By Sarah Taylor

What a perfect first card to bring in the New Year, and a perfect lead-on from the third card in the previous reading. The Fool — card 0 of the tarot’s Major Arcana, the beginning of all things — picks up, at left, where The World — card 21 of the tarot’s Major Arcana, the closing of one door and the opening of another — concluded last week.

The Fool, Ace of Swords, Six of Disks from the Röhrig Tarot deck, created by Carl-W. Röhrig. Click on the image for a larger version.

One way to look at the tarot is from a wider perspective that views it as a reflection and relating of the process of individuation (of becoming whole, individual beings in a shared experience). From that perspective, the Major Arcana is concerned with the broader and deeper themes of the soul and the parts of it that are currently expressing themselves through us.

As such, The World brought something full-circle, and The Fool is a new start, a striking out on the road of inner and outer experience. A new circle is being formed as we look at the three cards in front of us.

These are the words I can decipher on The Fool:

“Courage to stand by oneself,” “independence,” “Creativity,” “Great potential,” “possibility,” “willingness to risk,” “freedom,” “Possibility for quantum leaps,” “frankness,” “following one’s own feeling.”

Perhaps it is that The Fool offers “the pathless land” that Jiddu Krishnamurti spoke of on the dissolution of the Order of the Star. It is ‘no-path’; it is in the stepping out that The Fool creates his/her own. This is individuation, expressed. The Fool is for no-one but him/herself. S/he is unique, s/he knows it, and his/her movement through life defines, and is defined, by this.

It is also true that when we strike out into uncharted waters, we will frequently be called fools by those who watch from the sidelines and express their opinions, whether they are based on concern, fear or jealousy. Really, it always comes down to fear in one form or another.

You might be told that you don’t know what you’re doing. That might be true. But when The Fool appears, ignorance is no excuse for not taking that first step. And — most important — it is yours alone to take, alone.

The Fool is an interesting card to me today in one particular respect: the line drawings sketched out in the bottom-left corner of the torn-out note-paper. There is a butterfly, a dove perched in front of a heart, a crocodile, the head of a large cat, a naked couple (fucking), and a snake. All of these appear or are alluded to in the larger image of The Fool: the two sides of the butterfly reflected in the two faces of The Fool; the dove is now feathers; the heart on left cheek; a tiger in the jaws of the crocodile in the upper left quadrant; the merging of both genders into a gender-melange that defies categorisation; the quickening of the ‘snake’, or erotic energy, that enlivens and is created through that merging.

The Fool, like us, brings in a complexity that is both paradoxical for a ‘new start’ and also reflects the human condition. We are a mix of expressions, of complexes, of contradictions held beautifully and haphazardly; we are a blank slate upon which are writ our experiences in invisible ink — not even known to ourselves as we strike out in the direction of our soul’s calling. If we knew, we would never move in the first place.

As it is, it is our very ignorance — and the way we masquerade with ourselves — that allows us to get creative and to get moving.

But what is the flavour of this next step? Or what is it that is the driving force behind it? This is the card to the right of The Fool — the Ace of Swords.

Similarly to the Major Arcana, the Aces are pure-form cards, except in this case they are the as-yet-untapped, available quality of their suit. The Ace of Swords can be described as insight, or wisdom. Like the razor-sharp blade that reflects a ray of light, it is the mind when it is in full alignment with the Self, as it forms a bridge between you and a higher consciousness. When you draw upon the gift of the Ace of Swords, you draw on that light. But the operative phrase here is ‘draw upon’: it is available, yes, and it also asks for your involvement — your commitment to attuning to and working with it.

As The Fool seeking to express yourself in a way that is uniquely your own, you have on your path the gift of insight — a means of seeing that looks both into and beyond your immediate circumstances. You can access what might seem hidden to others; you can act clearly, cleanly, swiftly, economically, powerfully. The clouds of doubt part in the presence of this gift. The route reveals itself to you.

What it leads to will differ, given all paths are unique. But to you, in some key way, it will feel like the Success that is described in the final card — and it will be tangible, grounded in the physical world. Look at this card carefully — perhaps with that inner sight and a sense of adventure — and hear it calling to you. Where is it taking you? What is it that you look out at from your vantage point? That remains to be seen.

First, though: that first step.

Astrology/Elemental correspondences: The Fool (Uranus), Ace of Swords (the pure potential of air), Six of Disks (Moon in Taurus)

If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.