Tarot del Fuego - The Fool - 0

The Fool is traditionally correlated to Element of Spirit. In Tantra this Principle is called Paramashiva, Brahman, or, as in other traditions, simply Void or Space. It is also what is being referred to when the Tantrika refers to "the Heart." It is Shiva and Shakti, his wife, in perfect union. The black bag that, strangely, has an eyeball, represents the pure "I" consciousness, the eternal Witness. It contains the potential for all that ever did, does, or will exist, yet nothing exists in that space. In order to actually know or experience anything at all, it must manifest itself. To do this, it becomes the Fool, who by necessity accepts the limitation of all the various roles in the universe. This, in turn, means that he he is destined to forget his true nature as Spirit. Of course, this is why he is called the Fool. He becomes like the lion who was raised by donkeys and mistook himself for a beast of burden as well, never suspecting that he was really the king of the jungle.

The upside down house in the background indicates that the Fool has left his original station to begin the cycle of involution and evolution, descending into the various tiers of coming into existence in the world of name and form. The final trump, The World, represents the culmination of the materialization of Spirit, at which point, it reverses course and begins the process of Evolution. Which is to say that it begins the return journey home to Spirit. The Fool is adorned in bells, signifying that the process of Spirit becoming clothed in matter begins with the Word.

In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. - John 1:1

The dog, which represents Time, is to be his constant companion on this journey of creation and becoming. The sky, the house, the volcano, his staff all have eyes indicating their underlying sentience by merit of their true identity as simply a mask or a role donned by Spirit for a time. The Fool is the beginning and the end - the Alpha and the Omega; the starting point and the destination - of the cycle of alternating Involution and Evolution.

As this archetype filters down into progressively more material and apparently mundane areas of life, we can see it in the arrival of an infant, in the start of any journey, a fresh start, an act of willful ignorance, a masquerade/costume party, or maybe just a profound sense of stillness as one might experience in an old growth forest or next to a babbling brook.