Chapters do not start on New Year or on birthdays. They start when something ends quietly enough that you do not notice for weeks — and then one day the old routine simply does not fit. If something in your life has that feeling right now, hold it in mind and turn a card.
The Fool represents new beginnings, faith in the universe, and the courage to take the first step on an unknown journey. Trust life and follow your intuition, even without knowing where the path leads. This card brings the energy of innocence and infinite possibility.
Read against this new stretch, The Fool puts the weight on beginnings and adventure. Read against a beginning, a card describes what the new stretch will ask of you. Beginnings feel like freedom for about a week; after that they feel like a demand. Knowing which demand is coming is what turns an ending into a start.
The same card has an opposite face, and it is worth holding both. Reversed, The Fool warns of recklessness or fear of taking risks. It may indicate hasty decisions without considering consequences, or paralysis from fear of the unknown. Find balance between caution and boldness.
So sit with the question you arrived with — What is actually beginning here? — and notice which of the two readings you flinched at. That flinch is the reading. It is the one piece of this page that came from you rather than from the deck, and it is the only piece that can change anything.
Trust the process and take the first step. The universe supports those with courage.
You do not get to choose when the chapter turns. You get to choose whether you walk in reading the page or looking backwards over your shoulder.