Zero in most Tarot decks, the Fool is considered the main actor in the play of the Major Arcana. The Fool represents that moment where you wake up and realize you can no longer play out the script for your life as-is. The moment when you’ve finally had enough of the status quo and you bet on yourself to change your life.
This implies that you already went through the moments of introspection—the drama—that pushed you to the point of not just wanting to start over but taking a risk to do so.
It’s giving Oedipus Rex, in that you ignored all the signs that things were one way until the moment when the truth was undeniable and you had to do something about it.
The Fool in the Rider-Waite-Smith is clearly privileged enough to have some nice clothes, a wand, a bit of power (it is said that the bag attached to their wand contains each of the suits), and the good health (or Strength) to carry it all gracefully.
They aren’t starting from zero, from nothing, actually—they have assumed the identity of the Zero. And, I think that distinction is so important. The choice to start over—to abandon everything—requires privilege not available to everyone.
Our cultural survivorship bias romanticizes people who risk the last few dollars in their bank account to make it big. The start from the bottom and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. A big feat for sure, but not actually a normal one.
In reality, the Fool is making a calculated choice. A bet that their existing skill set, life experience, and the few resources they have at their disposal will result in a better life—whatever better means.
There’s potential in being emptied out by life—in hard resetting everything to go on a journey of discovery.
References
- The Fool as Spongebob Squarepants
- Persona 5’s Joker as the Fool
- Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
- A Complete Guide to the Tarot by Eden Gray, “Epilogue”, pg 227-229
- Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel Pollack, “The Fool”, pg 24-29
