18: The Moon

Card 18 in the major arcana is The Moon card. The moon card is quite a mysterious one from first glance, so let’s dive into the mystery!

There is so much going on in this picture! The most obvious is the moon, front and center, with the image of a side profile of a face, someone say the man in the moon, but I beg to differ. The moon is clearly a woman… reflective in nature, the moon is bright because it is reflecting the light of the sun back to the earth. One of the most beautiful gifts of the feminine, which exists in all things regardless of gender, is the ability to be a mirror, imploring you to take a deeper look with in. From the moon falls 15 yods, signs of heavenly blessings, and with that blessing you know that from this reflection and in depth exploration of the hidden depths of of the moon we will find many treasures. Whether the hidden aspects appear as treasures is up to you, of course! On either side of the card, in the background and just beneath the moon we see two towers, the same tower as in the tower card just doubled, between which a river flows through, into the valley and ultimately spilling into the ocean. The towers, lacking an entrance or an exit, represent trappings of the mind, and of iver thinking a situation that you have not allowed time to make clear. Instead of being present and allowing things to unfold, you’ve overthought the situation to the point you cannot separate fact from fiction, nor threat from benality. Behind the towers we see the darkness of night covering the landscape of mountains and rocky terrain, representing the deep unconscious which can be scary only because we do not have the ability to see all that it contains. In the foreground we see a dog and a jackal, as well as a crustacean of some sort. I believe it to be a lobster, some say it is a crawfish, but regardless of which it is, they both represent mainly the same thing. The dog and the jackal are indicative of the “2 wolves” adage, namely you get to choose which wolf you feed. Will you feed doubt and uncertainty? Or will you feed trust and let go enough to allow the answer to be shown to you? It’s truly up to you. The crustacean is both in the water and on the land, and can be seen as extremely resilient with its tough exoskeleton, while simultaneously being very vulnerable both in the water and on land. 

Ultimately the Moon can show you its time to face hidden truths, to bring thoughts to the light, as well as emotions, and concerns you might have been hoping to avoid. It also represents deep intuition and collective unconscious wisdom. The moon is telling you, things are not as bad as you have been fearing, and ultimately can be better than you imagine if you allow the flow of life and the natural world to guide you and direct you, just as the moon guides and directs all the waters of our world. In some ways I feel Hecate is the Mistress of this card, for she is so fierce and yet so tender, and it is only her that gets to decide how she will interact with you. Dogs are her companions and it is at the crossroad where she will meet you, to expose you to your shortcomings, or grant you a wish from the kindness of her heart, but mostly because she believes you deserve it. After all, you’ve been tending to both wolves inside you and have a found a balance between the two.