18. The Moon
The Moon (XVIII) is the eighteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks.
Iconography
The card shows a full moon (with a crescent within), twin pillars, two dogs/wolves howling, a stream that runs to the ocean, a crayfish emerging out of the water.
Interpretation
The Moon card leads us into the mysterious realm of darkness and night; into the image world of the soul; to our premonitions, desires, and dreams. The bright side of the Moon means romantic dreaminess, lively fantasies, and a strong sensitivity. Yet this card tends to show the dark side, the depths of the soul, gloomy foreboding, and the dread of the invisible and intangible. It is the terror that we feel when we walk through a deserted forest at night, although we don't think twice about crossing it during the day. It teaches us the nature of fear in the dark. Or it is the ancient dread of the Demons that have now received new names in our enlightened times: bacteria, viruses, millirems, becquerels, lead-polluted air, and acid rain.
Symbolism
The Moon is the card of intuition, dreams, and the unconscious. The Moon provides light as a reflection of the Sun, yet this light is dim, uncertain, and only vaguely illuminates our path as we journey toward higher consciousness. According to Waite's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, the card represents life of the imagination apart from life of the spirit. The shell fish is symbolic of life emerging from the water of creation and starting on the path of return to the creator. The path is narrow and long representing the trials and the length of time that evolution takes. The path has its ups and downs and is not completed right away, but a slow process of learning and focus. The 32 tongues of fire falling from the moon are symbolic of the 32 paths to the tree of life. The pool is the pool of the subconscious. Crawling out of it is a crayfish, the embodiment of the early stages of consciousness unfolding. The dogs are symbolic of mans nature, one is trained, and the other is wild, the positive and negative forces that we must control to complete our time here. There are 15 yods, the number of the Devil. The path leads between those two towers again, but this time the veil is gone, signifying there is no longer a barrier between you and your subconscious. There are seven rocks on the stream bank. Three red (for the trinity: Maiden, Mother, and Crone or Father, Son and Sage) plus four yellow (4 is the number of stability). 7 is the divine number.
Association
The astrological sign associated with this card is Pisces: psychic, receptive, mysterious.
Reading
With Pisces as its ruling sign, the Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. If one gets this card, one may be going through a particularly difficult emotional time. Rather than losing yourself in the overwhelming imagery and fantasy that signal the presence of the Moon, give form to this imagery through the creative arts (painting, writing, or dancing). The association this card bears with imagery and fantasy can put one in touch with visions and insight, creativity and psychic powers. Card 18 also stands for illusions. It is easy to lose our way in the moonlight. Be careful not to let deceptions and false ideas lead you astray. Sometimes the Moon is a signal that you are lost and wandering aimlessly. You must find your way back to the path and your clarity of purpose. This card tells you to trust your instincts as you walk the path, that your instincts are right. trust your intuition and to be open to solutions which you may receive from your dreams. The Moon reversed indicates that you have recently been experiencing a time of self-deception, illusion, fears and anxiety, but that these negative energies are beginning to subside.
Opposing cards
Star – being serene, untroubled, at peace Sun – assurance, clarity, enlightenment
Reinforcing cards
Seven of Cups – illusions, unrealistic ideas, fantasy Two of Swords – self-deception, not seeing the truth Eight of Swords – confusion, lack of clarity
Alternative decks
In the old Italian Tarot decks, instead of the above scene there is an astrologer measuring the large moon above him in some way. In the Mythic Tarot deck, the Moon is depicted by Artemis or Hecate.
Quote
A desolate plain stretched before me. A full moon looked down as if in contemplative hesitation. Under her wavering light the shadows lived their own peculiar life. On the horizon I saw blue hills, and over them wound a path which stretched between two grey towers far away into the distance. On either side the path a wolf and dog sat and howled at the moon. I remembered that dogs believe in thieves and ghosts. A large black crab crawled out of the rivulet into the sands. A heavy, cold dew was falling. Dread fell upon me. I sensed the presence of a mysterious world, a world of hostile spirits, of corpses rising from graves, of wailing ghosts. In this pale moonlight I seemed to feel the presence of apparitions; someone watched me from behind the towers,–and I knew it was dangerous to look back. – The Symbolism of the Tarot by P D. Ouspensky (1913)