The Moon.
Okay, let’s go for it.
My comments are not based on any textbook or study of the moon in the tarot. I am going by my intuition and what they might stand for in their shapes and so on. Although there is a lot written as to the meaning of every colour, every shape of this and that,, but my comments come from my past studies and now based on how I see these shapes and colours and objects, including the moon.
High Priestess, Two of Swords and Eight of Cups. The Moon.
The moon in all of these is a crescent and not a full-shaped moon. The biggest in size is the one at the feet of the High Priestess and on her crown there is a globe (moon or earth?). The colour of the moon in all the above is depicted in yellow.
Whilst the moon is looked upon as the lantern at night to guide us in the hours of darkness, and yet, in the Middle Eastern/Eastern cultures, it is also viewed as an object of beauty. A beautiful face of a woman is associated with that of a full moon, but in Western cultures, if you did pay such a compliment to a woman, she might cringe and not take it as a compliment. It may probably depend which culture is looking at the faces of the moon in the above cards. However, as the moon is the night lantern, but it is not strong enough like the sun to keep every activity on Earth visible and out into the open, it plays more of a mysterious, secretive and an illusive role.
To me, having the moon at the feet of the High Priestess signifies that she has control of that mystery; the moon is not high in the sky as opposed to the Two of Swords and the Eight of Cups – all in the shape of a crescent I might add. Because our path is not always clear at night, despite the moon’s efforts to light it up, similarly a crescent (not a complete moon) makes that task even harder.
Two of Swords: she has no clear vision as to what she must do – half moon, blindfold, criss-crossed by the swords. But, nevertheless, the moon will bring change to the situation that she is in. The moon brings changes to the tide on a daily basis, the lunar cycle brings changes to a woman’s body, and many changes are borne due to the moon and its effect with the earth’s gravity and so on. I am no scientist to carry on with the rest.
Eight of Cups: the moon is intermingled with the sun or is it a sleeping moon making the path of this man’s journey even more treacherous? If it is a ‘sleeping sun’ then the moon again is in its crescent shape which reflects the soul of the man going on a journey but unsure of the outcome or what lies ahead. It heralds change again; change that this man is willingly to venture into.
The Moon: here again there is a sleepy face of a crescent moon while the sun is bright in full beam. The tarot makes a distinct division in the meaning of the moon and the sun: either full bright clarity or half-hidden, half revealed mystery of the half moon. Whilst I would say a Full Moon can be as soothing and comforting as the sun, but the tarot seems to take the moon in its crescent shape. This may lead us towards religion perhaps and that is an area I would like to streer away from, but just for further info, I would like to mention that Islam depicts the moon in its crescent shape rather than its full shape. Any connections? I am not qualified to answer that.
The Moon and the Nine of Swords: Curtain and blanket.
Pomegranate, this Mediterranean fruit, which is mainly full of seeds covered in some juicy layer of jelly-like substance, symbolises abundance and fertility according to tarot symbolism. I guess in the case of the High Priestess it symbolises plenty of knowledge behind the curtain but one has to seek for that knowledge within oneself or by educating oneself in order to have the right of access to get behind that curtain. Why pomegranate to symbolise abundance and no other fruit, I do not know. I could have easily chosen wheat or any other fruit or vegetation, but the tarot designers seem to have chosen the pomegranate. Does it have any historic-religious background deriving from the Old Testament? I don’t know.
Nine of Swords blanket: pictures of red roses, a crescent and various other symbols. I guess we are looking at the red roses here which adorn the whole blanket. Why is this woman, covered with a blanket symbolised by ‘love’, having such a hard time?
The symbolism in tarot is very deep-rooted, but I try not to make that as the backbone of my readings.
My penny's worth
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