Cero, Germen (Zero, Seed)
...Traditionally called The Fool...


Zero
the Card of Infinite Possibilities


The gestation of Luna y Lobo

All the possibilities of the Major Arcana are contained within the Zero card: the Void; the Dark of the Womb, from which anything can, and everything will, evolve. Thus the card represents a mystic seed; a magical embryo/child; a pure impulse; infinite possibilities. In a reading it often denotes the power to begin; to take a first step: albeit out into the unknown. Risking giving up what you have been to evolve into what you can become.

I said this deck is very personal and it is. Starting here with the very first card. The image shows the Goddess, our Creatress, Pregnant with Possibility. She creates everybody's whole universe. Here she creates ours; and all our possible selves. She gestates Wolf from within an Earth she has already given birth to, and Luna from a Moon she has also given birth to. We die and return to her womb, from which she rebirths us and our universe, with all it's marvelous things-that-could-be. Our spirits, our animal selves, are eternally with her: the Moon Bird up high on Her shoulder; the Earth-Wolf at Her feet.

The Major Arcana:
Archetypal Energies

The Major Arcana are the "major" energies in the Tarot deck. Some might call them "Fates" or "Divine Interventions". They are not mutable: while we may work WITH them, we cannot work on them, indeed they work on us! They are archetypal in that they symbolize the various roles we will play in life (or that it is possible for us to play!). In ascending numerical sequence they illustrate a linear or chronological progression: from 1 The Magician to 21 The World. It is a natural progressive cycle - a path of life from beginning to fulfillment with The Fool (card Zero) representing the Void/Womb of before-birth/after-death. Thus the Zero card sits outside this 1 - 21 progression, symbolizing all possibilities. Every step along the way is symbolically contained within The Zero. This card is therefore a glyph representing the whole Birth-Death-Rebirth cycle. I have done quite a bit of chakra work, and in my exploration of Tarot I discovered the work of Carol Bridges (Medicine Woman Tarot), who sees the upward progression of the Major Arcana as rising thru the chakras: from 1 The Magician at the Root Chakra to 21 The World at the Crown Chakra. This felt so intuitively "right" for me at the time, and has remained a very important aspect of the majors as I see them - and so I of course am incorporating this idea into my own cards. I am using the spectral color progression associated with the chakras in my cards: for example, The Magician (I have re-named him "El es Magico": "He is Magic") card has a scene which will include red, and fire (red, and sexual fire are associated with the Root Chakra). Another kind of progression that is reflected within the Major Arcana is a progression thru levels of experience. I first found this idea discussed in Vicki Noble's "MotherPeace", and it, too, just "clicked" for me...it made so much sense! This progression causes the Majors to naturally break down into 3 groups, with the experiences becoming more complex as one advances numerically higher through each group. The 3 groups are, First: Life on the Physical Plane, symbolized by 1 The Magician thru 7 The Chariot (which I call Triunfo: Triumph); with The Chariot representing mastery of this level. Second: Advancement on the Emotional/Psychic Plane, symbolized by 8 Strength (I call her Dama Animal: Lady of Beasts) thru 14 Temperance (which I tentatively call Fusion), with Temperance representing mastery. The Third group is Advancement on the Spiritual Plane, symbolized by 15 The Devil (I call him Trickster) thru 21 The World (whom I call was going to call Earth, but now believe I will call "All That Is"), with World representing mastery.
As mentioned, I am going to imply the chakra connection in the cards by utilizing the color associated with the related chakra in the scene on each card (as I described with the magician). I am going to indicate the idea of rising thru levels of experience by having the early cards in the sequence show primitive scenes of inctinctual behavior; with the behavior/idea becoming more complex toward the end of the order, culminating with an exuberant yet formal dance in the clouds shown on the "All That Is" (World) card, to signify integration and completion of a cycle.
Something I'm sure you've probably noticed is that I am renaming many of the cards, to more accurately reflect what the card has come to mean to me. When one develops a relationship with Tarot, one finds the cards becoming symbols that speak very personally to you, and of course creating one's own Tarot deck is the perfect opportunity to manifest this personal symbolism!
Despite all this planning, Serendipity definitely plays a role in my creation of these cards - after all - isn't getting in touch with our Inner Guide/Intuition what this is all about?


Because I really do put a lot of time and care into my Tarot paintings, here are a couple of detail shots from the painting so that you can see parts of the image better.







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Here's a bonus for you!
An older Fool Card I painted a while back!




Here's a statement I wrote about this card:
This Fool card is surrounded by a dark border - the inky darkness of the Void or Womb. An androgynous young person is about to take a first carefree dancing step upon the Sacred Spiral, the "Yellow Brick Road", of life. A Benevolent Spirit of Nature (represented by the cactus) accompanies hir. The hour is just before sunrise - a new day; a new life, is dawning. In a nod to traditional Tarot imagery, this youngster carries the Fool's Bag, with its' all-seeing eye. From within it, S/he pulls the seeds of infinite possibilities: scattering them as S/he dances along.