpretation as if we were listening to a good story.
It all begins when the Fool, fed up with the life he was leading, decides to leap off an invisible cliff into a journey without knowing anything about what might happen to him.
And off he goes.
As he starts walking, he meets the Magician, who tells him that he possesses all the tools he needs. He is fully capable of shaping the reality around him.
Along the way, he realizes that much of it will be just intuition and silence (the High Priestess). It means living often with only what you have inside and not telling anyone. That saying: “Nobody knows, nobody gets in the way.”
Then come the ideas. Creation. The Empress. Fertility. Many times it has nothing to do with the birth of a baby, no! A project, an academic text, a plan, an exam, a purchase—they are all creations that come from the Empress.
But be careful! These creations need structure and order (the Emperor) so they don’t collapse. Here, the Emperor is the one who sustains and teaches discipline, structure, and boundaries.
But for that, you need backing. Something that came before. Consecrated (the Hierophant). But with the reminder that not every tradition deserves to be kept and celebrated. You need to know how to carry only the weight of what sustains you, and not be afraid to leave by the roadside what does not resonate with you.
Don’t carry burdens. The journey is just beginning. You are on card 5. There are 22!
Continued in Part 2…
- The RWS (Rider-Waite-Smith) tarô was used, created by Arthur Edward Waite in 1909 and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. It is popularly known for being the most widely used card deck for begginers.
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