The Moon

cdabs said:

I initially thought the dogs were BOTH barking/baying at the moon, but I'm thinking now that the wolf(?) on the right is sitting and just looking at the moon. Of course, in sitting and being quiet, he's not really expressing "wild animal" tendencies. He's also facing the tower on the left of the card.

The dog (domesticated, some say) on the other side of the path is leaving his "training" behind...and allowing his primal urges to surface...so, he bays at the moon. This dog is facing the moon.

It's like both animals experience an "unexpected" change in behavior considering the traits or characteristics we associate with them based on the types of animals they are: domesticated vs. wild.

Click to expand...

Great observation!
This got me thinking about the 1948 movie The Snake Pit starring Olivia de Havilland.
The theory was - If throwing a sane person into a pit of snakes would make them crazy - then throwing a crazy person into a pit of snakes would make them sane.

It troubled me so that the moon was always said to represent confusion and deception and all sorts of problems. It seemed that only the negative aspects were being seen and magnified.
I love the moon; so when the moon card shows up for me, it is a good thing.

Getting back to the 'snake pit' and cdabs comments on the 'calm wolf and howling dog' - I guess what might be confusing to one could be soothing to another.
Blessings~
Suz

Hey Suz...

Robin Wood said a similar thing about The Moon (referencing traditional decks and her own) in that she never saw "it" representing deception or negative effects. She further stated that she doesn't think it even applies to "psychic" powers. I have to admit that when I first started reading...I kinda applied the same "definitions" of The High Priestess to The Moon (i.e., "psychic awareness"). I think the dogs are "key" in the meaning. I now think of "Werewolves Of London!!!" (well, "strange behavior," really)

Hmmm...just had a thought: The idea of "deception" may stem from the "eclipse" that seems to be taking place in the RWS version of The Moon. IOW, it looks like the sun (with its rays) is being hidden by the moon. http://learntarot.com/bigjpgs/maj18.jpg

I also have a book by John Mangiapane and he states that when a moon (i.e., 8 Of Cups, etc.) or The Moon shows up in a reading...there could be a "time-element" involved regarding the question and outcome/events. A cool place to check out the particular moon-phase for any given day is here: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/ You can see what the moon looks like, or use the charts to determine moon-phases for particular months/days, etc..

SO..when I get a/The Moon in a reading, I look up the moon-phase at the link above and take that information into consideration.

It could be that the wolf is sitting quietly just observing and watching the Moon because wolves are naturally night creatures- it's when they are the most active and when they hunt; so it is 'in its element', so to speak- while the dog is anxious and excitedly barking at it.

Perhaps this means even though on an unconscious level we are naturally controlled by the phases of the waxing and waning Moon, our 'domestic' and rational side still feels uncomfortable with this- and sometimes we are too busy barking away that we fail to sometimes hear what our subconscious is trying to tell us... or we even deliberately shut it out.

Elnor

Hi Elnor

I can see what you mean in your last paragraph about The Moon card.

It makes sense that the two "dogs" (in general terms) may not be aware of that crustacean making its way out of the pool of the subconscious. Very good, Elnor...I didn't see it in those terms before. Thanks!

I see this card as time of night or in a fog.
Cannot see or understand clearly, so "wait" until
the air clears.
The cycles of the moon. Wait until the sunshines...and it will...
just like the moon shines and within time the sunshines.
The darkness is the uneasiness of not understanding our situation
and with this we get our wildness as in the full moon.

The moon in the 8 Cups also...wait 28 days and your
feelings will change.

So...the moon for me is time, wait for clearing before making
any decisions in general.

Thanks for this thread. Brings a deeper understanding of the card.

ros

Exciting post regarding moon in the library...link

Hello all...

Just found some interesting Moon card information that you may or may not have
read from 2001...in our newly archived forum library...

Think you will like what it says about the Moon card in a reading:

Here is the link...
http://www.tarotforum.net/library/8/2001-08/the-moon-20010806.shtml

I really hate the bad rap this card gets. Maybe it's just because I'm a night time person and can't stand bright lights or the sun. I'm Irish and English, so I burn easliy lol. I also like to think of tapping into the unknown and psychic ability. Hmm maybe I'm just partial to the moon itself.

Chris

Daylight and Golden Shine on the Mooncard and the dog and wolf

The daylight on the Mooncard can also be related to the Dog and the Wolf.

The latin Phrase Inter Canem et Lupum is translated in English:
"Between Dog and Wolf"

When you check dictionary's you learn Inter Canem et Lupum means AT TWILIGHT.

further

"Between Dog and Wolf is a phrase used to describe the moment between sunset and dusk, when indistinct shapes suggest both something friendly (the dog) and something savage (the wolf): here everything happens in the twilight zone, and for that reason it is possible to distinguish one caracter from another, the real from the fancyful, the dog from the Wolf"
(From the poetics of Chaosmos: Mark Naumovich Lipovetskil, Eliot Borenstein)

On the Mooncard we expect darkness, but we find a Blue Sky.
The Sun is set and we are in the moment before Dusk.
The rays of the Sun and the golden shine, even the golden wolf can reflect the towers on the MoonCard.
The Gates of Darkness to light from the Death card (Regardie) are the same as the towers on the Moon card, which are the last towers in the great Arcana. So in this sense these towers are the Gates of Light.
(Moon is followed by Sun)

I am very curious to a book of Waite: "the house of the hidden light"
Does anyone here on the forum know, where i can find this book on the internet?

The golden shine on the card and the Wolf and the Dog also can have a alchemical background:

The book of Lambspring (A.E. Waite: Hermetic Museum)
Figure V: A Wolf and a dog in one house, and afterwards changed into one.
The body is mortified and rendered white, then joined to soul and spirit by saturated with them.

very interesting is the poem which follows this figure

Alexander writes from Persia
That a Wolf and a dog are in his Field
Which, as the sages say,
are descended from the same stock,
but the wolf comes from the East, (See Card: Wolf East)
and the dog from the West, (Dog West)
They are full of jealousy;
Fury, rage and madness;
One kills the other
and from them comes a great poison
but when they are restored to life,
they are clearly shewn to be
The Great and Precious Medicine (The path between Dog and Wolf??)
The most glorious Remedy upon Earth
Which refreshes and restores the sages
Who render thanks to God and do praise him.

The Wolf and the Dog in Alchemical sense:
(From Great Art - Dom Antoine- Joseph Pernety)
The dog is a symbol of sulphur, of gold.
The dog devoured by a wolf signifies the purification of gold by antimony.
Wolf= symbol of antimony.

To Dulcimer

I'm with you.

The secret to the moon card is that it is right next to the sun card, and my analysis of Majors pattern puts them both in Yesod.
And yet, normal Kabala attributes Yesod to the Moon only.
My interpretation -
Yesod, and the Moon card, are about "Know thyself".
The Sun is your astrological sun sign - the outer you.
The Moon is your astrological Moon sign - the inner or "real" you.
Yesod tells the student to stop studying his outer, physical, sun sign self,
and start learning about your inner moon sign self. That is the real "yopu".
When you know and express your moon sign externally as well as internally, then you will be whole. As long as you express yourself according to your
sun sign, you will remain conflicted.

How many people even know their moon sign these days?

B

The Moon has always been one of the cards that I look at and immediately like (in any deck, not just the RW). From my earliest days discovering tarot, to right now (even after about a 10 year absence from the tarot) I consistently have the Moon show up in any self-reflection or readings I might do for myself. And yet I am not sure what it really signifies specific to me - but it is very persistent. And I always like to see it appear.