The Fool’s Goal
With all his possessions in one bag, The Fool embarks on a journey. Without an exact destination or plan in mind, just the innocent excitement of moving forward into the unknown. Within the Tarot’s Major Arcana, The Fool is sometimes numbered 0, other times 22, that’s to say it’s either the first card or the last. The remaining 21 cards of The Major Arcana tell the story of this journey. It’s almost fitting that The Fool can exist as either a starting point or finish line, this speaks to a charming indifference of the character itself but also as commentary to how cyclical our paths may be.
Looking at Yours/NotYours, I realize I am The Fool. The entire 5-song project is circular. The hook on the first song, also ends the final track. Each song is a separate road but it all trails back to the beginning. Even the title references a quasi existence that refuses to be one thing, and instead proudly models between two opposing conditions.
Jenn Pinero, who was the photographer for the album’s artwork, captured this same concept via her pictures. In some images I sit, others I stand, often looking away from the camera or over it, to some farther distance behind it. A small backpack for my belongings at hand. At the end of one path while simultaneously at the beginning of another.
The Fool symbolizes the absence of perspective, the lack of reference point--It’s a fresh start. It’s also the card of infinite possibilities and the daring step to fall into the first among them. As a final card, it confidently uses the lessons from the 21 previous cards to step into the fabulous new where familiarity drifts away. This card, to me, is a humbling position. At the start of a new adventure or stage in life, where regardless what you knew, you are now once again starting from zero.
I also imagine that in contrast to the mystery ahead, there is none left behind you--You’ve known the familiar world from which you’re departing. Anything essential to you, from that world, is in your backpack.
Has there been a point in your life where this card and its meaning have played a valued role? What visual aspects of the card hold the most significance to you? Can you relate with the notion of packing all your essentials, whether literally or figuratively, and leaving behind what you know for a chance to experience a journey that calls your name?
It was without much knowledge of The Tarot that I wrote and recorded Yours/NotYours. I only discovered The Fool after the fact. But being born on the first sign of Astrology and the first day of April (which has its own connection to The Fool) it all felt to fall in place so perfectly. A coincidental alignment that feels like an affirming pat on the back for trusting yourself.
The Fool’s Goal isn’t the destination. The Fool’s Goal is to leave. To fall and bump up against the landscape. To be shaped by the shape of the topography. The terrain which will challenge and make, of this wanderer, an experienced traveler.
