As above, so below. The cycles of nature demonstrate the deepest spiritual truths, and none are so eloquent as the heavenly cycles of the moon and the sun.
Imagine a night scene where the moon shines over a surface of water, as in this card. Well, in La Lune you don’t get to see the moon’s reflection on the water (a bit awkward, no?), but you would, in real life. In such a scene, two levels of illusion are represented. The first illusion is the moonlight itself, since the moon is simply reflecting the sunrays; the second illusion is about the reflection of the moon in the waters. There is a child’s story about a wolf and a fox (!), where the fox leads the wolf to believe the moon’s reflection in the water of a well is a big cheese…
It could be a metaphor of life, where some of us never raise their heads to see the moon, and live according to the illusion that the moon’s reflection is a solid body we can reach – thus diving further away from our aim, since the reflection takes us in the exact opposite direction of the real moon. Others realize the illusion, and turn their eyes to the heavenly body; those are closer to reach it, but in their attempt they will, at a certain point, get painfully aware of the striking distance at which the moon is. Oddly, it seems very close only to those that believe it to be down in the well… this reminds me of some modern “spiritual schools” that promise fast spiritual fulfilment… heaven at the reach of your hand.
Anyway, those who are aware of “reality” – where the moon is, and how far it is – and that try to “live by the moon”, are still very far from the actual light source. But at least they follow a guide that turns their eyes in the right direction! Still, there is danger for them too. At a certain point, they will have to loose sight of the moon; otherwise they will follow its nightly orbit endlessly, and will never be there when the sun rises. For those who understand that “there must be something else” (and an eclipse could be a sign for them, for instance), a time will come when there will be nothing. A dark night of the soul, in the middle of the night that is an ordinary life. They will have to stay there, looking up, staring at a desert sky, from which the moon has already retreated but to which the sun has not yet raised. Those who succeed will be rewarded, for as we all know, few things in life are so worth of trust as the daily arrival of the sun.
Of course, there are always the stars to help keeping the promise alive.
Silvia