Zero – The Endless Possibilities

All Tarot Cards (except for the Court Cards) have numbers on them. Among them, only one card has the number Zero — The Fool. Today, let’s see how the energy of Zero is expressed in the imagery of The Fool card, and how the imagery of The Fool card expresses the energy of Zero.

Zero brings a unique energy into the sequence of numbers. As such, taken by itself, zero has no value to add. But place it next to any other number, and suddenly, the value of that number rises. One becomes a Ten, and a Ten becomes a Hundred, a Hundred becomes a Thousand, and so on. That Zero adds so much value! All of a sudden, that Zero isn’t so puny after all!

The Many Faces of Zero

In Numerology, Zero is considered to be nothing, and also everything. In Taoism, zero represents the void. In Kabbala, zero represents limitlessness. Pythagoras saw it as the origin of all things. Within its circular shape, zero becomes a universal symbol of wholeness and totality. It is endless, unmanifested, and self-contained. It is considered to be the raw material of creation. It is the unmanifested energy that holds all sorts of potential.

In the Kabbala, the idea of ‘Nothing’ was taken further. Instead of seeing ‘Nothing’ as an ‘absence of anything’, they chose to see it as ‘limitless’ or ‘Ain Soph’. This is the natural void, the very beginning, in which everything will start taking shape.

The Fool Card

As mentioned before, The Fool is the only card in the Tarot Card Deck that has the number zero attached to it.

Among other things, The Fool card represents the very beginnings of one’s spiritual journey. To summarize, The Fool card tells you to take the leap and follow your dreams. It tells you that you have all that you’ve ever needed to successfully achieve your dreams — that you have unlimited potential. And this card tells you not to listen to the naysayers, who may think that you are a ‘fool’ for going after what you want. Even though you have no idea how it will all play out, you choose to go on this quest and begin your adventure.

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  The Fool - Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

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  The Fool - Thoth Tarot

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  The Fool - Tarot de Marseilles

The Direction of the Fool

Notice how the direction of the main character in the card has changed. In the Marseilles Tarot, the wanderer is walking towards the right. Whereas, in the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, he moves to the left. In complete contrast to that, the Thoth Fool looks directly at us.

The right side is considered to be that of the conscious world, and said to have male energy. Conversely, the left side is considered to be that of the unconscious world, and have female energy.

The time of the Marseilles Tarot (17th – 18th Century) was a world that actively sought out answers that made more sense (perhaps in a scientific, rational, and/or logical way) to their conscious minds. That world was journeying towards understanding the human world in a more concrete way — moving beyond concepts, and into a realistic picture. However, the journey and the quest certainly changed by the time the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Deck came out. By the 19th Century, the quest was about discovering the hidden and mysterious aspects of the spiritual and the inner worlds within our psyche. The direction of the Fool changed, and it now showed a person seeking to learn more about the unconscious world. While the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot Deck was published in 1910, work on the Thoth deck began after that, and the deck was published in 1969. The Thoth deck Fool looks us straight in the eye and demands that we open our eyes to the wisdom already present with us.

The Placement of The Fool

Back in the day, The Fool card was placed between Major Arcana 20 (Judgement) and Major Arcana 21 (The World). Nowadays though, one finds this card placed right at the beginning, as the first card in the deck. Personally, I find this changing approach towards the Major Arcana journey quite intriguing — again, representing the changing perspectives of the age.

The Judgement card (in a nutshell) is about freeing oneself from old ideas, concepts, and even karmic cycles, and being liberated from the prison of these long-term systems, and long-held beliefs. The World card (very briefly) is about finding completion within oneself, and with and within the Universe as a whole — being one with the World and being the World at the same time.

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  Judgement - Tarot de Marseilles

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  The Fool - Tarot de Marseilles

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  The World - Tarot de Marseilles

 

Placing The Fool card between Judgement and The World cards changes the story of this journey. After freeing oneself from the long-held bonds within the Judgement card, you are now tasked with leaving it all behind and starting off with a clean slate, as it were. The Fool card exhorts you to leap into the next unknown cycle, begin a new journey, and start a new adventure. Right away, this leap of faith that was preceded by the ending of your karmic cycles, leads you towards finding completion within and without — making you the entire world in and of itself!

Such was the concept in the world of the time, that in order to achieve oneness with the Universe (The World), you had to end your attachment to your life’s patterns (Judgement) and choose to walk towards the next part of the journey, fearlessly and adventurously. This was a powerfully conscious choice, a brave choice, and naturally, The Fool moves to the right.

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  Judgement - Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

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  The Fool - Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

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  The World - Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

 

However, nowadays, The Fool card is found right at the beginning of the deck. Now, we are required to discard our rational fears and logical arguments right at the outset, and then take that leap of faith into the journey towards completion. We are called upon to discard our conditioned patterns of thought and jump right into the journey of discovery within our inner, subconscious self. Naturally, The Fool now moves towards the left.

Zero and The Fool Card

Now, let’s summarize everything and put all our disparate thoughts together.

• Zero = Everything, Nothing, Limitless, Raw Material, Unmanifested, Potential.
• The Fool = Take the Leap, Begin the Journey, Chase Your Dreams.
• Moving To the Right = Towards Conscious Awareness
• Moving To the Left = Towards Inner World Awareness
• Judgement – The Fool – The World = Wrap up your long-standing cycles – Bravely Take the Leap – Become one with the World energies.
• The Fool at the Beginning = Discard your rational, conditional fears & logic, and take the leap to understand your inner world.

We can now see how The Fool card’s meanings are enhanced by the meanings of Zero. The number gives so much potential and power to the energy of the card. Now, the journey and the dream become infused with limitless possibility and raw potential. Now the leap into the unknown is the source of everything that follows.

Whether one looks at the journey through an old lens of the Marseilles or through the new lens of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, this leap now becomes that much more powerful and brilliant. Be it a journey that’s embarked upon consciously and as a daring adventure, or whether it is a quest within your inner world that parallels chasing dreams in the outer world — the potential of everything and the limitlessness of the unmanifested gets mixed into the vibe. Whether you are consciously merging within the energies of the World, or whether you are choosing to be free of your social constructs and discover your potential — you cannot deny that the energy of zero has now added a layer of brilliance to The Fool card. ✨

Your Thoughts

What did you think? If you have any perspective to add to this, please put it down in the comments section below. As such, zero opens up so many possibilities — and everyone can see much more in the imagery than I can. Please do share your thoughts and insights. I would love to read what you share. ?