I’ve written interpretations for every card in the Wild Unknown Tarot. As the box of the deck states, there are no rights or wrongs. These are simply my perspectives on the tarot card meanings. I hope you find them useful!
Click here for a directory of all posts in my Wild Unknown series.
Deck Creator’s Keywords: innocence, naivety, starting out, spontaneity
Carrie’s Keywords: potential, leap, adventure
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The Fool Tarot Card Meanings in the Wild Unknown
Our fool is a baby chick perched on a tree branch, one foot stretched out as though he is about to step off. Buds and blossoms are unfolding on the tree branch. It is spring-time, and the world is brimming with new life. Potential is bursting forth everywhere! Even the chick itself is a form of fresh, invigorating energy – a spring chicken, as they say.
The sky is orange and yellow, as though the sun is just starting to climb up the horizon. This brings to mind the metaphoric resonance of ‘the dawn of a new day.’ Sunrise is a time of adventure and potential. Where might this new day, this fresh blooming energy take you? The possibilities are truly endless.
The Fool is not concerned with yesterday or tomorrow – the Fool is immersed in the now. And it is always the now, as one moment gives way to the next. The Fool reminds you to place your attention here, in the present moment.
The chick and the branch are black and white. The bright white of the branch makes it look charged with pure energy. As the bright colors of dawn descend along the horizon, they give way to black lines near the bottom of the card. What might be in this black void? You simply don’t know. The Fool is literally heading out into the wild unknown.
There is an interesting use of lines in the Wild Unknown tarot. The direction of lines in the cards give clues to the energy the cards hold. In the Fool, the sky is lined horizontally. These static, horizontal lines seem to me to represent energy that is still free-flowing; the energy is there, but hasn’t yet been guided into a particular direction. This fits in well with the Fool, a card brimming with limitless, not yet fully directed universal energy.
The Fool Tarot Card Meanings in General
The imagery above from The Spacious Tarot is inspired by the Waite-Smith tradition, which shows a person who looks poised to walk off a cliff. In the first person perspective of The Spacious Tarot, you ARE the Fool, poised to leap.
This is not dissimilar from the chick in the Wild Unknown version who is set to walk off the branch and into that black void of the unknown. In fact, taking a leap into the unknown is a core message of the Fool in any tarot deck. This card speaks of pure, unbridled potential. In order for that potential to take shape, risks are required. Taking a leap doesn’t necessarily guarantee a favorable outcome. But if you never leap, you remain stuck on the precipice, never fully immersing yourself in all that life has to offer.
The Fool is card 0, giving it a special role in any tarot deck. Without a fixed number, the Fool is unbound and free, often thought to represent each of us as we journey through life. In some tarot traditions, the Fool is considered to be the character who encounters the various lessons that we see in the rest of the cards. In a spiritual sense, the Fool is infinite universal energy. The Fool is the creative force that animates the entire universe. Without this undirected universal energy, no other manifestations of creation would be possible. The Fool is the energetic magic that allows the entire adventure of life come into being.
In a reading
In a reading, this card can ask you to consider the timeless conundrum of the Fool: are you naïve, about to leap unprepared and face disaster? Or are you filled with a spiritual trust that the universe will support your leap? The Fool asks you to tune into your primal instincts instead of overthinking.
The Fool is also a reminder that there are no right or wrong decisions. The most important thing, the Fool might advise you, is to say YES to life in whatever way feels expansive for you. Sometimes your best option is to remain on the branch until you are ready. But more often, the Fool nudges you to open your heart, set out, and trust that whatever happens from there is a meaningful adventure.
Hi, I'm Carrie!
I'm a tarot reader and mentor. My purpose is to encourage your expansion. If you're new, start here.
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This fool card is adorable! I love it – the little hatchling that needs to learn how to fly 🙂 it’s so very natural this new beginning. Thanks for sharing.
I know, right!? This is definitely one of my favorite Fool cards, ever. Thanks for the comment. 🙂
wow! amazing insight! I’m going to thoroughly enjoy reading all ur interpretations of this amazing deck! *love and light*
Yay! Thanks 🙂
I’m a beginner at the tarot, I’ve got the wild unknown deck and I’m studying throught the marselha cards, but also reading your’s texts about the wild unknown, I realy conect with this deck and I find in your text the words to discribe the fellings witch arcana gives to me.
Thank you for that
P.S. sorry about the writing, I’m brasilian
You’re welcome! Enjoy your tarot studies. 🙂 <3
what does it mean if this card in this certain deck is reversed?
Here is how I read reversals: http://carriemallon.com/blog/how-to-read-reversed-tarot-cards/
I keep looking at this chick and it doesn’t look like a flight bird, the wings and shape are all wrong it’s a water bird…the rounded beak with nostrils on top and tiny wings are making me think more a duck and the black legs with webbed feet are making me think it’s a swan… A cygnet. It’s in a tree, out of place, unable to grip the branch so it needs to free fall, it can’t stay where it is and it can’t fly but it can take a step forward into a leap of faith.
Hi!
I had another reader tell me The Fool for timing meant Spring…I had come to believe the Fool has no time attached…or maybe when one adventure has stopped, & a new adventure begins…Has anyone got any other ideas about timing for The Fool and position was “upcoming event”..Deck used-Legacy of the Devine Tarot..
Hello! I have loosely used tarot for years but rely completely on the authors interpretations. I did a year ahead with this deck and 10 of them were reversed.. I appreciated your post on reversals and will take a harder look at them, but with this deck it’s a little difficult since they seem so broad? What would you say the reversal of this card is?
Hi Carrie. I’ve always been drawn to the tarot. The time to dive in is now. I’ve just bought the Wild Unknown Tarot deck (I have all of Kim’s other oracle decks so decided it was a good place to start). I’m going to contemplate a card each day (or longer). I found your blog which I sense is going to be such an anchor for this process. Thank you! I love your way and words and look forward to reading your insights. Nina x