Time flies while you’re having fun–at least, that’s what how the old saying goes.

This year marked my eighth year blogging (off and on–more off than on, I’ll admit).  I’ve changed sites several times, went on new adventures, tried having my self-hosted site (which I promptly broke!) and find myself once again, here, at the lyricalfool.wordpress.com site.

The original title, way back in 2007, was Footsteps of a Fool. There’s something about the Fool that I can’t quite let go of.  I’m still as much in love with the archetype as I’ve always been.

For so long and for so many reasons, the fool has always had negative connotations.

Whether it’s for his stupidity or silliness, his lack of vision or lack of judgment, his poor fashion sense or poor common sense, the Fool has gotten a bad rap, for sure.

And yet, there’s something more, just below the surface.

It is said that the tarot deck is the Fool’s journey, and, as all journeys do, it begins and ends with the traveler himself. In the classic Rider-Waite deck, the Fool’s order is zero. Being neither positive nor negative, the Fool strikes the balance between the two. When the tarot was a popular card game, the Fool was the trump card, operating outside the rules that governed all other cards.

When looking at the card itself, at first glance, we see a man foolishly about to step off a cliff.  Eyes opened, he appears to be taking a poor puppy with him. Poor judgment? Wanton disregard? Blatant blindness? Whatever the cause, judging by surface appearances, there’s a willful ignorance in play, a refusal to see the obvious—that he’s about to go over the cliff—or a knowing and doing anyway, even if it’s to his detriment.

But again, there’s something more, just below the surface.

His eyes are open, and he has no doubt that he’s about to step off a cliff. In fact, his rear foot is already lifting, already taking that next step.  This card is an action shot; it’s a man with a plan—not just a plan, but a plan that is advancing. He may have found himself hesitating or doubting himself in the past, but at this moment, this singular moment, he is moving.  Moving toward the great unknown, moving toward the future.

Moving in faith.

His next step is the beginning of the end, and the end of the beginning. No longer will he be on familiar footing, but rather freefalling, plunging into pure mystery. His action is determined; his end result is not. Does he meet his end on the craggy rocks below the cliff? Does he regain his footing and continue on his way until the new way is as familiar as the old only to have things change once again?

No one knows. Such is the fate of a fool.

But the Fool does not travel alone, nor does  he  travel empty handed. He brings with him a dog for company, a symbol of unconditional love and loyalty, and, as it so happens, the dog is also in motion, neither leading nor following. Excited and eager, the dog is also moving toward the unknown. In the Fool’s possessions are a flower and a small rucksack.  A balance of beauty and necessity, inspiration and practicality, the items are everything he needs for this moment. It’s an exercise in faith that everything he needs for the next moment will be provided for him.

Fearlessness. Unconventionality.  Openness. Movement. Balance. Faith.  Love and loyalty.

Thus lies the nature of the Fool.

I am, on my best days, a Fool-with-a-capital F.  Always a work in progress, a lover not a fighter (although, I am trying to break a habit of showing up for most verbal fisticuffs I’m invited to), an  embracer of adventure, She-Who-Sees-Behind-The-Mask.

My goal by blogging: To celebrate awesomesauce wherever I find it, in whatever form I find it, to discover greatness in the mundane, beauty in the intrepid, and to cry out praise for those things that really, really rock my world (See: Featured Fools). I want to examine those things I have taken for granted, celebrate small victories, liberate my inner bohemian, and live as joyfully, fearlessly, and beautimously as I possibly can.

And maybe, just maybe, one day finish that damn novel.

(Image Credit: Michael Thomas who made this awesome banner for me when I was using lyricalfool.com)