The Fool represents a sense of innocence and joy, a time in life when everything seems new and we have not preconceived notions to weigh us down. The Fool is like an innocent child just starting out on life's journey - a clean slate in search of new experiences. The Fool trusts in life and is unaware of limitations or restrictions. The Fool is a Major Arcana card but its number is 0. The Fool is often seen as symbolizing the Fool's journey or our soul's journey through life.  The Fool is all about trust and being willing to start anew and take a leap of faith. 

On the Grail Tarot Fool we see the Grail Seeker standing on a cliff looking at the road laid out before him.  In the sky before him we see an image of the Holy Grail.  It hovers in the sky - out of reach and elusive.  The Grail Seeker starts out with nothing but his faith in himself and the belief that he can achieve anything.  The Patchwork Fool shows three ballerinas dressed in black tutus dancing in the air.  They almost seem to be swimming through the air.

What both cards suggest to me is that a belief in oneself is the most important first step in a journey.  Maybe you will ultimately learn that your faith in yourself was over-rated, but without that self-confidence and naive belief in yourself, it is almost impossible to get started.  In fact the more I think about it the more I realize that one of the things that has often held me back is that I let my own self-doubts prevent me from even trying.  This is time for me to find a way to find that naive faith in myself and in life.  I do feel it to a small degree - for example I am sure that getting let go from PAL will ultimately prove to be for the best, but I'm still don't have a lot of faith in myself.

The Grail Tarot companion book offers the question "What are you seeking in your life?" as the Grail question for this card.  The truth is I'm not sure.  Like all people I want to be happy and feel as if I've contributed something to improve the world.  I want to feel comfortable and not have to worry about bills.  I don't mean I need to be rich, just able to pay my bills and feel that I have enough left to have the freedom to do what I'd like.  I know that money won't make me happy but not being able to pay bills wouldn't make me happy either.

I guess that is my challenge right now - to spend some time figure out what I want in my life.  Hopefully working through The Artist's Way and Wishcraft will help me in this endeavor.