The Fool is many things and none. The Fool is the jester, the joker, the trickster, the clown, the simpleton, the naïf, the hero. The first card in the tarot deck, the Fool’s number is zero. A blank slate.

In the Rider-Waite tarot image of the fool we see a youth blithely walking towards the edge of a cliff with his faithful dog companion. Is he about to step off? He doesn’t appear to be looking where he is going. Is the dog trying to warn him? Perhaps the dog is cheering him on…that’s what I like to think. I mean, you can’t really tell how far the drop is in the picture, maybe it only looks steep.

The Fool is an innocent at the beginning of an adventure, naive to what lies ahead. He is the Hero at the start of the Hero’s Journey; the role that we all play at the beginning of a new undertaking, a role we don over and over again in our lives as we embark on new endeavors, great and small. April Fool’s Day in early spring is an excellent time to ponder new beginnings and to launch ourselves on new and exciting odysseys.

A Fool is also a delightfully simple traditional British dessert consisting of macerated fruit and whipped cream, which inspired this drink. Much like the Fool it is many things: cocktail, dessert, magic potion…shake one up and start your journey…be a hero.

The Divine Fool

1 oz gin

1 oz white creme de cacao

2 oz cream

3 strawberries

Wash and cut two of the strawberries and place them in the shaker. Add the creme de cacao and muddle them. Add ice and the gin and cream and do a foolish dance while you shake, shake, shake! Strain into a cocktail glass, cut a small slit in the remaining strawberry and place it on the rim as a garnish – this is your heart, balanced on the precipice of a sweet new experience. Dive in. Take a risk. Follow your heart.

“A fool doth think he is wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool”

– William Shakespeare, As You Like It