Card of the Week: The Fool

The twenty-two unsuited cards, known as the Major Arcana cards, are sometimes said to represent facets of a story called “The Fool’s Journey” through social, moral and ultimately spiritual influences.

The Fool card indicates curiosity and travel, either physical or on a path of self discovery.  The Fool is free to make choices, whether mindful of the consequences or not.  Modern images of The Fool often depict a carefree innocent, unaware of the potential danger of his next step.  A darker characterization may present a Fool driven by base urges on a path to self-inflicted deprivation or poverty.

Inverted, The Fool may suggest the potential folly of acting quickly or rashly, without sufficient forethought.  Progress requires action, but all actions have consequences.

In “The Way to Eden”, the Enterprise rescues a band of young and inexperienced explorers from a damaged shuttlecraft.  The group shuns the traditional trappings of the Federation and mocks Captain Kirk as authoritarian and stiff.  They are eager to find a mythical Eden planet, where they intend to start a new colony of their own.  Their methods and goals are initially dismissed by the Enterprise crew as unorthodox but harmless.  Adam and others entertain the crew with musical performances, distracting them, while their leader Dr. Sevrin schemes to steal one of the Enterprise’s shuttles.  The group continues to follow the unwavering beliefs of their leader as he brings them first into danger, then to criminal action and near murder, and ultimately to an alien planet where several die from toxic plants, including Sevrin and Adam.