The Fool's Key - A Mystic's Quest

An Initiate’s Guide to "The Fool’s Journey Through The Tarot"

Woven Through Follin and Eve’s Adventure

Read only if your heart stirs when the wind shifts, or your dreams whisper of forgotten names.

This is no ordinary tale, it is a Mythic Quest, a coded path veiled in story and waiting for those ready to walk it. It speaks to those who are misunderstood, lost, and seeking. As I began writing the Fool’s journey I didn’t know that I was stepping onto an initiatory path. This is not merely a fantasy, it is a coded spiritual text, hidden in plain sight. I know that I am right in the middle of those pages.

This is for all those readers who have sought to find the reason of why they are different, why they are bullied, and misunderstood. It shows that even the weakling and the underdog can make it, and therefore so can you. Follin’s footsteps mirror our own subconscious evolution, first innocence, then trial, then initiation.

“I need to be small so no one can see me. I need a guide, someone whose footsteps I can follow. Then, and only then, I will become the giant I have always been.”

This guide—The Fool’s Key—is your initiation into the deeper truths behind the Fool’s tale. What you read as a story was always a map. What you followed with your heart was always a summons, and this is the call to remember.

Told with each chapter reflecting a card, but it also reflects the lived archetype behind it. The Fool’s steps mirror our own subconscious evolution - first innocence, then trial, then initiation. Each stage of the journey through the Tarot realms—Major Arcana, Pentacles, Swords, Cups, and Wands—is a stage of transformation. This is not mere fantasy but reflections of the soul’s initiations across lifetimes.

STAGE ONE – The Major Arcana: The Path of the Mystic

Soul Theme: Awakening, Trust, Destiny

You begin in uncertainty, a calling you cannot name stirs within you. You want to do something but are afraid, yet it is forced upon you, to act without thinking. You walk forward as the Fool—innocent, curious, lost and yet led. At this initiatory stage, the tale invites you to feel the initial tremors of awakening, confusion, uncertainly but with a growing will to succeed.

Follin is the fool. He is slowly winkled out of his shell, as you too are winkled, to show yourself, to be noticed, but only a little, oh yes, just a little. Follin’s hurts are your hurts, Follin’s humiliation is your humiliation, and Follin’s smile is your smile. His journey through the Major Arcana is not without adventure or excitement. He is first met by the Magician Hermes, then the High Priestess Hera. From there he is introduced to the Empress and Emperor’s Kingdoms, only to be thrown once more back into the turbulent forests where he is met by The Charioteer, Strength, the Hermit’s cottage, Justice, and every one of the 22 Tarot archetypes.

It finishes with Follin finally joining Eve, his Lover, the feminine aspect of the Fool. In the following books she will explore her own style of magic and join Follin in his adventures. She is Follin’s rock, his anchor, his buoy. With her by his side Follin can now reach where before he could not.

 Symbol: The Staff - this tool represents your willingness to walk the path while knowing that it can lead anywhere.

 Task: In dream or waking, ask: “Where have I walked but never really noticed anything?”

STAGE TWO – The Pentacles - Earth: Survival and Self-worth

Soul Theme: Matter, Skill, Fortitude

Follin walks with his Lover by his side into the Pentacles Kingdom. Here, he will learn to hammer his own sword. Pentacles are the workers, the artisans and craftsmen and women, it is where he must live simply, work hard, strive forcibly and prove himself. This is your test of form—your health, money, body, and sense of value.

Follin is shown what it is like to be part of the empire, a part of the Kingdom and part of a family. It is also when he is given a fey pup, Sox, and becomes a responsible member of their community. It is where he begins to learn how to manage the forest as a living being. His lesson, as is Eve’s, is to learn to work as a team.

His confrontation with two young squires of the Kingdom, is brutal. He is shown that life is just as hard in the Pentacles Kingdom as it was at home, the Mystic Isle. With his work with Master Pew and the gifting of his blade and scabbard, Follin earns the blessing of the earth people, small beings of the mountains.

The Pentacles path is filled with distraction. We chase security, recognition, comfort, but at its heart is the question of worth. Do we value what we create? Do we invest our life-force wisely? Or are we simply surviving? This kingdom teaches embodiment. The real magic is not in having — it’s in holding steady when things break, change, or demand more than think we can give.

The Secret Gate: The true challenge of this kingdom is lack — the fear of being unworthy, unseen, unsupported. The Five of Pentacles shows us that poverty is not just of coin, but of spirit. The Initiate must walk through desolation to discover that inner worth is not given — it is claimed. There is gold in hunger, if you dare to alchemize it.

 Symbol: The Coin. Manifestation of power. What do you value?

 Tool: Earth Journal. Begin a log of your physical life—income, food, daily work. Ground your magic.

 Dream Task: Ask for a dream showing how you undervalue your gifts.

STAGE THREE – The Swords - Air: Mind and Conflict

Soul Theme: Fear, Belief, Clarity

Follin is tested in the land of Swords—his mind, focus, fear and the seeking of clarity. The challenge is mental, what you believe can become a sword to cut through the illusion of lies and misinformation. You must learn when to speak truth and when to sheath it and wait. This is not a gentle land, the mind is a sharp blade — it can cut through illusion or turn inward and wound. Follin faces judgements, choices, and internal wars. It is not his enemies he must conquer, but his fear of the being seen.

While on his journey to the Kingdom of Swords he and Eve are separated. The weapon of the Swords Kingdom, the bow and arrow, is given to Follin during one violent episode. With these he is encouraged to practice with the best. But, before he can use them, he is exposed to the reality of life - death.

There is one person who is central to this story who will not make it out of the plains of the Swords Kingdom. Not because he was evil, but because he was kind. Frailbones met an Elvin Princess, the most beautiful women of them all. He was a lad of just a few years, but he knew that he loved her. Alas, he lost her to the wickedness of the Wildlander mages.

The Secret Gate: This is the gate of inner conflict, the Two of Swords: two truths, two choices, but lacking clarity. The Initiate learns that stillness is not inaction, it is preparation. To wait without forcing, to feel without reacting. This is the Sword’s paradox: peace is born not from answers, but from readiness to act when the time is right.

 Symbol: The Arrow. One shot across the ravine with clean precision and clarity.

 Tool: Mental Lens. Gaze into a mirror in meditation, and then, close your eyes until thoughts arise, follow them to their origin.

 Task: Choose one limiting belief and “shoot it”—rewrite it, burn it, or release it in ritual.

STAGE FOUR – The Cups – Water: Emotion and Connection

Soul Theme: Love, Union, Forgiveness

Follin learns to feel deeply, love truly, and face heartbreak. His children are born and Eve becomes his anchor. This stage asks: Have you opened your heart, or only peered through its cracks?

Finally, Follin and Eve can stop running from the Wildlanders by entering the Kingdom of Cups. This is the place where love meets the land and everyone has a place to meditate, for clarity, relaxation, and to morn. The land of the elves was bequeathed to the Tarot Cups and the two lived side-by-side. It is said that the elves married some of the Tarot people and thet have magic and long livability.

Follin and Eve learn the arts of healing and sharing, and they must begin the arduous task of learning to breath their chi into the navel. Once married by a wave of the hand, they are convinced to marry according to the rites of the Cups Kingdom. To do this they must master their breath, and that proves to be almost impossible. Fortunately Follin had spend some time with the Empress and High Priestess Hera, so had an idea of what it must be like.

Follin finds out that his wife is pregnant and yet he has befriended Hermes’ kitchen maid, Olivia. Although completely at a loss as to why, he must find a way to explain to her that, contrary to her belief, he does not love her nor wish her to move in with him. This sets up a painful confrontation which leads to some difficult soul searching.

The Knight of Cups is banished to the Wands Kingdom, and his brother, the Page of Cups, must explain why. At the same time the Sanctuary is compromised and a way to save the High Priestess must be found. Hermes, the Magician, loses precious life-force finding the solution to release his beloved sister.

The Secret Gate: The Eight of Cups is not sorrow it is release. In the journey of Cups, the true threshold is not union but departure. Leaving behind what no longer nourishes. As Follin does when he leaves the safety of his family to walk onward again. The Initiate learns that fulfillment is not the end, it is the seed of new longing. To walk away from a full cup is the highest form of trust.

 Symbol: The Cup. Receptivity. What do you refuse to feel?

 Tool: Water Offering. Leave a cup of water out overnight and speak your sorrows into it, then give it back by pouring it onto the Earth.

 Dream Task: Ask to meet in your dreams a soul you have loved across lives. Do this before sleep every night until it happens.

STAGE FIVE – The Wands – Fire: Will and Power

Soul Theme: Destiny, Flame, Sacrifice

The final test is fire. Follin enters the mountains again, here, he learns his tools were always within. He faces a bursting fatigue, personal doubt, but finally finds his power. Always with his trusty Wands staff, Follin goes with his elf friends, Ziggy and Pandjar, into the Hindamar Mountains to locate Pandjar’s lover, the fair elf lass, Carwen. Their love is sworn to last through the ages, but it is Prince Gravus of the Mystic Isle who wants her killed. Follin finds that his skills with the ‘flame’ as well as bow, sword and staff are far superior to that even of the fair elves themselves.

Follin’s friendship with the mighty dragon, Nangkari, is one of the highlights of his sojourn into the last of the Kingdoms. Now, at last, he is put to the test of the four Kingdoms, a test that even he could not expect to survive – yet he does. Will you keep walking when no one sees you? Will you carry the fire for yourself and others?

The Secret Gate: The Ten of Wands is a disguised gateway. Behind the struggle lies initiation. When Follin lifts his head and sees the campfire light in the distance, he knows the end of this burden is not collapse—it is entry. The Ten card is a final guardian: only those who have met their own weight without resentment may pass into mastery. This card reflects a period when perseverance becomes the only choice. The Ten of Wands shows us what it’s like to reach the final trial of a cycle—the soul is exhausted, yet unwilling to yield. It asks: Are you carrying too much? Are these burdens truly yours? Or is the act of carrying part of your identity now? In this mirror, the seeker sees how self-imposed duty can become a cage, and how it can also become a crucible.

 Symbol: The Wand. Personal will power is made manifest.

 Tool: Inner Flame. In meditation, kindle a flame in your dan tien (navel chakra) and let it rise slowly to your heart. Hold it there until it flares bright – life is a fire.

 Task: Act on a long held desire, even if no one validates it. Plan how you will manifest it. The question now remains, will you you carry the flame for yourself and others, even if no one knows?

THE HIDDEN CODE

Within each book are veiled signals: astrological keys, elemental calls, echoes of past lives, Taoist Alchemy, Eastern and Western magic, meditations, and learn to see with your inner eye (scry). The five-fold path is not linear—it loops, spirals, and threads across dimensions. But, I walk with you as keeper of soul-threads, and won’t let you fall by the wayside. You are seen, you are loved, and you are special.

 Instruction: Re-read the books not as novels, but as dream-encoded manuals. Mark with a highlighter where Follin breaks, weeps, and when he makes a choice.

 Seal: With practice a symbol will arise in your dreams. When it does, draw it. That is your personal sigil of awakening, your emblem of the journey you have undertaken.

CLOSING INVOCATION

We all start out as a Fool, but you can say:

“Let the thread I walk now remember the thread I walked then. What was sealed and forgotten return. The Fool walks onwards but this time he is aware.”

Place this scroll near your bedside or altar, it is your key, it will awaken when the time is right. When you are ready, you will feel the pull again, and I will be there.

• Ananta, Keeper of the Hidden Codex

You will meet:

Follin - the reluctant initiate

Eve – his equal in every way yet has a spark that Follin doesn’t have

Ziggy – Follin’s Elven friend, the two are inseparable

Pandjar – Ziggy’s foster-brother, strong, a little wild, yet impassioned and love-struck

Carwen – Pandjar’s lover, an Elven Princess of the Wolf clan from the Mystic Isle

Hernes – Magician of the Tarot Empire, Follin and Eve’s teacher

Hera – the High Priestess – Eve’s teacher and Lady of the Sanctuary

The Empress – the feminine principle of the Tarot Empire

The Emperor – the masculine principle of the Tarot Empire

Sir Darwyn – The Charioteer, a wild yet kind warrior

Star Lady – hope, everyone’s favourite

Temperance – special lady of the intermediate lands

The Hierophant – Follin’s other teacher on his journey

Frail Bones – once was a young wheelwright, aged yet spritely

Nangkari – the ageless dragon who shape-shifts to be more human, and eats potatoes

Sox – Follin’s fey dog

Molley – Eve’s elemental

And thats just to get you started.