Thirteen
The Moon can be magical...and it can be scary, too.
The Moon card is "Pisces." It's Pisces because that's the astrological sign of dreams and dreamers, of pure unconscious emotion and imagination. Where you go at nighttime, usually in your sleep. Essentially, all those raw, unrefined, uncontrolled, wild powers of the night. This includes nice things like: dreams, and creativity, and crazy romantic feelings that lead us to write poetry and do lunatic things. By Moonlight, if you will. Also feeling primal (howling at the moon). But then there's the not-so-nice things. Night with a dark moon, or after the moon has set and there's no illumination at all. Things we modern sorts don't often consider because we're spoiled by street lamps and civilization which allow us to enjoy nighttime without fear.
But when this card was created, that wasn't the case. Back then night meant impenetrable dark, nightmares, ghosts, and wild animals. And it can still mean illusions and deceptions: when you were a kid in the dark, didn't you imagine that scary tree in the yard was a monster? Haven't, as a adult alone in bed, you been afraid of strange sounds? If you were lost in a strange city, would you enjoy a walk down a dark alley at night? And have you ever found yourself, in the wee hours of the morning, unable to sleep, your thoughts and fears running wild? Worries become bigger, insurmountable, terrifying. The light of day is often a relief, putting those fears in perspective.
Which is all to say: you can absolutely love the Moon and the Moon card. You can love all those creatures represented by that card: the owls and wolves. You can love the dreams and creativity and romantic feelings and magic it represents. I certainly do. But as much as I jibe with it, as much as I have a strong personal/spiritual connection to the Moon...I also know that the Moon *card* can *sometimes* mean deception, etc. All cards in the Tarot have negative sides, after all, even those we love most. The Moon's negative side...what goes bump in the night, what comes out at night that could do us harm, including our own fears, our own nightmares, and the fact that we don't see too well in the dark. Which means we can more easily be tricked and deceived. We might love dancing under the full Moon...but if we're honest, and all tarot readers should be...few of us would want to be lost, at night, in the wilderness with wild beasts stalking us. Not even by the light of the moon.
A lot of people feel this way, and it's not your fault. It's the fault of those who thought "Star, Moon, Sun" sounded better than "Star, Night, Sun." The Moon Card (if we're going with Golden Dawn associations) isn't the Moon (per se). That's the HPS, astologically speaking. Being assigned that planet indicates her ability to illuminate the night; to use the "night's" powers (the Moon's powers), rather than being used by them.I know some people read the Moon as deception etc, but I personally can't read the Moon that way since I have a strong personal/spiritual relationship with the Moon that just doesn't jibe with that interpretation.
The Moon card is "Pisces." It's Pisces because that's the astrological sign of dreams and dreamers, of pure unconscious emotion and imagination. Where you go at nighttime, usually in your sleep. Essentially, all those raw, unrefined, uncontrolled, wild powers of the night. This includes nice things like: dreams, and creativity, and crazy romantic feelings that lead us to write poetry and do lunatic things. By Moonlight, if you will. Also feeling primal (howling at the moon). But then there's the not-so-nice things. Night with a dark moon, or after the moon has set and there's no illumination at all. Things we modern sorts don't often consider because we're spoiled by street lamps and civilization which allow us to enjoy nighttime without fear.
But when this card was created, that wasn't the case. Back then night meant impenetrable dark, nightmares, ghosts, and wild animals. And it can still mean illusions and deceptions: when you were a kid in the dark, didn't you imagine that scary tree in the yard was a monster? Haven't, as a adult alone in bed, you been afraid of strange sounds? If you were lost in a strange city, would you enjoy a walk down a dark alley at night? And have you ever found yourself, in the wee hours of the morning, unable to sleep, your thoughts and fears running wild? Worries become bigger, insurmountable, terrifying. The light of day is often a relief, putting those fears in perspective.
Which is all to say: you can absolutely love the Moon and the Moon card. You can love all those creatures represented by that card: the owls and wolves. You can love the dreams and creativity and romantic feelings and magic it represents. I certainly do. But as much as I jibe with it, as much as I have a strong personal/spiritual connection to the Moon...I also know that the Moon *card* can *sometimes* mean deception, etc. All cards in the Tarot have negative sides, after all, even those we love most. The Moon's negative side...what goes bump in the night, what comes out at night that could do us harm, including our own fears, our own nightmares, and the fact that we don't see too well in the dark. Which means we can more easily be tricked and deceived. We might love dancing under the full Moon...but if we're honest, and all tarot readers should be...few of us would want to be lost, at night, in the wilderness with wild beasts stalking us. Not even by the light of the moon.