“Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.”
[“Traveler, there is no path, the path must be forged as you walk.”]
When April Fool’s Day rolls around, I love to celebrate the Fool of the Tarot.
The Fool is the first card in the deck, but it’s not number one: it’s zero. It’s nothing rather than something: the vast, open emptiness from which everything arises and into which it dissolves.
The Fool teaches us that the only way to fully enjoy and experience life is to surrender to it.
The Fool reminds us that if we are not willing to make mistakes, we are not willing to live.
The Fool embodies the wisdom that when we release the need to be something, and are willing to be nothing, we open ourselves up to everything.
This reminds me of the Tao:
“The Tao is like a well:
used but never used up.
It is like the eternal void:
filled with infinite possibilities.”
“If you realize that all things change,
there is nothing you will try to hold on to.
If you aren’t afraid of dying,
there is nothing you can’t achieve.”
~ From the Tao Te Ching, translated by Stephen Mitchell
In The Chicken Qabalah, Lon Milo Duquette puts it this way:
“First of all, there is only one universe, only one absolute. Call it God. Call it what you want, but It’s the One thing that contains all the other things in the world – it’s the great One beyond which there is nothing…In the Tarot, this super-nothing is represented by the Fool card.
A pure buffoon skips toward his doom.
An abyss of profound uncertainties.
It takes a Fool to seed that womb
With all possible, possibilities.
Ultimately, the Fool is the only real Tarot card. In essence, all the other cards live inside the Fool – just like you and me and all the other components of creation live inside the inscrutable consciousness of Deity.”
…Beautiful, right?
Here are 15 additional quotes that embody the deep wisdom of the Fool.
As you read, be The Fool. Surrender to the experience. You might as well be here now since you can’t be anywhere else.
If you’re going to do it, do it. And put your whole heart into it.
“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.”
“The fool represents the hero’s journey – taking chances, leaping into the unknown, following one’s inner truth, trusting the self and embracing life’s experiences with the spirit of your life force. Step into your personal adventure with lightness of heart and an awareness of the true self – let your intuition guide you through the unknown journeys that lay ahead. Be the fearless journeyman.”
~ Cathy McClelland in The Star Tarot
“At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough.”
“If you are afraid to take a chance, take one anyway. What you don’t do can create the same regrets as the mistakes you make.”
“The Universe is your home, and you shall explore its farthest recesses before the end of Time. You are dwelling in the Infinite Mind of THE ALL, and your possibilities and opportunities are infinite, in both time and space. And at the end of the Grand Cycle of Aeons, when THE ALL shall draw back into itself all of its creations – you will go gladly for you will then be able to know the Whole Truth of being At One with THE ALL.”
~ The Three Initiates in The Kybalion
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“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
“The spiritual journey is one of constant transformation. In order to grow, you must give up the struggle to remain the same, and learn to embrace change at all times.”
~ Michael Singer in The Untethered Soul
“True success smiles upon those who are 100 percent willing to fail. Once you master the art of dancing gracefully with mistakes, you will know what it means to be truly free – free to follow your heart, embody your power, and live your dreams.”
~ Sedona Soulfire and Tess Whitehurst (me) in Cosmic Dancer Oracle
“Every time you don’t follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness.”
“Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.”
“The great courageous act that we all must do, is to have the courage to step out of our history and past so that we can live our dreams.”
“When we spend our lives waiting until we’re perfect or bulletproof before we walk into the arena, we ultimately sacrifice relationships and opportunities that may not be recoverable, we squander our precious time, and we turn our backs on our gifts, those unique contributions that only we can make.”
~ Brene Brown in Daring Greatly
“Make a point of prizing your mistakes. Try seeing all false starts for what they are: indispensable events in a life that gets anywhere.”
~ Lawrence Weinstein in Grammar for a Full Life
“She imagined, now, what it would be like to accept herself completely. Every mistake she had ever made. Every mark on her body. Every dream she hadn’t reached or pain she had felt. Every lust or longing she had suppressed.
She imagined accepting it all. The way she accepted nature. The way she accepted a glacier or a puffin or the breach of a whale.
She imagined seeing herself as just another brilliant freak of nature. Just another sentient animal, trying their best.
And in doing so, she imagined what it was like to be free.”
~ Matt Haig in The Midnight Library
“And who wants to be stuck in a box labeled ‘good’ anyway? Isn’t it more interesting to revel in the full range of human experience? Instead of trying to control ourselves and our lives to obtain a perfectionistic ideal, why not embrace life as it is – both the light and the shadow? What adventures might follow if we free ourselves in this way?.”
~ Dr. Kristin Neff in Self-Compassion
This year, April Fools’ Day coincides with Mercury Retrograde, and precedes a total solar eclipse by only a little over a week.
You may also like these 9 Reasons to Love Mercury Retrograde and these 5 Ways to Power Up During a Solar Eclipse.
Recently I was contemplating or evaluating my inability to take action in a timely manner. I felt like a phony or imposter at times. Even sending Xmas cards to loved ones was something I put off due to cowardice and fear of rejection or ridicule. To start any project would be bombarded with delaying till I was bullet proof perfect and end up missing the special dates, being afraid to be laughed at. 2022 fall I began socializing once a month with my sister and aunts and uncles. And I even sent Xmas cards! I felt so empowered after mailing my cards, I felt this rush of feel good energy flood me. It felt like my chest was bursting. I then accidentally purchased for the first time a lunar activity calendar planner. It seemed I kept on running across the word “fool” everywhere! My client playfully teased her husband “silly fool”. Then the owner of the company I contracted with teased her pet dog. My husband and daughter teased me and I would feel foolish or inept. Then I was called a “cowardly kitty”. I wish I was braver to start on a spiritual career but I stay somewhat obscure and quietly practice my beliefs. Some of these quotes on this article resonated with me. The fool card totally freaked me out! Synchronicity.
There is so much power and wisdom in this archetype. Sounds like it’s there for you to tap into. 😊
Wow! Beautifully written blog post. Reading this gave me a feeling of purpose!
Great to hear, Emma! Thank you for reading.