Mallah
To me, the Fool has always been about the soul just before falling into physical manifestation. The mind of the baby is all about "O" and so this card represents what the Buddhists call "beginner's mind".
When it comes up in a reading, it's about beginnings, playfulness, simplicity. If reversed, it's foolishness, childishness (as opposed to childlikeness). A good "omen" for beginning something, and taking in an open mind...
At the other end of the arcana, (the World) we see the same soul (and compare the two in the DC...it's the same face, only embracing the other half!) after rising OUT of the incarnational cycle... having attained the goal of the "great work". There's the "big O" again... The card before the World shows the actual step of rising.
When it comes up in a reading, it's about beginnings, playfulness, simplicity. If reversed, it's foolishness, childishness (as opposed to childlikeness). A good "omen" for beginning something, and taking in an open mind...
At the other end of the arcana, (the World) we see the same soul (and compare the two in the DC...it's the same face, only embracing the other half!) after rising OUT of the incarnational cycle... having attained the goal of the "great work". There's the "big O" again... The card before the World shows the actual step of rising.