The Fool’s Journey Through the Tarot Major Arcana: SunFest 2016

Last year I was honored to be asked to write a “Fool’s Journey Through the Tarot” ritual for SunFest 2016. My first response was to run away screaming “Nooooooooo!” I know from previous experience that there is nothing more time consuming and brain warping than writing, organizing, and directing a large scale ritual.

And then it dawned on me that The Fool’s Journey was exactly what I’ve been writing about on this blog for the past several years and it is exactly what my first book, Forging the Blade (which will soon be available), is about.

And after doing the blog, the book, and countless readings for clients, I was a firm believer in the transformative, life changing power of tarot.

So how could I not share this amazing tool with my community?

“OK,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

Fortunately, my community is composed of many amazingly talented people who volunteered to be in or help with the ritual, who serve on Other Worlds Of Wonder, the non-profit board that runs SunFest each year, and other friends who own Ffynnon, beautiful land dedicated to hosting pagan events.

It all came together nicely.

Even the weather co-operated.

We took three days to do the ritual. Each day the ritual participants, or Fools, journeyed through Ffynnon Forest to meet the major arcana tarot cards.

• The first day was the Journey to Adulthood: The Magician through The Chariot.
• The second day was the Journey to Higher Knowledge: Strength through Temperance.
• The third day was the Journey to Enlightenment: The Devil through The World.

The response to the ritual was overwhelming. As I moved through the festival, visiting with friends and organizing the ritual, people were constantly stopping me to tell me how much the ritual meant to them. Some were actually in tears as they told me what a difference it had made in their lives and how much it gave them to think about. Many folks at the festival knew very little or nothing about the tarot, but they stopped me to say that after meeting the cards they were going to buy a book and a deck and start studying. And the children loved it. Many begged to go through again. OWOW made beautiful, free children’s tarot decks available and the kids played with them constantly. But, best of all, the spiritual power of the tarot energized the community. OWOW has had people volunteering to help with next year’s festival, paying a year in advance to come to next year’s festival, and volunteering to be in next year’s ritual.

For the next 21 days I will present a picture of each of the major arcana cards as they appeared in Ffynnon Forest and what they said to the Fools who found them.

To be continued…