Major Arcana · 0
The Fool — tarot meaning
beginnings, leap of faith, innocence
Upright
A step into the unknown taken with an open heart. The Fool is the beginning of a journey — pure potential and trust in the road ahead.
Reversed
Recklessness or hesitation — a leap taken without looking, or not taken at all.
In the Papus Tarot, 1909
Le Mat — The Fool · Hebrew letter ש Shin
Papus places Le Mat between Judgement and The World, unnumbered, as the letter Shin: the spirit that is not bound by the series. Martinists read the man of desire still on the road.
In the Oswald Wirth Tarot, 1889
Le Fou — The Fool · Hebrew letter ש Shin
Wirth keeps Le Fou outside the numbered series: the spirit that has left the circle of ordinary life. He is either the initiate too free to be named, or the man who has lost his own thread — the same figure read at two altitudes.
Shown from the 1909 William Rider & Sons deck (public domain). A card is read in relation to the question and the cards around it; these meanings are a starting point, not a verdict.