ADEPT LEVEL STEP 13: Symbols
DECK: Fantastic Menagerie
CARD: The Moon
Activity 13.2 – Go back over symbols on chosen card:
Original list:
2 Stone arches – pathways to the unknown
Nighttime – the subconscious, mysteries
Full moon with a face – illuminating, being watched, wistfulness
Climbing ivy – persistent, parasite, survivor
Owl – wisdom, mystery
Human body – human virtues and faults
Carved man shape – creativity, craftsmanship
Stone – solid, enclosure
Shadow mouse – hidden varmint, taunting
Low cut bodice – partially exposed
Lilac to medium purple – mysticism, higher consciousness, pride
Light blue – calm, fidelity, truth, spirituality
Chocker with albatross – feeling of being trapped and/or doomed
Dead mouse bracelet – a reminder
Ring on second finger – married
Circle – (moon, ring and eyes) – unity, completeness, everlasting
Bracelet – adornment or restraint?
Head cover – what is on her mind or covering her thoughts
Lace – intricate, delicate, beautiful
White – virtue, truth, truce, ghosts
Rectangle – building blocks
Balcony – way out, ability to peek over and see beyond
Back turned – not wanting to see or face something/someone (including self)
Downward direction – (albatross pendant, mouse on bracelet, arms and hands) – limits, obstructions, material world of practicality
Fluffy clouds – imaginings, allowing you to only see what you want to see. Clouded judgement
Activity 13.2.1 Add information to list:
1. Plant Symbolism: Ivy – associated with poetry and intoxication. Visions. Associated with the Moon and the feminine. Prophetic dreams. The white ivy leaves are sacred to the goddess of the Moon.
2. Animal Symbolism:
a. Owl – Deception. Wisdom. Warns not to assume all is well. Sees what others miss. Predator. Death bird. Wisdom, darkness, silence. Recognizes the underworld. Keen sight and hearing. Air.
b. Owl head: conscious deception, conscious willingness to be silent (secretive) – or unconscious – to apply wisdom to deceive or be deceived.
c. Shadow mouse above (in moon): shadow=hidden, mouse=vigilance, persistence, prey. Up (above)=aspirations, elevated consciousness.
d. Dead upside-down mouse: dead=blocking, no longer trying. Mouse=vigilance, persistence, prey. Upside-down= limits, obstructions, practicality.
e. Shadow mouse in background of card: warning coming from a distance and barely if even perceived.
f. Dead hanging mouse in card foreground – dominant frame of minds of ignoring need for vigilance. Not seeing.
g. Albatross, upside down, choker, foreground – Conscious decision to continue destructive behavior despite warnings that cannot be ignored.
3. People and body parts:
a. Woman’s body – feminine characteristics
b. Arms hanging down – choosing to do nothing
4. Clothing: Skirt and blouse – represent her outer personality and worldly trappings. Role, status, how others see you.
5. Buildings:
a. Stone arches: beauty and vulnerability. Being exposed. Defines but does not separate.
b. Wall: defines and separates space.
c. Castle: sovereignty, power, and authority.
d. Columns/pillars: paths or portals. Strength upholding beliefs. 2 pillars represents duality.
6. Objects:
a. Jewelry: bracelet, choker, ring – beauty and preciousness.
b. Wooden cut out of human – represents what is on Lady Owl’s mind. What she is waiting for or wanting.
7. Earthly environment: night sky. Night=dark/mystery. Sky=spiritual realm, mood, emotions.
8. Celestial bodies:
a. Moon – associated with feminine, magic, madness.
b. Clouds – hide brilliance of the divine. Phantoms from the astral plane. False imaginings.
9. Directions/Containment:
a. Out – conclusion, unconscious, outsider, exposed.
b. Foreground close: more immediate. Dominant and present.
c. Left – passive, receptive, past-oriented. Holding or binding.
10. Geometry, Patterns, Shapes:
a. Upside-down triangle – perfection that unites all dualities but descending toward the material.
b. Circle – wholeness, unity.
11. Color:
a. Gold (necklace): riches, wisdom, truth
b. Blue (skirt, sky, arches): cold, melancholy, depression, spirituality, truth, calmness
c. Purple (shirt): higher consciousness, pride, dignity
d. Brown (dead rat): delay, depression
e. Black (outlines/shading): negation, silence, despair
f. White (moon, wall, Lady Owl): innocence, purity, virtue, truth, weakness, ghosts
13:2.2. I rarely remember my dreams, but will for look for these symbols in my life.
13:2.3. Brining the symbols into my life:
1. Wear predominant colors – I actually wear these colors quite often.
E.T.A. - I decided that I really could just not see the purpose doing a collage would serve me so I have deleted that idea. I have ivy all over my house, wear lots of purple and blue, have an arch in my entryway, and lord knows I live in my own little world like Lady Owl a good portion of the time (which I am finally starting to address though denial is a beautiful thing), and I wear lots of rings. I think a lot about the past (card board man sitting on the veranda) ... so to be honest I am a living collage of this card. I think focusing on seeing myself and addressing this will be much more useful to me. I am basically a walking Moon card *LOL*. If I pasted myself in my journal I think my hubby would get upset, and I might get fired from work *LOL*.