Interpreting the Fool Tarot Card

The Fool is the tarot card most often associated with curiosity, innocence, intuition, and risk-taking. Sharing the curious nature of a child, the Fool seeks out new experiences in a fearless pursuit of knowledge, understanding, or unexplored areas which can often be dangerous or unproductive. The Fool views the world through a lens of innocence and acts with good intentions, traits which can often symbolize "foolishness" when naïvety is taken to the extreme.

Trusting intuition over sensibility, the Fool is in a constant state of discovery, relying entirely on an internal compass to guide and lead him to the places he refuses to follow with any map other than his own. His naïve wanderlust is balanced out by the small dog seen "nipping" at his heels as he approaches a cliff, oblivious of falling, for he has no fear to influence his judgement. The dog represents the world, a place characterized by sensibility, order, and limitations. The dog attempts to pull the Fool back into the world, but the Fool is a dreamer, and will always choose to live in the airy space of idealism than to exist in the safe, but consequentially quite boring realm of the everyday.

For the Fool every new experience can be understood as a cliff, full of unknown possibilities, carrying the potential to either uplift or destroy us in the venture, but the Fool does not hesitate to jump when the right opportunity presents itself. For this the Fool represents all beginnings and all turning points, continuing onwards and never settling, drifting and appreciating the beauty he encounters, and for the Fool, life is nothing but beautiful. In the words of the French novelist Marcel Proust: "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." The eyes of the Fool are always fresh and new, excited and dreamy, looking far and beyond himself for another journey to undertake.

It's meaning in a Tarot Card Spread

The Fool tarot card - upright meaning:
When the Fool card lands in the upright position it usually signifies some type of significant change. This change may be temporary or permanent, such as a temporary change of scenery due to a journey (physical or mental) or more permanent, such as a change of residence or occupation.

The Fool tarot card - reversed meaning:
When the Fool card is in the upside-down/reversed position it warns that any change should be looked at with caution. It also warns of foolish or even dangerous behavior. Do not make any hasty decisions at this time. Caution is the precept; refrain from any unnecessary risks.

Keywords/phrases associated with the Fool tarot card:

Upright - positive change, innovation, a positive unexpected event, new experience, risk

Reversed - negative change, foolishness, a negative unexpected event, irresponsibility, possible danger

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