The 3 Journeys of the Fool : (1) Manifesting Will; Taking Control Over His Mind

 

The Major Arcana and the Querent
    The querent, as the Fool, begins a journey learning to harness and act through their own free will. Here, and in each of the three journeys, the path is separated into three overlapping arcs. For this first journey, we begin with the Creation arc. The querent/Fool learn to identify what they want, then must discern how to get it, before finally putting in the energy to allow their will to come to life. In the second arc, Discipline, they find that the power of their will only grows in the spiral of their own thoughts, and they learn to seek the help of others more wise than themselves. Will begins in the mind, but soon enough they must balance their own self authority with how they interact with others. Finally, in the Realization arc, the wisdom of the Heirophant points them to their interpersonal bonds, they find that what began as a willful though soon becomes a rush of potential energies.

Creation Arc
    The first arc encompasses the first three cards of the arcana - the Magician, the High Priest, and the Empress. The Magician represents the harnessing of free will. Where the querent/Fool understands that there is something they want and they identify it. In this moment, all the forces of creation are there together. Every element sits on the altar before the Magician. But Will without a Way does not create reality. So, the journey continues as the logic and reason of the Magician's control over their world are balanced with the intuitive sense of the High Priestess. It is with her, the Fool understands the why behind their force of will.

    Sometimes, the order of these first two cards can be interchanged - and this applies in each of the journeys. The sensing of will, and the need for a way often happen so close together that the order of events can get muddled. Eventually, though, the two find an equilibrium and from their union emerges the Empress - the mother of creation. It is with her that the querent/Fool find the first fruits of their own intention. Thought and desire begin to define attitude and behavior. Choices are made with only the goal of her wonderful creation taken to mind. And it is in this growing power that the Fool finds they are already moving into the second phase of the journey...

Discipline Arc
    With the growing power of their own will, the Fool stands in the world with their own sense of authority - an Emperor of their own mind. They don't necessarily claim the power over other people, but the Fool always does claim authority over their own life and being. No longer accepting going with the flow of someone else's will, the Fool now only follows their own ambition, but the life of a one man army is lonely. Eventually, they must seek council - the words of a wise man, a Heirophant.

    The Heirophant gives council, pointing the Fool to their own self interests. The very will they push means nothing without their bonds to the world around them. The fool is instructed that just as they had to temper the harsh edge of the Magician's control with the soft intuition of the High Priestess, they too must temper their own self-authority with their care for the world around them. 

Realization Arc
    With the Heirophant's words taken to heed, the Fool is turned out to build their own community. Bonds with others are forged or broken, as the Fool chooses. Sometimes this is for good. Sometimes it's for ill. In every case, it's a lesson in what makes their intentions truly important - how it effects the world around them. By the time the Fool has taken place not only as a leader of the people, but a member of the people. It's here he finds the wealth of potential in his every act of will. Every choice he makes has the opportunity to help or harm; to create or destroy.

    It's in this rush of possibilities that the Fool, now finding himself fully in control of his own thoughts, realizes that the control he has in his mind must also be held in his heart. With the first journey all but complete, the next journey as already within the horizon, and every step only bring the Fool/querent closer to that new realization...