Tarot has been a part of Barbara Moore's personal and professional lives for nearly twenty years. Right from the start, tarot intrigued her with its marvelous blending of mythology, psychology, art, history, mystery, and magic. She has studied under...
The Moon is a complex and uncertain card. Modern tarotists are hesitant to read it as strictly negative, because of its association with feminine energy and the goddess. The moon appears to change in the sky each night, waxing and waning through its cycles, indicating a situation that is changing. What might be true today may not be true tomorrow. The moon reflects light, but it is shadowy and conceals as much as it reveals. Things that seem lovely in the moonlight may be monsters by the light of day, and vice versa. The moon heightens the gifts of intuition and creativity. It calls forth fears. It creates delusions. This card says, "Be careful; things are not necessarily as they seem."
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The Universal Waite Moon shines over a crayfish, representing deep fears, and a wolf, representing animalistic responses. A domesticated dog will bay like a wild creature under the influence of the moon. The path is a reminder to not be distracted or dismayed but to stick to our route. The towers represent a threshold (as in the High Priestess and Justice). If we face our fears successfully, we will enter a new aspect of our journey.
Core meaning: A situation of flux and uncertainty, either fraught with deception or revealing important truths.
The Legacy Moon card includes a crab, representing fear, a woman, representing beauty, and a pair of ibises, representing truth. Of this card, Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone have written, "the mythical becomes real and the real becomes inexplicably beautiful." This version focuses on the attractive and hypnotic nature of the moon.
The Shadowscapes card includes mushrooms, indicating the hallucinogenic property of the moon. The figure holds a mask, representing deception, in one hand, and her heart in the other. She is facing the mask, symbolizing the ease with which we can turn to what is untrue and miss the voice of our hearts.
