Why is the Moon Card evil and bad?

[Raelyn]

Great thread! I agree that I don't think that the Moon card is bad; I see it more as a representation of what we can't (or maybe don't want to) see, either externally or internally. It's a "heads up" card, IMO. I also consider it as a reminder to listen to my intuition. I need to be reminded a lot.

I have always considered the Moon to be so much more brilliant than the Sun. She's the one that guides us in dark places. (Most of the month... xD)

 

[Emily]

I love the Moon cards, I always have. Its one of the first cards I check in a deck.

Its like the other cards - it can have its negative side, the Moon is a hidden card, it depends on the situation but if you get the Moon then there might be something happening that you don't know about, but at least it gives you the idea that all is not as it would seem.

The Moon is also a feminine card, women especially can identify with this card.

 

[Sophie]

Anything that cannot be held, defined, bound and kept the same is labelled "bad" by a certain way of thinking...just as anyone who does not live in a neat box, with a neat "sane" label stuck in front, is laughed at, rejected - and ultimately feared.

We give pills to people who have mood swings, we place those different from the norm away from view, we call PMT a pathology, love an illness and tears an embarassment...

...and we forget to dance naked under the moon...

The owl and the pussycat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat.
They took some honey, and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The owl looked up to the stars above
And sang to a small guitar
- "Oh lovely pussy, oh pussy my love
What a beautiful pussy you are, you are, you are
What a beautiful pussy you are."

Said the pussy to the owl
- "You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing.
Too long have we tarried,
We should be married
But what shall we do for a ring?"

They sailed away for a year and a day
To the land where the bong-tree grows -
And there in a wood
A piggy-wig stood
With a ring on the end of his nose, his nose, his nose
With a ring on the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon.

And hand in hand
On the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon
They danced by the light of the moon...

But in literary history, this is classified as nonsense poetry!

 

[prosewitch]

I agree with a lot of others that the Moon's meaning changes with your perspective, and moreover that a lot of the Moon's meaning has to do with change, intuition, and cyclicity.

A few have mentioned hidden or unconscious sides to things, but my particular take on the Moon is that it represents unconscious processes. And not just processes, but processing: things bubbling underneath the surface that you may not be ready to face yet, that may emerge in dreams or teary rants or inspired poetry.

I've had the Moon come up for me in readings where I was processing something huge in my life, but wasn't quite ready to articulate it. Sometimes these life changes were so dramatic that I felt quite on the verge of insanity (lunacy) just contemplating things, but in a way the Moon was a reassuring presence, affirming and reminding me that things come and go in cycles, and that after a period of processing (perhaps my own dark phase?), my views would rotate back into the light.

 

[Apocalipstick]

Thanks to a friend with a mild Xena obsession, all I ever think of when dancing in the moonlight comes up is Joxer's twin brother doing a Zorro the Gay Blade send-up to "Dancing in the Moonlight"

Forget evil.

Supernatural delight is what I'm talking about.

How do you emote a chortle?

Eh, anyway. Interesting thread, though I don't find the Moon card to be negative.

I do have to say though, Artemis and Selene were not the same. Selene was actually the Moon, much as Helios was the Sun, and they were both titans. Artemis, an Olympian, was associated with the moon, but she also had fertility attributions in spite of her chastity.

Her statue at Ephesus, with its mulltiple rows of breasts, as well as the story of her assisting her mother, Leto, at the birth of her brother show that connection. She was one of the deities invoked, along with Hera, for speedy and safe deliveries.

This goes right along with something someone else mentioned about the moon and women's monthly cycles. I don't know that I'd blame dualism for vilifying the moon, though. At least not directly, and not entirely. Most of you probably already know about the amazing wandering uterus and its malefic effects on female moods.

The moon's changeability, so readily visible, probably had more to do perceptions of it than anything else. People tend to like, or at least prefer, predictable things.

 

[cosmic_bubble]

I love the moon card...maybe as I'm a Cancerian

It conjures up feelings of the unknown for me, mystery and curiosity.

 

[Noemi]

I like The Moon too.
I think it represents intuition and illusion, and it is very deep card.

But there was a strange situation with the negative meaning of this card.
I need go to the TV for a first time (I was a journalist). Everybody waited me at Monday, but I decided to come three days earlier - at Friday.
My card of the Friday was The Moon - I thought it was a good sign, because TV is a sort of illusion. But there was something bad with my feelings about it - I decided not mind this feeling.
About a month on the TV was very unsuccessful to me. I had no work at all.
Also there was a woman (an assistant of a program director) who took a dislike to me.
Month later everything became allright.

 

[Teacups]

nightlight

the moon is a small light in the dark.... indeed, just how dark would it be without the moon? it's not the glare of the sun where nothing is hidden from view, but it stands between us and utter total darkness....that's an assuring thing. The nightlight to keep the bogeyman away....

 

[Gavriela]

Or the nightlight that makes the jumper over the back of the chair look like the bogeyman.

The Moon plays on, or with, your perceptions. That's not necessarily evil, but sometimes it's spooky.

 

[nerrine]

It's also important to note, when considering The Moon's association with Artemis, that Artemis' "virgin" quality probably had less to do with sexual chastity then her association with nature: "virgin" forests and landscapes. Her wrath was always incurred when her sacred natural spaces were violated or when one of her sacred animals was killed. She was actually also the godess of midwives- the story is that she was born and immediately began assisting her mother in the birth of her twin brother, Apollo.

The concept of virginity in this sense implies spaces or creatures that are unspoiled and wild. I think that fits nicely with the Moon card- those places can feel magical but also frightening, especially at night.

And I don't see the Moon as a negative card, but I do see it as a very powerful one that should be given special attention in any reading. It's so rich with layers of meaning you really have to look at the context of the whole spread, the nature of the question being asked, and the reaction of the querent to the image on the card in order to coax out what it's saying.

One of the most interesting meanings that came to me for this card once through a discussion with the querent was that she was being pressured to do something that her intuition was rebelling against strongly, the Moon was telling her to trust that intuition even if the reasons would seem dark and mysterious to those around her. She said during the reading that the image made her think of how everyone's advice was well-meaning and seemed the best course but "it's like that little crab in the picture won't let go of my toe- I just don't think I'm supposed to do this."