And the falsehoods of the Fool’s Journey

This is an exploration of a differing viewpoint of the ‘Fool’s Journey’. A long read, but worth it, I promise.

The Fool is a callow youth, dilly dallying through the flowers with his small dog. He holds his head high as he breathes in the scented air and enjoys the springy grass under his soft shoes.

He seems to be about to step off a cliff.

We can’t tell if the step is small, or whether he is heading towards death and oblivion. His life may be over before it has begun.

Everything I read about the Fool points to him undergoing a journey to enlightenment. As the only card without a number, the Fool is free to roam through the Major Arcana. He meets various archetypes and undergoes a number of ‘life lessons’ which are supposed to help him move closer to enlightenment.

But wait, what if it’s the other way around? The Fool is already enlightened. Unsullied, pure of thought, receptive and accepting. He believes he is safe because there is nothing outside of himself that can hurt him. We could view him as an extension of Source. An unwritten slate.

As he travels through the Major Arcana, he becomes more worldly and less a pure representation of Source. He’s learning as he goes, and inevitably, he is absorbing negativity along with new understanding.

Finally, he reaches the last card, The World, and catapults through a portal. Whether it is back to Source, or back to square one, we don’t know. At this point, I do not know where this is going. Let’s see how his journey unfolds.

Certain texts explain we are here on Earth because we believe we are from God/Source. This belief that we are separate is what ‘original sin’ means. The Fool is not separated from Source, but his journey will instill the illusion that he is.

It has inspired me to write this alternative version of the Fool’s Journey, based on the teachings of ‘A Course in Miracles’, which I have never completed but have kept returning to over the last two decades.

The Systematic Destruction of the Enlightened Fool

The Magician l

The Magician teaches the first lesson that places a wedge between the Fool and his Source. He shows the Fool he has the power to channel energy, that he has a free will to change reality. The Magician is helpless without his own connection to Source. Yet he tells the Fool that individuality is the key to power. The Fool listens attentively and concedes the Magician makes sense.

The High Priestess ll

She sits guarding the entrance to the ‘mysteries’. Only the initiated may enter. This implies The High Priestess is the gatekeeper to ‘separateness’.

Go through the door and your memory of your connection to Source erodes. You now need an intermediary to communicate with your own conscious. The mystery is the opposite of what we are taught. Everyone has the same access to Source. No one needs an initiation or a third party. But the High Priestess convinces the poor Fool he has been under a misapprehension.

The Empress lll

The Empress solidifies the idea of the ‘real world.’ Yet the real world is an illusion that the Fool chose to experience. She introduces him to the beauty of nature and the reality of procreation. She helps him create a vision of a meaningless world. At best, it is a playground for lost souls who have forgotten their connection. At worst, it is a place of war, deprivation and cruelty.

The Emperor lV

The masculine energy of this card brings forth the concept of authority. The lie that one person has more standing than another. Authority is taken by the authoritarian and given to him freely by those who are frightened of running their own lives.

Fool learns he is merely a cog in a wheel and there are many worthy people set above him. He has a place, and he must occupy it. This is one more harsh step toward the destruction of his faith.

The Hierophant V

Sometimes called the Pope. This archetype is the intermediary first introduced by the High Priestess. The Fool is told he is but a child who needs a guiding hand. He cannot possibly communicate with God/Source without ‘divine intervention.’ Even better, if the Fool buys into this particular brand of religion, he will receive absolution and forgiveness. Because only one of God’s clergy can bestow it upon him.

The Lovers Vl

This card introduces the idea that we are nothing without a soul-mate. That we are incomplete and imperfect. That we can only become whole with someone else to make it so. It tells the Fool that romantic love is more important than the universal love which permeates his very being. Love which is present in every particle of the universe and forms the basis of the reality from which we believe we separated ourselves. With no such person in his life, the Fool experiences inadequacy.

The Chariot Vll

The Chariot archetype is next-level individualism. The Fool learns he must develop his will. Express his determination.

To navigate this world, he needs leadership skills. His previous relaxed assurance that his connection to Source was all that was necessary to live a good life, is disintegrating. He has to take part in the rat race and compete with his fellow humans for limited resources.

Strength Vlll

Strength teaches the Fool that persuasion and gentleness are the preferred methods to exert domination. Sweet manipulation achieves far more than force. Yet the end goal is the same; to instill an artificial hierarchy throughout human-kind.

Be nice to get what you want. After all, you deserve your rewards. You only need to be good and compassionate to get them.

“The Strength card represents a higher level of consciousness that allows you to take responsibility for yourself, so you can master yourself and the world.”

Biddy, The Ultimate Guide to Tarot Meanings.

Remember, the Fool already had the highest level of consciousness when he knew he was an extension of Source. This idea of having to persuade others to change their unique perspective is alien to him.

The Hermit lX

This card is interesting because it gives the Fool an opportunity to renew his faith in his non-separation. But the Hermit is the epitome of separation. The Hermit has reached the highest level of spiritual understanding. Yet he has reached it with an internal and external struggle. The Hermit could have taken a shortcut and learned from the Fool that ‘nothing real can be destroyed’.

And therein lies a clue. While tarotists think the Fool is the earnest student soaking up knowledge from those who must know better; it could well be the other way around. The Fool is the teacher. He is, or was, way ahead in the journey to enlightenment.

Wheel of Fortune X

The uncompromising Wheel reinforces the idea that fate is uncontrollable. Along with all the other ‘lessons’ in separation, the Fool has to reconcile with the concept of luck and fortune. When he was in alignment with Source, he never had to think about it. He could exist in the delicious moment and not feel an iota of anxiety.

Now, however, he believes he is at the mercy of fate and other people. Fool has forgotten that Source is not interested in Karma.

The Wheel introduces an element of fear and reinforces the idea of ‘future’. The Fool never even thought about the future. It simply didn’t exist because it never arrives.

Justice

The Fool encounters the long arm of the law. An extension of the Emperor’s domination is the application of a system of law. The Fool learns society cannot operate without rules to maintain the balance. And in this perceived reality, it is true.

However, in the actual reality, where this world is nothing but a dream, there is no need for rules. Again, the Fool assimilates the notion that he is just a small part of the whole, instead of knowing he is whole. And rules direct his behavior. Especially the one which says, ‘Don’t walk on the grass’, and the other one that says, ‘Warning, keep back, dangerous cliff.’

The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man tells the Fool he must suspend all decisions and action so that he might experience ‘oneness’. The Fool is confused; he believed he was already at one with Source. He wonders if he had been mistaken. His faith in his connection continues to waver. Perhaps if he meditates?

Death

The Fool feels quite comfortable at the prospect of meeting death. He likes the inevitability of dying because it means discarding the body to return to Source. But Death tells him it’s not about that at all; it’s transformation, change, endings.

The Fool explains to Death, no less, that everything that happens here on earth means nothing to him. Death, in turn, informs him of the spiritual emptiness ahead if the Fool insists on sticking to his ridiculous worldview. The Fool is made aware that nothing stays the same, and it reinforces that worrisome worm of fear.

Temperance

The Angel of Temperance is waiting for the Fool. He insists poor Fool has been holding some extreme views, and he needs to rein them in.

It’s important to maintain balance. He can’t go round spreading the idea that the world is illusory. Even if he thinks it, he mustn’t speak about it to others; it could upset the nervous ones. The Fool is even more puzzled but agrees to pay attention to his words and actions and stop talking about the wonders of eternity.

And, as he stops talking about eternity and non-separation, he also forgets to think about them. Thus, beliefs are created.

The Devil

The Devil almost reassures the Fool that his innate worldview is the correct one. The picture of humans enslaved because of their own weakness and lack of thought shows the Fool clearly how all our false perceptions are engendered in the mind.

Old Devil convinces the Fool he does not differ from anyone else; that he is also subject to addiction, poverty, mental health issues, and hopelessness. The Fool leaves feeling quite depressed.

The Tower

The Fool encounters the Tower, where all is doom and disaster. The people falling from the tower are headed for release from their sorry lives, but it looks pretty darn scary.

Fool fails to understand the cleaning-out of moribund energy precipitated by the Tower and, instead, ramps his fear up to eleven. He must keep himself safe. Watch out for danger. He can’t live his life in blissful ignorance—there are too many pitfalls ahead.

The Star

The Fool is in a state of terror, of complete separation from Source when he meets the Star. Miraculously, the Star does not compound his newfound agitation. She soothes the Fool and encourages him to remember his unbreakable connection, his knowing that he is Source in human form.

She explains he is having an adventure in forgetfulness and surrounds his being with love. The relief the Fool experiences is a wave of euphoria.

The Moon

After the reassurance of the Star, the Fool is deep in introspection. The Moon enables him to delve deeply into his subconscious. To examine how his erroneous thoughts of separation arose. Yet the Fool still feels conflicted; how could all these wise ones be wrong? How can his simple view of existence be the right one?

Doubts creep back in, along with fear and dread. He is back in the illusion.

The Sun

The Sun is shining, and the Fool is happy. How can he not be happy in the sustaining rays? All is well. Isn’t it?

The Fool lacks for nothing. He feels abundant and invincible. All is well and there are no illusions here. He swings along, enjoying himself immensely.

Until the Sun is obscured by a cloud. A fluffy, insubstantial cloud is all it takes to remind the Fool that he is a frail, aging, human being. And, he’s got a bad case of sunburn.

Judgment

And what is this? He’s about to be judged. To be held accountable for his actions and his sins by a higher authority.

He’s informed that it is God, no less, who will do the reckoning.

The Fool quakes in terror. He fervently hopes that he has learned all those lessons he was supposed to learn during his time on Earth.

Yet while he waits in line, he senses a crack in his mind. There’s light trying to get in. The crack widens and understanding dawns.

He stands in front of his God and he allows all the lessons and influences to fall away until he is naked and unsullied. God smiles, and they are one.

The World

The Fool tumbles through the portal represented by the World card. He leaves his body behind. His consciousness splits into particles. No longer an individual; he is part of the whole. He is the whole.

And the whole is pure love.

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