What’s The Fools’ Journey?

The Fools’ Journey is a chronicle of years of esoteric, spiritual and theoretical study and practice compiled into the twenty one tabloids. It reflects the author’s personal philosophies and contemplations over three decades.

What it is. But mostly what it isn’t.

Presenting an impromptu grilling from QC Ellis in 2017, to find out about what The Fools’ Journey is all about. It’s a bit rough and ready, a bit unscripted, but it may give people a feel for it.

A summarised version is written below for those who prefer the written word to scruffy Yorkshiremen talking at them.

It’s about the tarot, isn’t it?

Depends on what you mean by the tarot, but it is absolutely not intended as a fortune telling device. The term Fool’s Journey is most often associated with the fool or hermit of the tarot and his life experience, and in that context there is an overlap and shared origin with the major arcana, but the two diverge very early in their attribution.

Fortune telling isn’t something the author subscribes to, especially not via 21 mass produced images, and these tabloids won’t ever appear alongside the dozens of generic tarot packs that masquerade as Mind, Body and Spirit in Waterstone’s.

Is it a pagan thing?

Nope. I am not a pagan. Nothing against pagans, but the Fools’ Journey draws spiritual inspiration from many sources, including Buddhist philosophy, Togakure Ryu ninjutsu, eastern mysticism, Judeo Christian theology, other esoterica, but most importantly of all it draws on personal life experience. These things are pulled together, dissected, considered, meditated upon and condensed into the Tabloids of The Fools’ Journey and the rambles that go alongside them.

But it is a religious thing?

Nope. It’s a spirituality thing, but it is my belief that religion and spirituality parted company a very long time ago.
The Fools’ Journey does encompass my spiritual beliefs, and so any reading of them will probably mean more to those who believe humans are meant to be something bigger than the dominant mammal on this big rock. The University of Fools is more hands on, and there are practical personal development skills and wisdoms to improve everyone’s human experience, regardless of faith. It’s informed by my own experience with Creation, with more than a dash of pick and mix philosophy and spirituality. It is my individual route map chronicling the path I have taken and the souls I have intersected with on a personal enlightenment quest.

Ah. It is an enlightened guru thing then?

Ah. I didn’t say I was enlightened, or even that this unique route map would actually lead to anywhere. I’m not a reincarnated master, an elevated being in touch with extradimensional aliens or even a self proclaimed Life Coach. I have however led many workshops on a number of topics including Self Esteem and Body Language, Public Speaking, Detecting the Unseen Worlds, and co facilitated workshops on Spiritual Healing, Meditation and a number of personal development topics.

My belief is that the Human Being is selling itself short. As a species we sort of do OK, and we have developed so technologically that we’ll be able to invent ourselves through the next evolutionary imperative. There is little chance of us having a natural or Universal upgrade on a species level, because our whole existence is structured around the immediacy of the now, and we value the instant meme of a celebrity over the earned and learned experiences. Either that is what we’re to become as a species- 7 billion people chasing the lowest common denominator of a throwaway life- or we’re more than that and we can refine ourselves for higher things. I prefer to choose the latter and The Fools’ Journey is my musings on that topic.

I have been ably assisted, and foundations kicked, by a number of great people on the journey. Biggest acknowledgements for that go to Colin Ellis and Tim Stalmans, and of course to Maha Abu who inspired me to frame it in the context of the Fool very early on.