The Fool is an important archetype in esoteric lore. We see the Fool in places from the tarot deck to medieval feasts to medieval art and literature and treatises of alchemy.
Mark Hedsel discusses this concept in his book
The Zelator. Specifically,
the Way of the Fool is an independent path of initiation where the student can at different times study under many masters but will not make any lifelong commitment to any one path nor enter into vows of secrecy.
The following excerpts from
The Zelator may shed light on the spirit of this way:
“The Way of the Fool is no easy way, for it involves a balancing act, in which the Fool may stumble and become a fool. It is a cunning way, a way of strange knowledge. It is ‘the Way that Is Not a Way’ - ‘the Way that Cannot Be Named’. Such titles alone should alert us to the ignorance of this Way, save among esotericists. Perhaps, when the ecclesiastical authorities attempted to root out the
Festum Fatuoruin - the Feast of Fools, in the 15th century, they succeeded in driving underground any esoteric groups linked with the Way of the Fool. [...]