Why zero? Traditionally numbers and other signs & symbols have been assigned to Tarot cards but how can anyone assign a number to a Tarot card character that is supposed to represent us all?
The Fool is one who like many of us is just beginning a journey but also he can be seen as one just completing a journey.
Each day we either begin a new project or attempt to complete one. He is returning home or could be coming to create a new home, to find a new niche. Our very lives center upon our quest to find a place for ourselves and to find meaning in our lives; indeed it is The Fool's quest that you and I are in many ways symbolized by.

In this original design by Sandra Don of Webgrafx
The Fool is a Court Jester who holds up a crystal ball (the assigned number of zero for The Fool now takes on added symbolism) in his right hand.
Does he see something there that we can't see? Will he tell us?
Do we gasp at his antics? treating the crystal ball in such a manner? Shouldn't a person treat the crystal ball with more respect?
Ahh, but the Court Jester's zany antics have often been the topic of puppet shows and such a motley fellow would have been a well known character in Medieval and Renaissance Europe.
He was one allowed to do the things that you or I would dare not do and thus enjoyed a special status.
Known for his tricks he could dazzle spectators; the crystal ball also symbolizes his ability to dazzle others, yet his stocking cap points to the fact that he will "pull the wool right over your eyes" yet you will not even be aware of his power to charm you, disarm you and engage you in this very present time. Know anyone like that?

Perhaps the most well known Fool is the Rider- Waite Fool which at times is equated with "Aether," which in Greek Mythology was the poetic personification of the crystal-clear, summery type of air breathed by the Olympians.
In the usenet/newsgroup alt.tarot the rose that the Rider-Waite Fool was holding was discussed. You can find the thread under the subject heading, "Waite's Fool Rose" in Deja News. My response to Bob/Gerry O'Neill's examination of the symbol of rose petals as coinciding with the idea of Waite's Fool being a personification of "Aether" was written on August 28, 1998. The concept of the combination of Aether and rose petals is related to the term in Botony, "aestivation," the "arrangement of petals, sepals, and other floral organs in the unopened bud" The unopened bud is a symbol of new beginnings, a new life-cycle, so too is the Fool.
Of course the idea of Aether is a poetic personification of clear air, a clearer, fresher air breathed by a select group, the Olympians.
The crystal ball that my Fool holds is symbolic of someone who can use the crystal ball for a brief experience of clairvoyance....and brief indeed the experience will be looking at the way The Fool is holding it!
If you are looking at the Rider-Waite card you will notice how Waite's Fool gives no heed to the jumping dog by his legs (some decks show the dog actually biting the leg of the Fool).
The dog has often been a symbol of reality which The Fool does not heed.
The Fool is in his own world.
My Fool shown above is in his own world too.
His legs are around the world that he thinks is under his control yet is is not.
The hourglass is shown above as a symbol that time waits for no man and the grains of time shall slip through one's fingers without proper time-management techniques.
The hourglass in my picture of The Fool above is a constant reminder that the world waits for no one and he who snoozes loses *laugh*
Upon viewing the Rider-Waite card, the querent at first might be uneasy as the Fool seems to be one step before catastrophic folly. My Fool above also leaves the viewer with an uneasy feeling as he seems prone to reckless folly: what would happen if that crystal ball should slip from his grasp?! We shudder at the thought. The Fool, however, seems to be in control. What gives the Fool his confident air? The Fool holds the key to upcoming decisions, the key in the Rider-Waite version of the card is the rose.
The Rider-Waite Fool holds the rose in the air so that the dog (symbol of reality) is sub rosa, which derives from the Latin as "under the rose." There was a practice of hanging a rose over a meeting as a symbol of secrecy.
Little wonder why the Golden Dawn included it then.
Weaving the symbolism of the rose into the card
adds new dimensions to The Fool.
In my representation of The Fool
his contact with the crystal ball gives The Fool confidence
he knows he has a secret bond that he has formed with the crystal ball.

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