Cards Without a Sign: What This Means
In the system of astrological correspondences, most Major Arcana cards are linked to specific zodiac signs or planets. Aries — the Emperor, Cancer — the Chariot, Scorpio — Death. But there are cards that fall outside this scheme: they are addressed not to one astrological type but to all of them simultaneously. These are called the cards of “all signs” — and this is not a flaw in the system but one of its deepest insights.
From a psychological perspective, such cards point to something that precedes individual differences. They speak to those levels of the psyche where we have not yet become “Taurus” or “Aquarius” — where we are simply human, standing before universal human experience.
The Fool: An Archetype That Belongs to Everyone
The Fool (card 0) is perhaps the most “universal” card in the deck. He is not linked to any zodiac sign because his nature precedes all definition. The Fool is the archetype of pure beginning: the moment when there is yet no personality, no history, no fate — only possibility.
In Jungian terms, the Fool corresponds to potential before individuation. This is the self that has not yet determined its form. This is precisely why he speaks to every sign: each of us is capable of leaping into the unknown, of beginning again, of becoming the Fool once more — regardless of whether we are Pisces or Capricorn.
Psychologically, the Fool appears in our lives at moments of major transition: when the former identity has exhausted itself and the new one has not yet taken shape. This is the space between stories — and it belongs to everyone.
The Tower: Disruption as Universal Human Experience
The Tower (card 16) also belongs to all signs — and this is intuitively understandable: crisis, upheaval, the sudden collapse of familiar order does not choose an astrological type. Lightning strikes the tower regardless of whether you are a Leo or a Virgo.
This is because the Tower does not point to a personal characteristic but to a universal psychological law: every construction built on a false foundation will, sooner or later, collapse. This is the reality principle — not a punishment, but an inevitable correction.
In Jungian psychology, the Tower moment is the encounter with the shadow in its most acute form. What we have repressed, deceived ourselves about, or refused to see — returns as lightning. This experience is available to everyone, regardless of sign: because everyone has their tower.
Archetypes Before Individuation
When a card speaks to all signs, it points to something lying before or beyond the individual astrological personality. This is the collective level of the psyche — what Jung called the collective unconscious. Here live not personal complexes but archetypes — images common to all of humanity.
The Fool and the Tower are precisely there. They do not say “here is how this looks for a Scorpio,” but “here is what happens to each of us when we stand before the face of beginning or ending.”
A Question for Reflection
Which of these two archetypes — beginning or disruption — feels more alive in your life right now? And what does it want from you?
Explore all Tarot cards and discover the connections between archetypes.