Tarot: The MOON
Threshold, Growth, Past, Consciousness
Know thyself and come HOME.
Oh Luna! Both as an Astrologuer and a Tarotlogist I’ve met the MOON a hundred times. Do I feel that I can fully grasp or understand her? No. Elusive, mysterious, and mutable in nature, the MOON keeps presenting herself to me with ever new faces and new nuances of light. A deeply psychological card and an eternal work in progress.
In the Tarot the MOON ranks among the highest of the Major Arcana holding the number XVIII. As we move towards the completion of a cycle in THE WORLD XXI, we must cross the gloomier territories of the Soul. The card depicts a crescent moon with the face of an elderly woman that is looking to the left, the direction that – in the classical western arts – indicates the Past. Herein already lies the MOON’s core message: “To grow further, you need to look at your past.”
To make this point clearer the MOON sheds her dim light on a mysterious landscape. In the foreground we see the strand of an unknown stretch of water symbolizing the deep ocean of the subconscious mind. A crayfish is slowly crawling out of the water and onto a path that is flanked by two hauling animals (dogs, wolfs or jackals) and – further in the distance – by two towers.
In the suit of the 22 Major Arkana the MOON is situated between the most welcome sights of the STAR XVII and the SUN XVIIII. With the abundant STAR we caught a glimpse of the promised land. We remembered that the thing we’ve most wanted, has always been our birthright. Yet before we can start to realize our potential in the material world (theme of the SUN) we need to understand and integrate the unconscious dynamics that have been holding us back so far.
This, exactly, is LUNA’s work. Like a magnet the medicinal MOON is pulling the old emotions, images, and concepts to the surface that prevent us from full integration and living our true potential. The path on the moon’s card is the crucial passage from the realm of the subconscious to our conscious awareness.
„Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.“
Is that an easy thing? No. It takes courage to look at the MOON. Reflecting the sun’s light in the night sky the MOON was often compared to a Sacred Mirror in ancient mythology. In the Tarot the MOON is the great Psychotherapist that will gently but adamantly reflect your shadows and projections back to you.
By projection we mean the unconscious process by which we attribute supposedly unacceptable feelings, impulses, and qualities to someone else, so we don’t have to confront them. The power I project onto other women so I can stabilize my self-concept of “a good girl”. The anger I don’t want to own and instead project on my partners* as I attract “bad guys” or “furies” over and over.
Yet with the moon we start to realize that we cannot simply displace parts of our identity and integrity. My suppressed power might haunt me in the form of constant envy or a tendency to control or manipulate others. The ambition I deny might turn into acid judgement, my unexpressed anger might articulate itself as permanent whining, or chronic latent aggression.
„Own the Thing that you couldn’t own back then.“
The crescent MOON is encouraging you to reclaim the entirety of your personality, qualities and feelings and welcome what wasn’t welcome in the past. The gloomy atmosphere on the card illuminates the fear that this step can evoke. With the Moon we understand that this is not a problem but a part of the process. As the Tibetan nun and author Pema Chödrön reminds us: “Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.”
Very often these fears originate in our childhood, a fact that leads us to Astrology’s perspective on the Moon. In our Horoscope the MOON and the fourth house point to our early childhood formation and the ways in which we experienced our family background.
The sign and position of the MOON illuminates our upbringing, our roots, our basic needs, and the unconscious truths and behaviors that we literally learned from the cradle.
It speaks about the environment, the roles, and bonding-patterns we perceived as “normal” and which are, therefore, highly active.
Do we feel that conflict is part of a healthy environment, or did we suffer when people were fighting in our surrounding? Do we believe it’s normal to indulge in abundance or to live in scarcity? Do we expect that our needs will be met by others, or did we learn early on to attend to the needs of the people that are close to us?
In many aspects the MOON in our horoscope resembles what Psychology calls the “inner Child” today. A metaphor for a young part of our psyche that influences the ways in which we act, love, and live as adults.
Personally, I feel that a lot of emphasis is put on the amount of work that this sensitive and vulnerable part demands. Of course, it takes time and care to build a stable connection to our MOON. But as we do it, we reclaim one of the most loving, gentle, joyful, caring, playful, creative, intuitive, curious, connective, visionary, and lively parts of our Self.
The Moon moves the ocean, and it can move us in the most beautiful ways.
As we grow into our moon, we waste less and less energy on suppressing our intuitions, moods, needs and feelings. Nor are we constantly overwhelmed or unconsciously driven by them.
Month by month, cycle by cycle the MOON is teaching us how to create a safe container wherein we can slowly receive and hold the entirety of our Self and Live Force.
Depending on the individual character and placement of your personal birth-MOON this container can be more physical or spiritual in nature. My clients compared it to Temples, tents, cafés, gardens, dens, castles, nests, or campfires.
Yet all agree, that you recognize this place as the deeply visceral and bodily feeling of coming HOME.