Home » Mind & Soul » Tarot » Quitting Your Day Job in the Middle Ages: What it meant to land a spot as a Fool

Quitting Your Day Job in the Middle Ages: What it meant to land a spot as a Fool

© Elizabeth Bissette

"Who Is Not a Fool?"

-Horace (65-8 B.C.), Satires, 2.3.158

As card 0 (usually) in an otherwise numbered deck, the fool brings both ends of the Major Arcana together. As 0, he can also be viewed as the source of the Arcana and therefore of its wisdom. He is not exactly a part of it because he is nothing (0). At the same time, he can be seen as the first card, and therefore everything can be viewed as coming from him. In tarot, this everything is knowledge of the Arcane. To understand each key of the tarot, we need to understand the preceding one. So to understand the cards of the Major Arcana, we need to understand the fool.

Tarot decks first emerged in the Middle Ages. To fully understand the fool's role in tarot, it is important to understand his role in Medieval society. As the card is outside of the structure of the Major Arcana, but a unique and important part of it, the fool was outside of the structure of society but a unique and important part of it.

The fool was an outsider by nature because he was extreme in some way. He or she, (the fool, along with the monk, nun and prostitute - one of the few equal opportunity positions in the Middle Ages), was exempt by nature from the rules of society. This exemption could be due to extreme mental or physical superiority or inferiority.

In Europe during the Middle Ages there were two kinds of fools, (by occupation, that is). There were fools who were mentally slow or otherwise disabled and fools who were exceptionally clever and/or agile. Some of these were also deviants. For these, the position of fool often offered an escape from the consequences of crimes committed before they had received their lucky appointment. Sometimes poets, musicians and scholars became fools too.

Fools in all of these categories were often 'discovered' just like comedians and other entertainers are today. Some would (intentionally or unintentionally) impress a passing person of distinction with their wit, stupidity, clumsiness or agility and be offered a job on the spot. For many, this opportunity was a release from the law or from toil and drudgery. Some fools even became rich and famous. A few of their jokes were so good they survive to this day.

The copyright of the article Quitting Your Day Job in the Middle Ages: What it meant to land a spot as a Fool in Tarot is owned by Elizabeth Bissette. Permission to republish Quitting Your Day Job in the Middle Ages: What it meant to land a spot as a Fool in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.