Glossary Tarot

The Fool’s journey

The Fool’s journey is a symbolic reading of the 22 Major Arcana as a path of initiation: from The Magician (I), the young energy that already holds every tool, to The World (XXI), the figure of fulfillment, with The Fool wandering freely through each stage. Every arcanum becomes a station of inner ripening. This reading frame, carried by the psychological approach to tarot, turns the deck into a story of growth.

The three movements of the path

You can read the sequence of the majors in three breaths. The first cards, from The Magician to The Chariot, tell of building: learning, choosing, moving forward. The next ones, from Justice to Temperance, cross the trials that bring you to maturity. The last, from The Devil to The World, open the great metamorphoses, all the way to the final dance of fulfillment.

Using it in your readings

When a Major Arcanum appears, place it on this path: beginning, middle or end of the journey. The Tower does not read like The Magician: one shakes what is already built, the other opens a fresh start. Asking yourself where I stand on this road is often enough to make the card speak.

Sources

  • Alejandro Jodorowsky and Marianne Costa, The Way of Tarot (2004)
  • Sallie Nichols, Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey (1980)