Why is the Moon Card evil and bad?

3crows

Why does the moon card always gets a bad rap? Do people fear the moon? Is there something evil about the moon? The moon is connected to femininity and cycles and intuition and the magnetic pull of ocean waves and tides. Is this bad??? I don't get it! Help!
 

mollymawk

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3crows

moon card

yes, I realize that the moon in traditional decks mean these things, horrible nightmares, etc. my question is- why? I want to get to the root of understanding perspectives. Why did the moon get assigned these things? And if a reader vews the essence of the moon in a different way, does she have to stick to the traditional meaning? I am using a traditional deck, but I see the moon as more mysterious, not bad and horrible. :)
 

Disa

Can't the moon mean at times to be more aware of things which may be hidden? Perhaps warning of the potential of a person to be living in a delusional state rather than seeing what is actually there? I never see the moon as bad or evil. But then again, I don't see any of the cards as evil.
 

mingbop

I like this card. It can also hide ugliness ..& the world looks nicer at night, to me. Things like foxes and owls need the night and the moon and aren't evil ..and you need moon to balance sun.
Does that make any sense ? lol maybe I should go to bed!
 

Lillie

I like the moon card too.
And I like th actual moon.

I'm always glad when this card comes up.

It means different things at different times.

As for a reason why the moon is traditionally a 'bad' card.

The tarot is old, back in the old days the night was dark, darker than it is now, cos they had no street lights.
And it was scary, andthey were very superstitious.
Witches met in the night time, ghosts haunted in the hight time.
Only bad people with bad purposes would be out and about in the night time. Doing sneaky things in the dark that they didn't want other people to see.

the sun symbolised the chuch and goodness and crops growing, and all sorts of nice things.
So the opposite of the sun, the moon, must be bad and pagan and death and darkness and all the things they didn't like.

Maybe that, or maybe I'm just barking up my own particular tree......

but I like the card. Always have.
If you don't like the traditional meaning, ignore it and make your own meaning up.
 

Rosanne

3crows said:
yes, I realize that the moon in traditional decks mean these things, horrible nightmares, etc. my question is- why? I want to get to the root of understanding perspectives. Why did the moon get assigned these things? And if a reader vews the essence of the moon in a different way, does she have to stick to the traditional meaning? I am using a traditional deck, but I see the moon as more mysterious, not bad and horrible. :)
Hi 3crows! The Moon represents the dark side of nature. Without the Sun we cannot see her. The Moon controls the tides, rain, floods, seasons so is seen as emotional. The original calendar was lunar- so emotional and irrational cycles- like depression are thought to be Lunar. Where the Sun is seen as hot- the moon is seen as cold. As it is the light in the darkness, and not always apparent in the sky- humans see it as an illusion- not to be trusted. The bad rap is that deceit and cyclical madness, and the bringer of rain into our lives- but rain brings growth and change. I have never seen the Moon as bad and horrible, but spooky things can happen at night :D ~Rosanne
 

HearthCricket

I actually love the Moon card and often find it as a good friend warning me that something is not quite what I may think it is. This could be a person, a situation, a relationship, anything, depending on the question and the cards surrounding it.

Take a walk on a moonlit night. It is lovely and mysterious, at the same time. What is that shadow in the corner? You can see something is there, but you can't quite make it out. On a darker night you would not see it at all, but the moon is allowing you to perceive "something". It offers you the chance to question it. In the sunshine it would obvious and clear. But a moonlit night it is secretive, mysterious, dark, possibly dangerous, like a coyote or tiger waiting to pounce on you! And what was that shadow that just crossed the moon? A witch? A plane? A flock of geese migrating? Perhaps simply a wispy cloud?

Take a walk on a moonlit night. Live the tarot cards. It becomes much easier to read them, afterwards, when you have experiened it. :)
 

greycats

More on my favorite arcana

Another couple of details: in Medieval times when the earth was seen to be the center of the universe, things on the earth were known to be imperfect, changeable, mortal, and sometimes evil or sinful. On the other hand, the heavens, i.e. the "fixed" stars and the planets, were thought to be perfect, immortal, unchangeable. The moon was a sort of boundary between the two, since it was manifestly in the heavens but (gasp!) it changed. Regularly, in fact. So, the moon was an unattractive mixture, according to the thought of the time.

Not only that, but as a matter of fact moonlight did (and does) allow folk to move about at night. Some of these folk were working late, but some were up to high jinks and naughty fun and some were just plain criminals.

I've always loved the moon. Scientific opinion seems to agree that the moon is the daughter of earth--formed as a result of a collision of the earth and some other body. And some even speculate that were it not for the moon, the earth might have had as heavy an atmosphere as does Venus. The thought seems to be that the moon may have skimmed off some of that atmosphere over the ages. If so, then the moon is truly a midwife to life on earth. ;)
 

Nerd

My tarot mentor pretty consistently reads the moon card as "hidden things coming to the surface." Often these are repressed thoughts and emotions, so scary, uncomfortable, difficult...but not necessarily evil or bad.

Waite sees the Moon as representing the unknown, and also the hidden, bestial nature within us...but the face of the moon above is the face of the mind, remaining calm and in control and allowing those baser urges to sink below again. So again not evil or bad.

Hey, don't hate her 'cuz she's beautiful!