This article is from my monthly column in Supernal Magazine, March 2022 edition
While we have unique experiences within it, we all follow the same pathway to enlightenment shown by the tarot’s Fool’s Journey.
The path is explained by the 22 cards of the major arcana, part of the 78-card tarot deck that summarises all human attributes and the experiences we go through on the journey.
The Fool is card ‘zero’ in the major arcana – it needs no number as it is the main character that sets off as the innocent novice to find self-realisation. We are each the Fool.
Within every step on the Fool’s ascent of the ladder of consciousness are multiple cycles containing the whole journey, all part of a coherent whole - nothing less than you’d expect of the One!
On the way we come to know ourselves more deeply, understanding what we came here to experience and develop.
To become initiated into the true self means we have completed the Fool’s Journey and can stand our ground against internal and external threats, employing all the skills and wisdoms earned along the way. We come home to the true self, now further developed through having taken the journey.
We all find and regain connection
On this path to self-realisation, we know the suffering of disconnection from our true selves, and thus the One.
We experience this in many painful ways, but this is not really who we are. The contrast exists so we can experience our true selves as we strive to transcend limitations. In doing so, we evolve ourselves and consciousness itself, and eventually realise we can create in this way without suffering.
We’re guided at every step if we listen
We don’t need to grope around in the dark to progress on the path. We’re abundantly guided in many ways, if we look, including via studying and integrating the Fool’s Journey. It helps us bring our existing inner knowledge to conscious awareness and grounded application.
The Fool’s Journey can be split into three stages.
Stage one – Knowing the self through the external world
In the first stage, we are creating ourselves by looking at who we are in relation to others and the world around us.
We develop the foundations of the persona – or ego self – that represents our true self in this lifetime, and the way we engage with the world around us and play our roles from this basis.
We learn to understand feminine and masculine aspects of self; our relationship with our body, other people, spiritual knowledge and tradition, and nature; and how we operate and manifest in the material world, including our relationship with money.
The seven cards of stage one - The Magician, The High Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot
Stage two – Knowing the inner self
We now discover more of the true inner self, which brings deeper and more conscious awareness to our persona.
We go inwardly to discover more wisdom, and realise we must use this to successfully navigate key life turning points and twists of fate.
We learn to be the director of our life experience, including examining the moral challenges that help define us, and develop inner strength and patience as we experience powerful transformations.
The seven cards of stage two - Strength, The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice, Hanged Man, Death, Temperance
Stage three – Realising the unified self
Now we bring it all home to self-realisation as we connect to the more spiritual aspects of life through maturity, wisdom and higher awareness.
We are further tested on whether we stay balanced through life’s storms and the tumbling of structures that no longer support our true essence, and learn to view all through the eyes of higher wisdom.
The inner journey is reviewed, including how we think about the self and our experiences. We develop real awareness of our divine role in the collective, and become primarily concerned with inner truth and purpose.
This is the point of initiation into the Self, as we realise with joy we are one with all.
The seven cards of stage three - The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, The World
The tarot carries wisdom that really gets the human spirit and all our follies and potentials, as is also found in its best friend, astrology.
We’re not left in this life without assistance to guide our way. We just have to look to realise the perfection of our plan, and how blessed we are within it.
If you'd like to explore your personal Fool's Journey through the lens of your astrology, tarot guidance and life context, consider the Initiation into Self program.