0. Folly

 
Beginnings / Entrenchment

Naiveté / Competency

Flexibility / Arrogance

Misadventures / Prudence

The Unexpected / Convention
 

Folly card
 

Upright

    • Springing into new beginnings. Starting a journey.
    • Trying something new.
    • The hopeful feeling one might get setting foot on a new school campus or in a new workplace.
    • Living for the moment.
    • Innocence in one's perceptions.
    • Indifference about others' expectations.
    • Inexperience. Being green.
    • Possessing the beginner's mind, full of possibilities.
    • Speaking one's mind freely, unconcerned with consequences.
    • Making people laugh, using humor to lighten the mood.
    • A situation where fools may be abundant.
    • Being carefree and going with the flow, even though it may lead to trouble and misadventures.
    • Misadventures in themselves.

Folly is a card of unique wisdom and appreciable danger. Beginnings, innocence, spontaneity, the unexpected, and the freedom to not follow the rules are characteristic of this major, and likewise so are daftness and imprudence. Folly is the way of fools, profane and holy, and for that reason humor is also understood to be characteristic of the wisdom of Folly.

Card Affiliations

Folly is the Two Worlds Tarot counterpart to The Fool, Major Arcana number 0 in the Waite-Smith tarot and in many universal tarot decks. This card's meaning differs moderately from the universal meanings widely used for The Fool. Universal meanings for The Fool can be substituted or used to alter this card's meaning if the reader desires.

 

Reversed

    • A foolish expert, one who presumes their expertise to be a solution when it is not, one who offers expert advice where it is not helpful.
    • Someone who believes they can solve all problems when they cannot.
    • Being overly concerned with the rules. Being more focused on what cannot be done than on what can be done.
    • Losing the beginner's mind.
    • Not having a healthy sense of humor.
    • Taking things too seriously.
    • Conversely, if people are joking about serious and unacceptable things — for example, if they are making inappropriate jokes about marginalized people — this could represent telling them to knock it off.

Folly Reversed, while it certainly doesn't indicate lack of proficiency, may indicate the need to loosen up, to see things through the eyes of a fool or a novice, or possibly to put a humorous spin on things. When a venture ceases to be a source of joy or fun, it could be time to find a way to turn work into play, or to take more exciting risks if possible.

It could also mean that one needs to forget about limitations, and focusing on what can be done; what is possible. While we're not limitless, we certainly have a great deal of freedom to affect the world. When the focus is on limitations, rules, and rigidity, one can fall out of the habit of questioning authority, and authority does need to be questioned from time to time.