The Fool
Oil on canvas, 3 ft. x 5.2 ft., 2007.
An-Magrith Erlandsen




The Fool starts his journey through the archetypes of the Major Arcana. It is the Zero card and resides at both the beginning and at the end of a cycle. Once we journey through each archetype and learn what we can at the level we are capable of we come to the end, wiser. At every ending is a beginning, and we find ourselves the Fool again. The Fool of "Tarot of the Pomegranate" juggles three balls of wisdom that will help him progress in his journey. The yellow ball is the Major Arcana, the land of archetypes and higher wisdom. The white ball is the Royal Arcana, the land of roles and hierarchies. The red ball is the Minor Arcana, the physical world and the lessons of the human condition. We observe that this particular Fool has arrived from the other side, entering the physical world via the red carpet, the umbilical chord that keeps him connected to the other side and will stay with him throughout his physical journey in this life. However the Fool is free to wander where he wills, unrolling the carpet before him as his destiny unfolds. He is the maker of new paths and progresses, in advertently opening mysterious doors to the unknown through the various obstacles on the checkerboard of life.