Tarot
the Moon
By Margot F. Boyer
The hour is late, the night is dark. The Fool has wandered far from the lights of cities and farms, far from houses and workshops. The moon shines on a strange and forbidding landscape of animals and water, under the gaze of deserted towers. So far along in the journey of evolution we come to this empty and frightening scene—why now?
The Moon reflects an encounter with unconscious forces that fascinate, delude, terrify, and baffle the seeker. The spiritual journey that is the unfolding of the tarot brings the wanderer into contact with her own deepest places, where ancient terrors lurk.
The Moon evokes nightmares, sudden insights, and intuition.
The foreground of the card is in water; our point of view comes from within
the unconscious. A lobster or crayfish balances on the brink between land
and shore, its primitive claws uplifted. A dog and a wolf howl at the cold
sky. Two deserted towers, symbols of duality and oppression, frame the distant
mountains. Flame-like drops of divine energy rain down from the moon onto
the strange grouping.
The scene evokes fears that we may find hard to name. Our deepest terrors are so embedded in our own psyche that they appear to be part of reality itself. Fears we absorbed in the cradle—of losing control, of revealing our deepest feelings, or of betrayal by those close to us—shape our perception of the world we live in. When such primitive feelings arise in our adult lives, we find ourselves behaving in ways that reflect unconscious beliefs rather than deliberate choices.
One can use the tarot to free-associate, projecting specific fears onto elements of the scene in the card. The towers might suggest scrutiny by hostile forces, imprisonment, or isolation. The dog and the wolf might evoke an animal turning on a small child, or the wild aggression of unconscious rage. Each individual will find their own associations for the imagery, which can give a metaphoric picture of current anxieties.
Some fears are rational, and others not at all. Some we can articulate, while formless and unspoken fears haunt us most powerfully, arising as nightmares or recurrent destructive patterns. Unfinished business and unresolved pain from the past lurks in a mental basement that we avoid until we stumble into it at night, in sleep, unguarded.
The Moon, coming so late in the tarot and in the soul’s development, reflects the darkness that haunts those on a spiritual path. We might imagine that spiritual practice will bring us light, only to find that such pursuits also make us more aware of suffering. Meditation releases unconscious terrors that some traditions name as demons. Prayer and service evoke terror and pity, and the dark night of the soul opens to the committed seeker. Yet only through facing and healing these deep terrors can we settle our accounts and open to every part of ourselves, and to compassion for those around us. The material we have buried can deepen our connections, but only when we acknowledge it.
The Moon in a reading suggests a deep encounter with the unconscious is taking place. This contact with strong psychic energies is likely to be profoundly uncomfortable, as powerful memories are activated and old scars feel like fresh wounds. Yet dreams are rich and memorable, and daily life becomes more numinous. Coincidences evoke karmic connections, profound encounters happen on street corners, forest animals appear on city streets. The soul’s dimension spills into ordinary reality.
The Moon archetype calls attention to the riches of the inner world. Such times call for meditation retreats, dream work, support from therapists and friends and healers. It’s essential to take time out to attend to the energies of the psyche. This will happen anyway—if not freely chosen, it may be demanded by accident or illness that forces the body to slow down and the mind to turn inward. Taking time to work through whatever comes up, through artistic expression, talking with allies, or deep contemplation, will allow deeply felt responses to come to the surface and become integrated into waking consciousness.
The Moon disturbs, the Moon disposes. The depth of feeling and pain that accompanies the Moon opens the heart to connection. Encountering one’s own fears and sorrows humanizes and leaves us soft, humbled, and willing to listen. Relaxing with this suffering allows us to be more fully present to others. Healing old wounds, we can find comfort in the moon’s cool light, and recognize these strange animals as parts of ourselves that we have neglected and denied.
The soul negotiating the path of the tarot grows deeper
through this encounter with the Moon. A release of primal energy accompanies
the integration of painful material from the past. The Fool’s path
continues over the mountains, toward the country
of the Sun.
Margot Boyer grew up in Rogers Park and moved to Washington State in 1981. After 24 years in the west, she has finally found a room with a view, in which she writes, edits, and grades papers. Her nonfiction work Beyond Inclusion: A Developmental Strategy to Liberate Everyone, collaboration with Leticia Nieto and Garth Johnson, will be published later this year.