The Moon (Tarot card)
Encyclopedia
Trump Card
Trump Card was an American syndicated game show that aired from September 10, 1990 to September 6, 1991 and was hosted by Jimmy Cefalo. Debi Massey served as hostess and Chuck Reilly was the announcer. The show was produced by Telepictures Productions, Createl, Ltd., & Fiedler-Berlin Productions...
or Major Arcana
Major Arcana
The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana...
card in most traditional Tarot
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.
Symbolism
- Two large, foreboding pillarColumnA column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s are shown. Some see them as tombstones, others relate them to KarmaKarmaKarma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
. - A wolf and a domesticated dog howl at the moon.
- A crayfishCrayfishCrayfish, crawfish, or crawdads – members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea – are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related...
appears in the water. - The Moon is "shedding the moisture of fertilizing dewDew[Image:Dew on a flower.jpg|right|220px|thumb|Some dew on an iris in Sequoia National Park]]Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening...
in great drops". These are numbered 1818 (number)18 is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19.In speech, the numbers 18 and 80 are sometimes confused. When carefully enunciated, they differ in which syllable is stressed: 18 vs 80 . However, in dates such as 1864, or when contrasting numbers in the teens, such as 17, 18, 19, the stress...
in the Rider-Waite deck and are all YodhYodhYodh is the tenth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Yud , Syriac and Arabic...
-shaped. On this basis, some associate this card with impregnation.
Rider-Waite specific
- Very clearly, the figure in the moon is frownFrownA frown is a facial expression in which the eyebrows are brought together, and the forehead is wrinkled, usually indicating displeasure, sadness or worry, or less often confusion or concentration....
ing, reflecting displeasure. - The waxing moonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
has 16 chief rays and 16 secondary rays. - The beasts are a dogDogThe domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
and a wolf, which represent "the fears of the natural mind". - The crayfish crawls from the water onto the land.
- There is a pathway into the distant, dark unknown.
Interpretation
According to WaiteArthur Edward Waite
Arthur Edward Waite was a scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. As his biographer, R.A...
's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, the card represents life of the imagination
Imagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...
apart from life of the spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
. The dog and wolf are the fear
Fear
Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger...
s of the natural mind
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
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 intellect
Intellect
Intellect is a term used in studies of the human mind, and refers to the ability of the mind to come to correct conclusions about what is true or real, and about how to solve problems...
ual light
Light
Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380 nanometres to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz...
is a mere 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 lower even 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
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
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 sleepSleep
Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and is more easily reversible than...
patterns. This can mean both dream
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
ing and nightmare
Nightmare
A nightmare is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong negative emotional response from the mind, typically fear or horror, but also despair, anxiety and great sadness. The dream may contain situations of danger, discomfort, psychological or physical terror...
s. 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.
The Moon can be interpreted with the feeling of uncertainty, where the past still haunts, unsure of a journey but still going ahead with it, feeling watched and because it is commonly associated with dreams, fantasies and mysteries this card can also be interpreted with surreal feelings and situations in your waking life.
Alternative decks
- In the "Flemish Deck" by Vandenborre, the moon shows a woman seated in the right-hand corner with a tree in the left hand corner. The moon is directly above her. She is shown with a distaffDistaffAs a noun, a distaff is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process. It is most commonly used to hold flax, and sometimes wool, but can be used for any type of fiber. Fiber is wrapped around the distaff, and tied in...
in her right hand and spinning thread with her left hand. - 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 Mythic Tarot decks, the moon is depicted by ArtemisArtemisArtemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
, SeleneSeleneIn Greek mythology, Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. In Roman mythology, the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon"....
and HecateHecateHecate or Hekate is a chthonic Greco-Roman goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and crossroads.She is attested in poetry as early as Hesiod's Theogony...
.
In pop culture
- The Moon is a monster card in the Yu-gi-oh!Yu-Gi-Oh!is a Japanese manga created by Kazuki Takahashi. It has produced a franchise that includes multiple anime shows, a trading card game and numerous video games...
card game, as part of a group of cards called the Arcana Force.
- Deep Blue Moon is an enemy stand in JoJo's Bizzare Adventure, taking the form of a humanoid fish monster.
- Persona 3Persona 3Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, originally released in Japan as simply , is the fourth video game in the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series of console role-playing games developed by Atlus, which is part of the larger Megami Tensei series of video games...
has a Moon Social Link represented by a gluttonous boy known as the 'Gourmet King'. He feels overshadowed by the memory of his dead brother. Persona 4 has Ai Ebihara a girl thought to be heartless ice queen as the Moon Social Link. She feels that no one accepts her even though she has changed her appearance.Persona 3 Portable The Moon Social Link in the Female Protagonist route is Shinjiro Aragaki. He feels that he shouldn't leave any traces of his existence behind and distances himself away from others.
- In the SNES video game Ogre Battle: The March of the Black QueenOgre Battle: The March of the Black Queenis a 1993 real-time strategy role-playing video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, directed by Yasumi Matsuno with artwork by Akihiko Yoshida...
, the Moon Tarot card depicts a woman in a long white dress soaring on a moonbeam through the night. On drawing the card after liberation of one of the towns, it changes the time of day to midnight, and also changes the rows of enemy units to a different position when used in battle.
External links
- "Moon" cards from many decks and articles to "Moon" iconography
- The History of the Moon Card from The Hermitage.
- The Moon from Joan Bunning's Learning the Tarot: A Tarot Book for Beginners
- Symbolism of the Moon arcanum