Oh Foolish One

Well, Blog Hop time again. For January the rebels have selected The Fool for our topic. The first card of the major arcana, number 0. 

Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor. A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.

Oh, The Fool, what an interesting card to come up in a reading. I have read many tarot books in my studies of the tarot. There is a consensus that The Fool indicates the start of a new path. Starting something new and different. Being guided by the heart, following our passions. One description appealed to me the most because I felt it best described the sentiment of The Fool. It was in the book "The Smart Girl's Guide To Tarot" by Emmi Fredericks (pstt, it's available on Scribd if you have that app) . Here is an exert from the book describing the fool

...This mindset talks you into marrying someone you've known for six weeks. Or quitting a decent job because you feel stifled and must be true to your art. Or dropping out of college to see the world. There's a great YEE-HAW! feeling to it, the exhilaration that comes with saying SCREW IT! I GOTTA BE ME! Your goal is reasonable but are you going about it in a way that will actually achieve that goal...

Isn't it the perfect description of the sentiment for The Fool?

Rider-Waite-Smith

Witches Tarot

Archangel Power Tarot

Guilded Tarot

Green Witch Tarot

Although the traditional name for this card is The Fool some decks have renamed it, but the sentiment is the same. It is normally represented by someone, walking along a cliff with a satchel on a staff, rose in hand and a little dog along for the adventure.

Upright: Trust, Innocence, Open mind, Beginning, Follow your bliss, Adventure, A leap of faith.

Reversed: Foolish, Naive, Reckless, Close minded, Distrust, Irresponsibility, The need to be cautious and plan ahead.

Be sure to read my fellow rebel bloggers posts here.

Death.... Oh No

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The thirteenth card in the major arcana of a tarot deck is the DEATH card. This is a pretty ominous sounding card. DEATH.... of course when I say this I use my spookiest most ominous voice. Try it... DEATH... So spooky.

This card as made many new readers nervous. How do I explain the death card to my querent?

When I do a reading, I ask my angels and guides to provide a positive reading, this being said I do not expect for every cards to be positive, I want my querent to get the proper information for them to get the best results for their reading. I find it is important to read the negative of a reading so that the querent is fully equiped to positively impact their life. If I have strayed from my path, I want to know so that I may realign myself or prep myself for what may be coming.

The death card is the most feared card in the tarot deck because it is the most misunderstood. Traditionally the Death card shows a skeleton in armor riding a white horse with a black banner with a white flower on the center.

The Gilded Tarot shows many of the same symbols but in a more zoomed in view.

The Green Witch Tarot has renamed the Death card, as with most of the major arcana cards in that deck and changed the imagery but it still captures the same ominous feeling.

Doreen Virtue in her Archangel Power Tarot deck decided to remove the Death card altogether and replaced it by Peace. That is one way of dealing with avoiding a negative feeling for this card.

I know some tarot readers that opted to simply remove that card from their deck but I do not think this is necessary. I encourage you do not in fact. If you learn to interpret the Death card properly, there really is no reason to fear it.

Right side up: 

The death card represents big changes, a period of ending and new beginning. A cleansing and purifying time. A significant transformation is taking place.

Reversed:

I still interpret this card as a period of change and transformation when this card is shown in a reverse position but there is resistance. The querent is holding on to what was and is not letting this change happen as it should.

I read with the basic card meaning and then let intuition lead the way so in some reading, the Death card may take on new nuance but generally this is how I see this card.

In one of my latest reading, I was doing a Mystic Seven Spread regarding the start of a new business. The Death card showed up in a reversed position for the obstacle card. For this lady, the obstacle with her new business will be to do the changes that her new business would require for her to be successful. She's resisting these changes and isn't fully sold on the concept that have been presented to her. No actual death here.

This post was created for the purpose of a blog hop I joined with the Tarot Rebel group. Be sure to check out the post of my fellow bloggers regarding the Death card.