What is the Moon?

Cartomancer

What is the Moon?

I conjecture that the Moon card in the Tarot is associated with the constellation Cancer because of the crustacean forms on the card. The Gates of Mem are even seen on some variations of the Moon card, which is a clue because the constellation Cancer is one of the Gates of Mem. The other Gate of Mem is in the constellation Sagittarius.

The reasons for this hypothesis of the Moon card having a connection with the the constellation/sign of Cancer have been expounded upon by many authors who have pointed out the obvious. Hopefully their reasons are acceptable.

Many of the mythical meanings of the constellation Cancer have been transferred to the sign Cancer and can be used in interpreting the Moon card, and authors who associate the Moon card with the sign of Cancer are also right.

Search for term such as: “constellation Cancer crab myth images” for links to images of the constellation Cancer, some which have a resemblance to the iconography of the Moon card. Here are some links to the constellation Cancer myths:

Cancer the Crab
http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Constellations/Cancer.html

Star Lore of the Constellations
Cancer: the Crab by Deborah Houlding
http://www.skyscript.co.uk/cancer_myth.html

- Cartomancer (Lance Carter)
 

Richard

Maybe Pisces is also plausible because there is an aquatic creature in the image. However, the system of correspondences need not be based strictly on the images, since they vary from deck to deck. There is also the issue of internal consistency of the deck as a whole. I see it not just as a collection of images with various references to constellations and their mythological significance, but also as a coherent map of the cosmos, both macro and micro. However interesting your speculation is, there may be other considerations which could override factors which involve mainly constellational parallels, in the interest of the internal consistency of the deck as a whole.

As for appealing to the dots comprising constellations, it is not totally unlike this comparison between some pages of the Talmud with some lovely images of Jennifer Lawrence. (Thanks to the friend who provided me with this link.) This is not intended as a trivialization of your contributions. Just trying to lighten up a bit.
 

Theoferrum

Budrrg6eT2Ehuj4CBNysFVsu8Kfr_yR0iip9Uad-GIw=w127-h223-p-no


The Towers are the Gates of Ishtar in Babylon.

The Wolf and Ferral Dog are the dangers on the path of the Vagabond as he returns to Egypt from Babylonian Captivity. Ferral Dogs indicates the owners are deceased and the animals must feed themselves so they went wild. The owners died in the destruction wrought by the Micronova and its resulting Pole Shift and Tsunami from the Med Sea that destroyed the Cyclopean Wall at Ba'albek which has some stones weighing 1200 Tons or more which we can not move with our technology today.

The Crayfish also led me, at first, to equate this with Cancer (lots of people would disagree with that) but the symbol was chosen because it walks backwards (symbolizing the retorgrade motion of the moon per Manly Hall) and thus reflects the fact that the Vagabond is retracing his footsteps from Babylon to Egypt on the Royal Road called the Way of Horus (the coastline in Palestine).

The Moon (typifies the 'Priestess' or in this case the Whore of Babylon) is up set with their departure.

According to Masonry there were three of them who became Select Masters charged with preserving the Secrets of the Brotherhood after the death of Osiris (the original Hiram Abif) which is exactly the same commission as those who wanted to preserve the Secrets of the Tarot after the destruction of the Seapeum.
 

ravenest

Manly Hall is out of date ... the Sun moves nearly the same as the Moon. There is no distinct retrograde motion in the observed apparent path of the Moon .
 

Theoferrum

Manly Hall is out of date ... the Sun moves nearly the same as the Moon. There is no distinct retrograde motion in the observed apparent path of the Moon .



The point is that the crayfish moves backwards.

The Vagabond is retracing his footsteps back to Egypt.
 

ravenest

And so does the Sun - so why put that image (as you say that is the reason and association between the crayfishes backward movement and the Moon's retrograde movement) on the Moon and not the Sun when they both move in near identical ways in regard to retrograde motion ?

That is my question.

The vagabond , in context of your scenario, is travelling to Egypt because, after Napoleon's 'visit' there and the info bought back and later publications stimulated later European society to see a source of 'ancient knowledge and symbolism there'. Later it was based a lot on Budge's work ... which is, now, also very dated.

The return ( which isnt walked backwards) was probably more to do with Max Theon, a few Scotchmen, pre-Theosophical/India Blavatsky, P.B. Randolph , British secret agents setting up the 'Muslim Brotherhood' from German Order of the Gold and Rosy Cross (pre G.D.) via the Order of the Asiatic Brethren (from Qabalistic Sabbateanism) all focusing on the development of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.

Eventually, after being scammed by a few local Egyptians and realising some of it was a set up by the British Secret Service to begin breaking the power of Ottoman Turks pre WWI and that it was all linked to the set of the Muslim Brotherhood (which eventually evolved into Al Qaeda .... ooopsa ! ) Blavatsky 'went to India' and the rest 'returned' from Egypt with a hodge podge of 'new ' rites; the sexual/tantric teachings and other stuff vie Randolph and remnant Hermetic Brotherhood of Light groups into America by grafting on to Spiritualism and the 'seance network' ... reconnecting to the similarly generated 97 degrees of the revamped Egyptian rites of Memphis and Mizraim and eventually to the OTO which today has HEAPS of members and Lodges in many parts of the world today. The rest got imported to England .... a closer tradition survived in France.

Such is esoteric 'history'.
 

Brilliance

The Moon card is ruled by Cancer obviously.

What is the Moon?

I conjecture that the Moon card in the Tarot is associated with the constellation Cancer because of the crustacean forms on the card. The Gates of Mem are even seen on some variations of the Moon card, which is a clue because the constellation Cancer is one of the Gates of Mem. The other Gate of Mem is in the constellation Sagittarius.

The reasons for this hypothesis of the Moon card having a connection with the the constellation/sign of Cancer have been expounded upon by many authors who have pointed out the obvious. Hopefully their reasons are acceptable.

Many of the mythical meanings of the constellation Cancer have been transferred to the sign Cancer and can be used in interpreting the Moon card, and authors who associate the Moon card with the sign of Cancer are also right.

Search for term such as: “constellation Cancer crab myth images” for links to images of the constellation Cancer, some which have a resemblance to the iconography of the Moon card. Here are some links to the constellation Cancer myths:

Cancer the Crab
http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Constellations/Cancer.html

Star Lore of the Constellations
Cancer: the Crab by Deborah Houlding
http://www.skyscript.co.uk/cancer_myth.html

- Cartomancer (Lance Carter)

The Moon card is ruled by the zodiac sign of Cancer, this isn't even a question! ;)
 

Brilliance

Budrrg6eT2Ehuj4CBNysFVsu8Kfr_yR0iip9Uad-GIw=w127-h223-p-no


The Towers are the Gates of Ishtar in Babylon.

The Wolf and Ferral Dog are the dangers on the path of the Vagabond as he returns to Egypt from Babylonian Captivity. Ferral Dogs indicates the owners are deceased and the animals must feed themselves so they went wild. The owners died in the destruction wrought by the Micronova and its resulting Pole Shift and Tsunami from the Med Sea that destroyed the Cyclopean Wall at Ba'albek which has some stones weighing 1200 Tons or more which we can not move with our technology today.

The Crayfish also led me, at first, to equate this with Cancer (lots of people would disagree with that) but the symbol was chosen because it walks backwards (symbolizing the retorgrade motion of the moon per Manly Hall) and thus reflects the fact that the Vagabond is retracing his footsteps from Babylon to Egypt on the Royal Road called the Way of Horus (the coastline in Palestine).

The Moon (typifies the 'Priestess' or in this case the Whore of Babylon) is up set with their departure.

According to Masonry there were three of them who became Select Masters charged with preserving the Secrets of the Brotherhood after the death of Osiris (the original Hiram Abif) which is exactly the same commission as those who wanted to preserve the Secrets of the Tarot after the destruction of the Seapeum.

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing :)
 

Richard

The Moon card is ruled by the zodiac sign of Cancer, this isn't even a question! ;)

The Moon is the planetary ruler of Cancer, but the crustacean depicted on the Moon card is usually a crayfish or lobster rather than a crab.