The 22nd Major Arcana
- Elmira Arthur
- May 29, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: May 13
Today, I want to speak about something that goes far beyond fortune-telling or symbolic archetypes—the 22nd Major Arcana, also known as the Fool. Though the name may seem misleading, this card holds immense transformational potential. It's not just a figure in Tarot—it's a state of being. The Major Arcana were never simply tools of divination; originally, they served as a map of energetic states, each one mirroring a phase in our inner or outer journey. Every Arcana carries its own glyph—a kind of energetic imprint—that can help us understand not just what is happening, but how we are being shaped by it.
Each Arcana reflects a particular energy you might find yourself living through. These aren’t abstract concepts; they show up in your decisions, your emotions, the momentum. When you learn to recognize which arcana you're currently embodying, you stop moving blindly through life. You start to navigate.
Understanding Life's Energies Through Arcana and Glyphs
The Fool: A Portal to Transformation
In one-on-one consultations, I often work with people to identify which Arcana they’re currently “inhabiting.” For example, if you’re in a state of confusion, uncertainty, or an impulsive desire to start over, you may be moving through the energy of the Fool. This isn’t a passive label—it’s a key. Knowing where you stand helps me offer insights on whether to take action, step back, or let go entirely.
The Fool represents the threshold—an open portal at the beginning of the soul’s 22-step journey of evolution. It’s the energy of bold beginnings, of venturing into the unknown without a fixed plan. It’s the archetype of the child: open, unguarded, and untouched by cynicism.
That energy isn’t foolish; it’s powerful. It allows us to move forward with daring, explore with less fear, and feel protected even when we don’t know the outcome.
Each of the 22 Major Arcana adjusts consciousness. Like tuning a musical instrument, each card attunes your inner state to a specific frequency. When your consciousness matches the frequency of the Fool, you’re able to access non-linear insight, powerful intuitive leaps, and deep energetic resets.
The Fool as an Energetic Reset. Spiritual Healing & Guidance
The 22nd Arcana isn’t just symbolic. It’s functional. It carries the energy of reset—on all levels. Emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually. It has the potential to clear dense, outdated information stored in the body and mind. This “reset” can look like releasing long-held beliefs, dissolving psychosomatic tension, or liberating yourself from ancestral imprints.
Working with the Fool allows you to:
Dissolve inner resistance without forcing change
Interrupt destructive patterns stored as subconscious “information”
Reset muscle tension and clear psychosomatic pressure
Neutralize energetic imprints like curses, ancestral burdens, and karmic overlays
Bypass emotional loops and experience events with grounded clarity
This is what energetic hygiene looks like on a soul level—stepping into the Fool means cleansing yourself of excess identity, weight, or programming that no longer belongs to you.
Trusting What You Can’t Yet See
The state of the 22nd Arcana demands one thing above all: trust. Not passive hope. Not naïve optimism. But active trust in the unknown. The Fool is the only Arcana that walks toward the cliff without a plan, and yet always finds ground. In moments where life offers no certainty, this Arcana becomes a lifeline. It invites you to surrender control—not out of helplessness, but out of alignment.
When life feels unrecognizable, this Arcana reminds you that the unknown is not an enemy. In fact, it often holds the only viable way forward. And in this place of uncertainty, something unexpected always arrives—support, insight, synchronicity, a person at the right time. You learn that no matter how unfamiliar the terrain, there is always guidance.
Integrating the Energy of the Fool. Living Beyond Fear and Ego
There are ways to consciously work with the Fool’s energy: visualizations, breathwork, meditative states that align you with the glyph of this Arcana. But the most profound integration happens when you begin to live its lesson.
You stop demanding answers and start listening to the pull of your inner compass. You stop negotiating with fear and begin acting from curiosity. You make peace with uncertainty. You no longer over-identify with social roles or external validations. Instead, you follow something older, wilder, and far more intelligent—your unconditioned essence.
The Fool is not “less evolved.” It is the state before identity forms—making it the closest to source. He is the one walking freely, outside the frame, guided not by ego but by the whisper of something greater. That’s not foolish. That’s freedom.
