THE FOOL
In the Tarot de Marseille system, the Tarot de Nicolas Conver plays a crucial role as it is the only deck inherited by later publishers. The standard 1930 edition, also known as the Ancien Tarot de Marseille, is one of the significant versions analyzed in fundamental and popular books.
The card Le Mat (The Fool) is unnumbered or sometimes referred to as card number Zero. The assignment of a number to this card has two aspects:
Number Zero: In both Eastern and Western cultures, this number symbolizes emptiness, beginnings, and complete void. Just like the name of the card – Le Mat – implies the initiation of the spiritual path. The image of a young man wearing a hat without a brim, a red coat, blue trousers, and red shoes, carrying a yellow staff, represents the pursuit of knowledge and the ceaseless search for truth and continuous progress.
Number Twenty-Two: If this card is placed after card XXI (Le Monde – The World), considering it as card number twenty-two, then according to the interpretation of the meaning of number twenty-two. This number follows the perfection of number twenty-one, signifying that after completing a perfect cycle, everything returns to humility, self-awareness, and begins a new, more progressive cycle. Le Mat (The Fool) embodies the journey toward knowledge, the unwavering quest for truth along an adventurous path.