I've been working with the Tarot since the early 70s and I've found that the meaning of the Fool has been shaped by my reading of Charles Williams' The Greater Trumps. In it, the Fool seems motionless and yet for those who can see, he is dancing with everything. so for me, the Fool symbolizes our ability to meet whatever life brings us with an open heart and mind. And to dance with it.
I remember reading the Greater Trumps back in the day, and being enchanted by the image of the cards twirling around a room, coming alive, and dancing. Thank you for the reminder. And I love what you say here: "the Fool symbolizes our ability to meet whatever life brings us with an open heart and mind. And to dance with it." Thank you!
Apropos the possible original function of the Fool and the Tarot in general:
Long aware of how the powers of the Empress resoundingly refute the pseudo-scholarship that strives to associate the deck with a relentlessly misogynistic brand of patriarchal fanaticism, I was not overmuch surprised to awake from a dream of obviously Muse-given advice to study the cards as a portable tool for answering two questions posed by the ancient “Song of Amergin”:
"Who but myself knows where the sun shall set?
Who foretells the ages of the moon?"
That was in September 1972; the subsequent essay of maybe a dozen typewritten pages -- a relatively brief chapter in the arson-destroyed “Glimpses of a Pale Dancer” – focused on the Tarot as a carefully disguised relic of the age of the Goddess. Thus, like much of the traditional balladry rediscovered by the folk renaissance of the 1940s and ‘50s, the Tarot was a then mostly unrecognized but nevertheless still powerful invocation of her return. It was therefore part of the extensively footnoted evidence I cited in “Dancer,” which was a 150,000-word redefinition of the 1960s Counterculture as the first wave of the resurrection of the Goddess and the beginning of global revolution against patriarchy. Illustrated by about 100 photographs, it (and all my other significant work) was burned just it was on the brink of major publication. Nevertheless, I remember enough of the Tarot piece to summarize it here for whatever doorways it might suggest .
Because the Fool is the one unnumbered card in the Major Arcana, I took it as one of four marker-cards in what I believe was originally a late Neolithic or early Bronze Age pocket calculator a traveling priestess or priest would have used to keep track of the astronomical calculations done at Stonehenge. (Irish tradition dates “The Song of Amergin” to 1268 BCE; see Chap. 12, "The White Goddess," Robert Graves.) Eighteen of the remaining 21 cards through which the Fool journeys I took as representatives of an Ogham calendar-alphabet (rather than the Hebrew alphabet to which they were then typically assigned), and I sorted them into 13 consonant/months and five vowel/seasons. Alas I no longer remember which cards I assigned to what months. I assigned the five obviously female cards – Priestess, Empress, Strength, Justice and Death – to the seasons. And I took the Star, Moon and Sun as additional markers, these to be used in conjunction with the Minor Arcana’s 56 cards because – thanks to research at Stonehenge – in ‘72 we had just learned 56 is the lowest common denominator of eclipse cycles.
Beyond that, all I can do is thank Joanna for the unmistakable power and exquisite visual poetry of her own Tarot work; apologize for not remembering more of my lost hypothesis; note en passant I regard the Tarot as infinitely more accurate in the hands of women than men; and suggest a very old ancestral ballad as musical accompaniment for the journey:
Thanks Loren, for all your thoughts. Such a grievous loss for your work to be lost to fire. I can't imagine. I do love the way that the tarot seems to evoke all kinds of theories, maps, and languages. Your hypothesis is fascinating. And Thomas the Rhymer is one of my favorite ballads. Thanks for reminding me of it.
If you're in the Substack app, look at the bottom right of your screen for an icon that looks like two speech balloons overlapping. That's the link to Chat (on phone or tablet).
I'm grateful to have found your Substack just as you are revisiting each card. The Seeker card from the Gaian deck moves me. In my only other Tarot deck, the 0 card was The Nameless One.
Before my boyfriend went to Vietnam as an Army helicopter mechanic in January 1970, he bought me a Tarot deck in the Haight-Ashbury and asked that I learn how to read the cards while he was gone. We were both 20 years old. During those months ending in December 8, 1971, the day he returned from Vietnam, I studied that deck. In the days after his return, he asked for a reading. The first card he had picked that I turned over in the spread was The Actor / The Emperor. When I began to tell him what I had learned about that card he became extremely agitated and angrily pushed all the cards away and left the room. I didn't look at that Tarot deck again until years later. We didn't stay together, but it wasn't because we didn't love each other. We were so young then. Seeking.
Wonderful playlist! Here's one that comes to mind:
"Wise men say, Only fools rush in ..."
The song starts at 2:48, but the introduction is worth listening to, as well as the rest of the commentary by Arlo (-:
Amanda, I loved looking at the images of the New Tarot for the Aquarian Age. I especially love the title "The Nameless One" for the Fool. I can't believe I don't remember this deck! 1970-1971 was the time when I was first exploring the tarot and there were only a few decks on the market at the time. Not sure how I missed this one.
Anyway, your memory of your reading for your boyfriend makes me smile. I remember experiences like that too. And thanks for the song!
I plan on pulling some Fool cards to compare soon (although you know Gaian is my ride or die 💚) . But I find this post has really triggered an interesting train of thought for me on Foolishness and the idea of a Fool. Why as a culture do we equate being open and lighthearted with foolishness? Or why is starting over, or a leap of faith related to foolishness? And how have others perceived notions of foolishness influenced my decision making or led to fear of trying something new, least I be judged foolish? And why am I afraid of that?? So many things to ponder! I’m loving how this examination of The Fool is allowing me to look at some hard truths. The Fool has come up a fair bit for me in recent years and now I’m wondering if this is calling my attention to the beauty of The Fool 💜
Holy cow, Robin, what great questions. Maybe it's a place where the cards can come in handy ... to help decide when a choice or action is foolish in a shadow context — like, I don't know, spending a large amount of money you don't really have — or when a choice or action is an act of faith and courage. I'm looking forward to witnessing your exploration of the Fool. 💚
Thank you for doing and sharing this! It feels like 'just what I needed'. My first Tarot deck was either Mother Peace or The Medicine Woman Tarot. I still love them both and first discovered them about 35 years ago. Look forward to this journey. Tammy
I’m so excited you’re doing a tarot journey for us, Joanna! You were my first teacher and still the person whose wisdom and guidance I seek whenever I need to understand a message from the cards. Likewise, the Gaian Tarot has been my go-to since I first held it in my hands. That being said, I’m a sucker for a pretty deck and have a bigger collection than I need, sometimes to get a different vantage point and others simply because I like to look at them. I mean, cards are fun!!!
As for songs that have that Seeker/ Fool vibe, I love Amos Lee’s “Windows are Rolled Down,” Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten,” The Foo Fighters “Learn to Fly,” The Chicks “Wide Open Spaces,” and Jon Batiste’s “Freedom.”
Oh thanks Linda! And ... great songs! Score! I added them all to the playlist. Can't believe I didn't think of "Freedom"! Such a perfect Fool-ish song. So much exuberance. Thank you 💚
I’m so happy that you’re doing this Joanna. I have only done work with the Tarot on my own. I’m inspired to be traveling with this group. I have mainly used the Motherpeace tarot. Started in the 90’s. I’m feeling ready to explore. I’m drawn to the Herbcrafter’s and also Gaian. Just deciding which one to start with. 💕
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.
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. 😍
Wow! Janee, I had no idea Chesca actually had a book of her Greenwood interpretations. I found them roughly organized on the free website that she made available to the public before she ‘disappeared’, and I have printed those, which make so much more sense than the book that came with the cards. And you got to meet chesca! Amazing. It seems she is a mystery now. My two “go to’s” are Gaian and Greenwood, though I love many others. And I didn’t know till reading it on this thread that Joanna used Greenwood too. ☺️🎆👩🏼🤝👩🏽
I remember Tarot of the Spirit! I think the art was by Pamela Eakins. And Greenwood was my go-to deck for many years, before I started creating the Gaian. Thank you Janee, I'm so glad you love my Fool. 💚
This post hit me at just the right time. I had a Sound Healing and Soul Astrology reading yesterday that was incredibly powerful. I was told I am to be a healer, (I figure, at 67, it's about time I figure out what I want to be when I grow up LOL) specifically a shamanic healer. It's going to take some searching to find a credible teacher and lots of meditation to get my mind right. The Fool is the exact place to start. The Fool, from the Gaian Tarot, is one of my favorites because there is a real sense of Journey and the scope of what that encompasses. Thank you, Joanna!
Gotta love the synchronicity, little signposts along the way, for this post to show up for you right after a powerful reading yesterday. I love imagining you on the threshold of this grand adventure, looking out over the landscape. Blessings on your way, Otter.
This is such a fantastic idea! We all need this "refresh". I picked up my first tarot, Crowley's Thoth, when I was a teen. It was WAY over my head but along with my sister, we stay fascinated by the Tarot. From there I followed the exact same path as you, starting out with RWS and Eden Gray, then of course the Tarot Bibles 78 Degrees of Wisdom and Tarot for Yourself. Still much loved! I really love that you're starting our journey when all of the planets are in Gemini!!! Sun,, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury and even as I write this in this very moment the ascending sign is Gemini! I am an eager student :)
Thank you Beth. I love how we both started along similar tracks, although I never developed an affinity for Thoth. And thanks for the reminder about Gemini ... holy cow! I was not aware. Love the synchronicity.
Great idea. As you’ll probably know I just published The Fools New Journey Tarot and in that I did parallel journeys with both classic tarot and my own new take on the decks. I love this idea.
Oh thanks John! I just took a peek at your new deck and am charmed by the art ... love the depiction of the Fool. Looking forward to reading the book 😊
I guess I am posting in replies to others. Sorry. I’m new at substack.
No worries, it takes awhile to learn!
I've been working with the Tarot since the early 70s and I've found that the meaning of the Fool has been shaped by my reading of Charles Williams' The Greater Trumps. In it, the Fool seems motionless and yet for those who can see, he is dancing with everything. so for me, the Fool symbolizes our ability to meet whatever life brings us with an open heart and mind. And to dance with it.
I remember reading the Greater Trumps back in the day, and being enchanted by the image of the cards twirling around a room, coming alive, and dancing. Thank you for the reminder. And I love what you say here: "the Fool symbolizes our ability to meet whatever life brings us with an open heart and mind. And to dance with it." Thank you!
Apropos the possible original function of the Fool and the Tarot in general:
Long aware of how the powers of the Empress resoundingly refute the pseudo-scholarship that strives to associate the deck with a relentlessly misogynistic brand of patriarchal fanaticism, I was not overmuch surprised to awake from a dream of obviously Muse-given advice to study the cards as a portable tool for answering two questions posed by the ancient “Song of Amergin”:
"Who but myself knows where the sun shall set?
Who foretells the ages of the moon?"
That was in September 1972; the subsequent essay of maybe a dozen typewritten pages -- a relatively brief chapter in the arson-destroyed “Glimpses of a Pale Dancer” – focused on the Tarot as a carefully disguised relic of the age of the Goddess. Thus, like much of the traditional balladry rediscovered by the folk renaissance of the 1940s and ‘50s, the Tarot was a then mostly unrecognized but nevertheless still powerful invocation of her return. It was therefore part of the extensively footnoted evidence I cited in “Dancer,” which was a 150,000-word redefinition of the 1960s Counterculture as the first wave of the resurrection of the Goddess and the beginning of global revolution against patriarchy. Illustrated by about 100 photographs, it (and all my other significant work) was burned just it was on the brink of major publication. Nevertheless, I remember enough of the Tarot piece to summarize it here for whatever doorways it might suggest .
Because the Fool is the one unnumbered card in the Major Arcana, I took it as one of four marker-cards in what I believe was originally a late Neolithic or early Bronze Age pocket calculator a traveling priestess or priest would have used to keep track of the astronomical calculations done at Stonehenge. (Irish tradition dates “The Song of Amergin” to 1268 BCE; see Chap. 12, "The White Goddess," Robert Graves.) Eighteen of the remaining 21 cards through which the Fool journeys I took as representatives of an Ogham calendar-alphabet (rather than the Hebrew alphabet to which they were then typically assigned), and I sorted them into 13 consonant/months and five vowel/seasons. Alas I no longer remember which cards I assigned to what months. I assigned the five obviously female cards – Priestess, Empress, Strength, Justice and Death – to the seasons. And I took the Star, Moon and Sun as additional markers, these to be used in conjunction with the Minor Arcana’s 56 cards because – thanks to research at Stonehenge – in ‘72 we had just learned 56 is the lowest common denominator of eclipse cycles.
Beyond that, all I can do is thank Joanna for the unmistakable power and exquisite visual poetry of her own Tarot work; apologize for not remembering more of my lost hypothesis; note en passant I regard the Tarot as infinitely more accurate in the hands of women than men; and suggest a very old ancestral ballad as musical accompaniment for the journey:
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/archie-fisher-thomas-rhymer-lyrics.html
Thanks Loren, for all your thoughts. Such a grievous loss for your work to be lost to fire. I can't imagine. I do love the way that the tarot seems to evoke all kinds of theories, maps, and languages. Your hypothesis is fascinating. And Thomas the Rhymer is one of my favorite ballads. Thanks for reminding me of it.
I just posted something here. Then a man popped up in a chat? Then my post disappeared?????
I’m trying to find the “chat” function in substack so I can post a picture of my Fools/Seekers. Can anyone help? 🙏🏽🦧🎆
Petrina, I'm not sure what to think ... I know every new system takes awhile to learn how to use. I'm sorry!
Here's a direct link to Chat if you are on a desktop: https://substack.com/chat/2130275
If you're in the Substack app, look at the bottom right of your screen for an icon that looks like two speech balloons overlapping. That's the link to Chat (on phone or tablet).
I'm grateful to have found your Substack just as you are revisiting each card. The Seeker card from the Gaian deck moves me. In my only other Tarot deck, the 0 card was The Nameless One.
https://www.royalmaze.com/word-of-one-tarot/
Before my boyfriend went to Vietnam as an Army helicopter mechanic in January 1970, he bought me a Tarot deck in the Haight-Ashbury and asked that I learn how to read the cards while he was gone. We were both 20 years old. During those months ending in December 8, 1971, the day he returned from Vietnam, I studied that deck. In the days after his return, he asked for a reading. The first card he had picked that I turned over in the spread was The Actor / The Emperor. When I began to tell him what I had learned about that card he became extremely agitated and angrily pushed all the cards away and left the room. I didn't look at that Tarot deck again until years later. We didn't stay together, but it wasn't because we didn't love each other. We were so young then. Seeking.
Wonderful playlist! Here's one that comes to mind:
"Wise men say, Only fools rush in ..."
The song starts at 2:48, but the introduction is worth listening to, as well as the rest of the commentary by Arlo (-:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSF89swJ9IU
Amanda, I loved looking at the images of the New Tarot for the Aquarian Age. I especially love the title "The Nameless One" for the Fool. I can't believe I don't remember this deck! 1970-1971 was the time when I was first exploring the tarot and there were only a few decks on the market at the time. Not sure how I missed this one.
Anyway, your memory of your reading for your boyfriend makes me smile. I remember experiences like that too. And thanks for the song!
I plan on pulling some Fool cards to compare soon (although you know Gaian is my ride or die 💚) . But I find this post has really triggered an interesting train of thought for me on Foolishness and the idea of a Fool. Why as a culture do we equate being open and lighthearted with foolishness? Or why is starting over, or a leap of faith related to foolishness? And how have others perceived notions of foolishness influenced my decision making or led to fear of trying something new, least I be judged foolish? And why am I afraid of that?? So many things to ponder! I’m loving how this examination of The Fool is allowing me to look at some hard truths. The Fool has come up a fair bit for me in recent years and now I’m wondering if this is calling my attention to the beauty of The Fool 💜
Holy cow, Robin, what great questions. Maybe it's a place where the cards can come in handy ... to help decide when a choice or action is foolish in a shadow context — like, I don't know, spending a large amount of money you don't really have — or when a choice or action is an act of faith and courage. I'm looking forward to witnessing your exploration of the Fool. 💚
Thank you for doing and sharing this! It feels like 'just what I needed'. My first Tarot deck was either Mother Peace or The Medicine Woman Tarot. I still love them both and first discovered them about 35 years ago. Look forward to this journey. Tammy
Another Motherpeace fan! I also remember the Medicine Woman deck. Glad to have you on the journey, Tammy.
I’m so excited you’re doing a tarot journey for us, Joanna! You were my first teacher and still the person whose wisdom and guidance I seek whenever I need to understand a message from the cards. Likewise, the Gaian Tarot has been my go-to since I first held it in my hands. That being said, I’m a sucker for a pretty deck and have a bigger collection than I need, sometimes to get a different vantage point and others simply because I like to look at them. I mean, cards are fun!!!
As for songs that have that Seeker/ Fool vibe, I love Amos Lee’s “Windows are Rolled Down,” Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten,” The Foo Fighters “Learn to Fly,” The Chicks “Wide Open Spaces,” and Jon Batiste’s “Freedom.”
This is going to be fabulous!
Oh thanks Linda! And ... great songs! Score! I added them all to the playlist. Can't believe I didn't think of "Freedom"! Such a perfect Fool-ish song. So much exuberance. Thank you 💚
I’m so happy that you’re doing this Joanna. I have only done work with the Tarot on my own. I’m inspired to be traveling with this group. I have mainly used the Motherpeace tarot. Started in the 90’s. I’m feeling ready to explore. I’m drawn to the Herbcrafter’s and also Gaian. Just deciding which one to start with. 💕
The Motherpeace was one of "my" decks in the 80s and 90s, so we have that in common, Linda. 😊 I'm glad you're excited about this journey. I am too!
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.
What a sweet song, Robin! And what a great wandering song to learn as a young person. So cool. Thank you.
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. 😍
Wow! Janee, I had no idea Chesca actually had a book of her Greenwood interpretations. I found them roughly organized on the free website that she made available to the public before she ‘disappeared’, and I have printed those, which make so much more sense than the book that came with the cards. And you got to meet chesca! Amazing. It seems she is a mystery now. My two “go to’s” are Gaian and Greenwood, though I love many others. And I didn’t know till reading it on this thread that Joanna used Greenwood too. ☺️🎆👩🏼🤝👩🏽
I remember Tarot of the Spirit! I think the art was by Pamela Eakins. And Greenwood was my go-to deck for many years, before I started creating the Gaian. Thank you Janee, I'm so glad you love my Fool. 💚
This post hit me at just the right time. I had a Sound Healing and Soul Astrology reading yesterday that was incredibly powerful. I was told I am to be a healer, (I figure, at 67, it's about time I figure out what I want to be when I grow up LOL) specifically a shamanic healer. It's going to take some searching to find a credible teacher and lots of meditation to get my mind right. The Fool is the exact place to start. The Fool, from the Gaian Tarot, is one of my favorites because there is a real sense of Journey and the scope of what that encompasses. Thank you, Joanna!
Gotta love the synchronicity, little signposts along the way, for this post to show up for you right after a powerful reading yesterday. I love imagining you on the threshold of this grand adventure, looking out over the landscape. Blessings on your way, Otter.
Thank you so much! This is a grand idea !
Never a bad idea to go back to beginnings! 😍
This is such a fantastic idea! We all need this "refresh". I picked up my first tarot, Crowley's Thoth, when I was a teen. It was WAY over my head but along with my sister, we stay fascinated by the Tarot. From there I followed the exact same path as you, starting out with RWS and Eden Gray, then of course the Tarot Bibles 78 Degrees of Wisdom and Tarot for Yourself. Still much loved! I really love that you're starting our journey when all of the planets are in Gemini!!! Sun,, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury and even as I write this in this very moment the ascending sign is Gemini! I am an eager student :)
Thank you Beth. I love how we both started along similar tracks, although I never developed an affinity for Thoth. And thanks for the reminder about Gemini ... holy cow! I was not aware. Love the synchronicity.
Great idea. As you’ll probably know I just published The Fools New Journey Tarot and in that I did parallel journeys with both classic tarot and my own new take on the decks. I love this idea.
Oh thanks John! I just took a peek at your new deck and am charmed by the art ... love the depiction of the Fool. Looking forward to reading the book 😊
For anyone who's reading this comment and is interested: https://redfeathermbs.com/products/the-fools-new-journey-tarot