The Moon (Tarot card)
The Moon (XVIII) is the eighteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.
Description
The card depicts a night scene. Two large, foreboding pillars are shown. A wolf and a domesticated dog howl at the moon. A crayfish appears in the water. The Moon is "shedding the moisture of fertilizing dew in great drops".WAITE, 18 in number in the Rider-Waite deck and are all Yodh-shaped. The figure in the moon is frowning, reflecting displeasure.
Interpretation
According to Waite's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, the card represents life of the imagination apart from life of the spirit. The dog and wolf are the fears of the natural mind in the presence of that place of exit, when there is only reflected light to guide it. This reference is a key to another form of symbolism. The intellectual light is a mere reflection and beyond it is the unknown mystery which it cannot reveal.
Key 18 The Moon "The moon in three phases watches over the landscape. From the pool of Cosmic Mind stuff in the foreground, a crayfish appears, symbolizing the early stages of conscious unfoldment. The wolf is nature's untamed creation; the dog is the result of adaptation to life with man. In the back-ground, halfway up the path, are the twin towers Man has erected to protect himself from his hostile environment. The Moon will lead him along the rugged path, past the towers, to the final heights of attainment, if he will be guided by her reflected light and listen to the voice of the subconscious. Once again, the falling drops are yods, representing the,descent of the Life-force from above into the material existence. This is the key of sleep and dreams. The Moon's three phases of intuition concern body, mind and spirit. The Moon Mother watches over the birth of Spirit into material manifestation. The number 18 consists of the digits 1 and 8, which add up to 9, thus becoming the second 9 and indicating the second initiation, The Hermit was the first 9 on the path. The Fool is still on his journey - learning, falling back, and then again advancing."
"[1]
Alternative decks
- In the "Flemish Deck" by Vandenborre, the moon shows a woman seated in the right-hand corner with a tree in the left hand corner. The moon is directly above her. She is shown with a distaff in her right hand and spinning thread with her left hand.
- In one of the old Italian Tarot decks, instead of the above scene there is an Astrologer plotting a horoscope while the moon shines in from a window.
- In Mythic Tarot decks, the moon is depicted by Artemis, Selene or Hecate.
In popular culture
- The Moon is represented by two cards in the Arcana Force and Spellbook sets of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game: Arcana Force XVIII - The Moon (monster card) and Spellbook Library of the Crescent (spell card).
- Dark Blue Moon is an enemy stand in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, taking the form of a humanoid fish monster.
- In the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die, Bond finds this card at the Fillet of Soul restaurant, along with two others: the High Priestess and Death.
- In the SNES video game Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen, the Moon Tarot card depicts a woman in a long white dress soaring on a moonbeam through the night. On drawing the card after liberation of one of the towns, it changes the time of day to midnight, and also changes the rows of enemy units to a different position when used in battle.[2]
- This card represents the character Luna Tsukuyomi in the anime series Gen'ei o Kakeru Taiyō.
- In Persona 4 - Persona 4 Golden The Moon , Moon Social Link is represented by Ai Ebihara - very much having her character resemble , personality wise, the Interpretation behind the card itself.
- Adventure Time ["The Stakes"] mini series, Sister Moon
- Along with other Major Arcana, the Moon is a character in Data East's puzzle video game series, Magical Drop. In the game's Neo Geo port, she serves as a secret mid-boss in the game's Challenge Mode.
References
- ↑ The Complete Guide to the Tarot by Eden Gray Bantam Books
- ↑ "Ogre Battle - Tarot Cards". fantasyanime.com.
- ^ The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, by Arthur Waite
- ^ The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, by Arthur Waite
- A. E. Waite's 1910 Pictorial Key to the Tarot
- Juliette Wood, Folklore 109 (1998):15-24, The Celtic Tarot and the Secret Tradition: A Study in Modern Legend Making (1998)
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Moon (Tarot). |
- The History of the Moon Card from The Hermitage.
- The Moon from Joan Bunning's Learning the Tarot: A Tarot Book for Beginners
- Symbolism of the Moon arcanum
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