The Moon (Tarot card)

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Symbolism

* Two large, foreboding pillars are shown. Some see them as tombstones, others relate them to Karma.
* Two wild beasts howl at the moon.
* A crayfish appears in the water.
* The Moon is "shedding the moisture of fertilizing dew in great drops" (Waite).fact|date = September 2008 These are numbered 15 in the Rider-Waite deck and are Yodh-shaped. On this basis, some associate this card with impregnation.

Rider-Waite specific

* Very clearly, the figure in the moon is frowning, reflecting displeasure.
* The waxing moon has 16 chief rays and 16 secondary rays.
* The beasts are, according to Waite's "Pictorial Key to the Tarot", a dog and a wolf, which represent "the fears of the natural mind."fact|date = September 2008
* The crayfish crawls from the water onto the land.
* There is a pathway into the distant, dark unknown.

Interpretation

According to Waite's "", the card represents life of the imagination apart from life of the spirit. The dog and wolf are the fears of the natural mind in the presence of that place of exit, when there is only reflected light to guide it. This reference is a key to another form of symbolism. The intellectual light is a reflection and beyond it is the unknown mystery which it cannot reveal. It illuminates our animal nature, types of which are represented below--the dog, the wolf and that which comes up out of the deeps, the nameless and hideous tendency which is even lower than the savage beast. It strives to attain manifestation, symbolized by crawling from the abyss of water to the land, but as a rule it sinks back whence it came. The face of the mind directs a calm gaze upon the unrest below, and the dew of thought falls. The message is: "Peace, be still," and it may be that there shall come a calm upon the animal nature, while the abyss beneath shall cease from giving up form.

Some frequent keywords are:
*"Lack of clarity ----- Tension ----- Doubt ----- Fantasy"

*"Deception ----- Psychological conflict ----- Obscured vision"

*"Confusion ----- Illusion ----- Fear ----- Imagination ----- Worry"

*"Romanticism ----- Anxiety ----- Apprehension ----- Unrealistic ideas"

Other meanings

This card has to do with sleep patterns. This can mean both dreaming and nightmares. If one gets this card, they may be going through an emotional or mental state. If they are already sick and gets this card they should make sure they're taking all of their medication. If they drink alcohol or use drugs they may cause irreparable damage.On the other hand, this card can give one visions and insight, creativity and psychic powers. In this case if one gets this card they should trust their intuition. [ [http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/basics/moon.shtml "The Moon" from "Thirteen's Tarot Basics" Eclectic Tarot] ]

Alternative decks

In old Italian Tarot decks, instead of the above scene there is instead an astronomer measuring the large moon above him in some way.

References

* A. E. Waite's 1910 "Pictorial Key to the Tarot"
* Juliette Wood, Folklore 109 (1998):15-24, The Celtic Tarot and the Secret Tradition: A Study in Modern Legend Making (1998)

External links

* [http://trionfi.com/tarot/cards/18-moon/ "Moon" cards from many decks and articles to "Moon" iconography]
* [http://www.tarothermit.com/moon.htm The History of the Moon Card] from The Hermitage.
* [http://www.learntarot.com/maj18.htm The Moon from Joan Bunning's "Learning the Tarot: A Tarot Book for Beginners"]