We Begin with the Fool / Seeker
Renewing a Tarot Practice by Journeying through the Major Arcana ~ Card 0
Hello friend! I recently decided to renew my tarot practice by taking a journey through the cards of the Major Arcana. This is the first post in the new series. It will be an offering for paid subscribers, but today’s post is available to all. Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear your responses in the comments.
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”- T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding
When did you first start your tarot journey? I picked up my first deck in college, around 1971. It was the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, of course, and I relied on Eden Gray’s book The Tarot Revealed to help me make sense of the cards. I began my tarot studies in earnest in the 1980s when I discovered Mary K. Greer’s book Tarot for Your Self and Rachel Pollack’s 78 Degrees of Wisdom. I started teaching tarot classes in the 1990s and began to create my first deck, the Gaian Tarot, in 2001. I created a Majors-only deck, the Pentimento Tarot in 2016 and collaborated on the Herbcrafter’s Tarot with Latisha Guthrie, published in 2019. After all this time, I haven’t lost my fondness for the language of the tarot, although my attention has wandered from time to time.
The Fool or Seeker travels through the Major Arcana and encounters mysterious figures who each have counsel, or at least an opinion, for the traveler. Every time we settle in for a visit with one of these figures, we’ll have a different conversation. Our experience of the cards changes and shifts over time.
It’s never a bad idea to go back to the beginning — something the Fool would heartily encourage. So I thought I’d start a new series here on my Substack. We’ll travel through the cards of the Major Arcana together, comparing the Rider-Waite-Smith deck to my own Gaian, Pentimento, and Herbcrafter’s cards. You’re encouraged to take a look at the corresponding cards in your favorite decks too. I plan to look at two cards a month, more or less, allowing room for serendipity. As a triple earth sign with a Capricorn Sun, I love making plans and setting goals but as I age, I allow myself a little more grace. A little more spontaneous Fool-ishness, perhaps. So I won’t be too strict about the pace of this new series.
For each of the posts in this series, I plan to take a look at the themes of the card; offer a creative spark and a craft to help you embody its energy; share a spread or journal prompt; and conclude with a playlist of songs.
As I mentioned above, our journey through the Major Arcana cards is an offering for paid subscribers, although this first one is available to all. Of course, I’d love it if you became a paid subscriber and joined our community. A big Thank you and Welcome! to all the folks who’ve become paid subscribers recently. I appreciate it so much. As always, if you’d like to be a paid subscriber but absolutely do not have the funds, just drop me an email and let me know.
Foolishness and the Journey
If you pull the Fool card out of several different decks, you may notice that the deck creator often chooses to emphasize one of two key themes. One is the idea of foolishness which may be wisdom in disguise. This Fool is happy, carefree, simple, spontaneous, free, full of childlike wonder, intrigued by delight. The other key theme is that of the traveler, pilgrim, or seeker — the one who sets out on a journey or makes a new beginning of some kind.
In her 1999 book The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Tarot, Rachel Pollack writes: “The Fool leads us to take risks, do something impulsive, wild. He calls to the child inside us, the part of us that wants to follow our instincts, to do something, without plans or careful analysis. Is the Fool always right? When this card appears, look carefully at the other cards. What will happen if we obey our Foolish urge?”
In some decks, the Fool walks off the cliff only to find they are flying, or have stepped onto a rainbow bridge that magically appears. There are times when taking a leap of faith is the best thing we can do.
The Gaian Tarot doesn’t emphasize the theme of “fool-ishness” as much as the idea of beginning a journey. Our Seeker is not leaping before she looks. Instead, she is pausing to reflect before beginning her journey. I imagine her breathing a prayer or setting an intention before she starts.
Here’s what I wrote in the Gaian Tarot book:
When you get this card in a reading . . .
You are starting a new journey, with a beginner’s mind. It’s time to hit the road, either metaphorically or literally. Every time you set out on a journey, whether it’s a one-day hike or a new career, you embark on a spiritual journey as well. Be open to all the twists and curves in the road ahead. Be ready for wonderful surprises. Keep your heart open and maintain an attitude of innocence, trust and spontaneity. Remember that many innovators, creators and explorers have been considered foolish by the conventional wisdom of their time. Dare to take a risk! Before you is a brand new adventure — the chance for a fresh start and endless possibilities.
Remember: Begin your journey with a light heart and an open mind.
In the Pentimento Tarot, I chose to portray the Fool as a Traveler, surrounded by images of historical tarot Fool cards.
With Dandelion, the Fool in the Herbcrafter’s Tarot, we return to the idea of foolish wisdom, or wisdom found in unexpected places. Each card in this deck is a plant and each of the Major Arcana cards shows a mandala. Dandelion is the epitome of the wisdom of foolishness. The dominant culture tends to view dandelions as nothing but pesky weeds, something to be eradicated. Yet the dandelion is a powerful medicinal herb. Since it’s so prolific and easily found, it’s also an excellent plant for a new herbalist to study. So here we have quintessential “foolish wisdom” as well as a new beginning. The journey is seen as well, as the monarch butterfly takes off in flight. We’ll see its return in the World card, the last card of the Major Arcana.
A Fool Card of Your Own
What is your favorite Fool card? What deck is it from? Why is it your favorite?
If you were going to create your own Fool card, what elements would you include? Consider sketching, painting, or making a collage.
Share your response in the comments, if you like. (You can share photos in Chat.)
The Seeker’s Creative Spark
Go for a meandering walk around your neighborhood. Tell yourself you will take 15 minutes out of your day, but if it ends up taking longer, go with it. Don’t have a goal in mind — not a certain amount of steps or a cardio workout or even a destination.
Wander instead. Wander and wonder. Be open to surprise. Notice everything — how the light falls, blossoms on branches, the clatter of delivery trucks, birdsong, the colors and shapes of houses.
Stop. Look around. What do you see that is unique to this day, a day unlike any other?
— From an old course of mine, 22 Days of Tarot Sparks: Creative Practices to Make You Shine.
Crafting with Dandelion / The Fool
Harvest a dandelion seed and wear it as an amulet when you set off on a new journey.
Practice finding wisdom in unlikely places; create a mandala with weeds.
— From the Herbcrafter’s Tarot book by Latisha Guthrie
Journal Prompt
This prompt is inspired by the posture of the Gaian Seeker as she looks out over the landscape before beginning her journey. My tarot friend James Wells came up with this question.
Pull a card to answer: “Upon what threshold do I stand?”
Share your response, if you like.
Playlist: Fool / Seeker Songs
“Don’t worry about a thing, ‘cause every little thing gonna be alright …”
These are songs that evoke themes of the Fool or Seeker: being carefree, taking a leap of faith, simplicity, spontaneity, having a capacity for wonder, the wisdom of foolishness. There are also songs about the archetype of the Wanderer / Traveler / Pilgrim, the one who sets out on a journey and is utterly changed by it.
My musical tastes run to Americana / roots / folk-rock-country. I invite you to come up with your own favorite Fool / Seeker songs. Just drop a note in the comments and I’ll add them to the Spotify playlist.
Thank you for reading, listening, and engaging. I hope you’ll enjoy this series as much as I’m enjoying putting it together. We’ll take a look at the Magician in two weeks; next Sunday’s post will be all about the coming holy-day of Summer Solstice.
Blessings of New Beginnings,
About me: I’m Joanna Powell Colbert, creator of the Gaian Tarot and the Pentimento Tarot, and co-creator of the Herbcrafter’s Tarot. I write and teach about tarot, earth-centered spirituality, seasonal & lunar lore, and creativity as a spiritual practice. You can also connect with me on Instagram or Facebook.
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After reading Joanna‘s post, the first thing I thought of was a song I learned it Girl Scout camp called on the loose. I couldn’t find it on Spotify, although there were a couple of other songs songs by the same name that we’re definitely not the one I learned. But I did find it on YouTube sung by a group of Girl Scouts. Here is the link.
https://youtu.be/x7bOdy_nOHk?si=ROjZm6eJDFSPu7eD
Not sure if it’s gonna work, but I thought I’d give it a try.
In the 70’s very first deck was called The AstroTarot and combined astrology with The Tarot de Marseille imagery, I still have it. I then found the Rider Waite which I stayed with throughout the 80’s and in the early 90’s I found a wonderful deck called The Tarot of the Spirit by Joyce Eakins- I believe her daughter illustrated it but I don’t remember her name. This one expanded on the connection between the Kabbalah and the Tarot. In the late nineties I found Chesca Potter’s, Greenwood Tarot after seeing her a a Goddess Conference in Austin. I was lucky to get a signed edition and a book that she wrote describing her own interpretation of the cards. Then in the 2000’s I found you and your blog and the Gaian Tarot when it was just the Majors and have that wonderful, original deck. Along the way I’ve collected many other decks but yours has always been my favorite and my favorite Fool. 😍