Starting as The Fool

The innocence and necessary ignorance that power the boundless optimism of the Fool is precisely what allows us to choose journeys we would never begin if we knew better.

In this Episode, we begin working through the 22 cards of the Major Arcana, starting with THE FOOL.

THE FOOL represents the archetypal stance we all necessarily inhabit at the beginning of any transformational arc—whether that be adulthood, career, marriage, parenthood, or the deeper work of actualisation.

We examine how it is the naivety, the lack of experience, the sense of optimism or fantasy, that enables the first critical step, often an unexpected fall, into the lived reality of the journey. If we understood what it would cost at the outset, we would of course either lack the courage to embark at all or we would possess the sense to avoid it.

We decode THE FOOL card through three major archetypal structures: the Eternal Youth, the Prodigal Son, and the Trickster. These offer structural insight into different expressions of the Fool and help deepen and enrich the archetypal literacy necessary for our inner work. For each, I offer two or more recognisable examples from film, literature, and popular culture to support familiarity and practical application.

COVERED IN THIS EPISODE

– The structural role of the Fool in any transformational process– The Eternal Youth as ungrounded ambition and refusal to grow up– The Prodigal Son as failure, disillusionment, and slow integration– The Trickster as destabiliser and reset pattern– How these archetypes appear in familiar characters and life events– Tarot as a system for clarifying internal experience and tracking symbolic structure

CHAPTER MARKERS

00:00 – Welcome and framing of the series06:00 – THE FOOL as the necessary opening condition for all journeys13:00 – The Eternal Youth (and examples)36:00 – The Prodigal Son (and examples)46:00 – The Trickster (and examples)54:00 – Exposure, consequence, and the function of initiation.

Full post for THE FOOL on Substack: https://hermeticareiterated.substack.com/p/daily-tarot-the-fool

Book a private reading or orientation session: https://calendly.com/roccojarman/flat-reading-1hr

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