The Wanderer - Card 0

The Wanderer

Card 0. Before the beginning, the beginning of the beginning, the beginning of the unknown.

In the Wildwood Tarot, card 0 is The Wanderer, not The Fool, as in the Rider-Waite and many other decks. Barefooted, arms open to receive, heart forward, Wanderer moves out into the world with optimistic trust, stepping off a cliff onto a bridge of rainbow. Where others might hesitate at such an ethereal walkway, the Wanderer steps out joyously.

Stepping off verdant, home shores, the Wanderer wears a cloak of green reminder, wrist cuffs and a braided belt made by those back home - protective and comforting. Home is with the Wanderer, home is where the feet are, home is where it is carried.

Yes, surely there will be lessons along the way, some painful and difficult - notice the slightly ominous face among the trees across the way to the right? and the craggly bird-shaped face eyeing us to the left? - BUT this is not a foolish act! Were we to never journey away from what we know, never to learn new things, never to take risks, oh how stuck, boring, slumped, and dejected we would be.

The Wanderer, Card 0, asks us to journey without knowing the answers, to revel in the joy of not knowing, to experience this moment with childlike openness to now, the trust as if we didn't know how to be distrustful. Onward, outward!