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The Moon

MAJOR ARCANA · XVIII

The Moon is card XVIII of the major arcana. The moon hangs between two towers; beneath it a dog and a wolf howl at it, and a crayfish crawls out of a pool. Upright, it stands for anxiety, uncertainty and the power of imagination; reversed, for the fog lifting and fears easing.

Name and number

Upright meaning

Keywords: anxiety, uncertainty, confusion, imagination, dreams

Having found hope again by the light of the Star, the traveler next walks a moonlit path. Moonlight is not as bright as the sun, and shapes can be seen only dimly.

Upright, the Moon stands for the anxiety and confusion that come from not seeing ahead: an unclear situation, someone whose true feelings you cannot see, feelings you cannot explain even to yourself. Imagination can turn what is hidden into something frightening. On the other hand, the card also stands for powers that open only on moonlit nights: dreams, inspiration, artistic sensitivity. It is read as a time not to rush into black-and-white answers but to go on, testing your footing.

Reversed meaning

Keywords: the fog lifts, fears ease, truth comes out, needless worry

The reversed Moon is usually read in a hopeful direction.

An unclear situation becomes clearer, something hidden comes to light, a worry turns out to have been needless. It is a state on the way from moon to sun, as night turns to dawn. It is also sometimes read as pretending not to see a fear and covering it over.

What the picture shows

• The face of the moon: the faces of the waxing and waning moon overlap, standing for changeability.
• The two towers: a gate standing on the border between the worlds of day and night.
• The dog and the wolf: the tamed mind and wild instinct, both howling at the moon.
• The crayfish crawling from the pool: what surfaces from the depths of the mind, from the unconscious.
• The narrow path into the distance: a road that goes on, even under the moon.
• The falling drops: in the Rider–Waite–Smith deck they are shaped like yods, a pair with the sparks of fire on the Tower card.

History

In the fifteenth-century Italian Visconti–Sforza deck, the Moon was a young woman standing with a crescent moon in one hand: like the Star and the Sun, an allegorical figure holding a heavenly body. Other early Italian cards show astronomers observing the moon.

The pattern of today's Moon card took shape in the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Tarot of Marseille. Drops fall from a moon with a face, two dogs look up at it between two towers, and a crayfish lies in the pool in front. It is a strange night scene without a single person.

The Rider–Waite–Smith deck takes over this composition, turning one of the two dogs into a wolf and adding a path toward distant mountains. Because there is no person in it, the picture makes the viewer feel they are standing on that path themselves.

Correspondences

Previous and next cards

• Previous: 17 The Star
• Next: 19 The Sun
• The major arcana

Lucky colors for The Moon