Weekly Insights: The Journey of "The Fool"...

After studying the Major Arcana of the Tarot for many years, the journey of "The Fool" has offered great insight to the unseen aspects of myself, the life cycles I have experienced, and even the natural evolution of humanity as a whole. Each of us is revealed through the various archetypes, while having deep learning experiences from them that offer empowering lessons along the way. There is no escaping it because we are part of a greater whole in a melting pot of physical realities that are cooking our consciousness and awakening us to our infiniteness - one small step at a time. "The Fool" helps us relate to our human experiences, to each other, and to how each archetype helps to mold us into who we become during our lifetime. It is a way to observe our personal transformation from an innocent baby into an elder with profound wisdom. This process can happen in one breath or it can take many years, but it is earned through our personal assimilation and understanding - no matter how long that takes us. Each of us is destined to experience our own personal rite of passage when we move through the 22 archetypes of the Major Arcana. We earn the wisdom we receive, and it sometimes comes with the cost of a deep life lesson that can manifest through suffering and pain. The key is to maintain our innocence and trust in the unknown, while leaning on our intuition to Light the way.

On April Fools Day, I thought a lot about this archetypical journey and what it means to be a fool. In the tarot, "The Fool" represents a seed with all of its potential and Light. However, in society, when someone calls you a fool, they are trying to demean you. It means you are lacking intelligence or that you are silly or unwise. In the tarot, it is related to our life experiences, and the beginning of any endeavor, when we can see our potential but have no idea what will happen next. There is an innocence and excitement present, which offers the energy needed to grow something beautiful. "The Fool" is symbolized by the number zero, which is an unending circle of revolutions that spin into infinity. It represents both the end and beginning, and the infinite rounds of cycles going in each direction. Perhaps we are ignorant to any lesson before we learn it, but don't we have a duty to practice patience and understanding with both ourselves and others along the way?

The values of forgiveness and kindness are two topics that take us down some of the deepest journeys into the alchemy of our human transformation. They come up in almost every challenge we experience. This is why they pose such huge challenges to the human ego. When we struggle with them and act foolishly, we have an opportunity to learn from our behaviors and evolve. In every cycle, the old lessons resurface and we have an opportunity to revisit the past responses and choose a different way. The end of the Major Arcana brings us the archetype of "The World". It signifies the completion of the cycle and the integration of the entire journey to get there. We move from "The Fool" to "The World", or from seed to fruit, every 22 seconds, or every 22 minutes, or every 22 days, or every 22 weeks, or every 22 years. It is a series of cycles that we all experience that help us to move forward in our personal evolution. We have small realizations, big epiphanies, and major breakthroughs. Each come to us when we are ready to receive them. There are many different types of awakenings from realizations at work, to scientific discoveries, spiritual enlightenment, or various types of relationship insights. When we can let go of our fears and stay humbly open to learning more than what we think we already know, then the world opens up to us. The 22 archetypes guide us out of our foolishness and into the bigger picture. We are one small grain of sand in an ocean of life. Understanding our interconnectedness is vital in developing our humanness. We need each other, we live for one another, and we share a home, food, resources, and life with one another. To evolve out of our greatest limitations, we have to learn how to treat one another with kindness, respect, compassion, patience, and understanding. When we bump up against each other and cause pain or harm, we have to learn how to apologize and forgive. The more we learn how to live together in peace, the better our lives will be collectively.

Each of us is a fool in some aspect of reality. The reason why we are still here is because we have so much more to learn. The Earthly plane is cooking our souls through this path of discovery, growth, and personal transformation. It may be hard for the ego to admit that it lacks knowledge or understanding in one area or another, but when we can be honest with our selves and each other, then we can live in a more open and compassionate world. As Michael Jackson used to sing, "We are the world". The cycle begins with us individually and ends with us in the bigger picture. Before we have the burning desire to act in ways that help others on a global scale, we first have to invest in our own personal evolution. We see this in the world we live in. There are so many distractions that pull us away from our transformational process. We oftentimes live in survival mode, making it one day at a time and doing the best we know to do. To evolve out of this cycle and into a greater purpose takes sacrifice. We must Love the inner fool and nurture it until it is ready to grow. As we move through the transformational 4th month of the year, we are asked to confront the changes that are happening within and around us. The inner fool has another opportunity to learn and grow. May each of us embrace the unknown and flow with positive change. It is our moment to evolve and grow. The true spiritual awakening begins within.