78 Weeks of Tarot: The Moon

[Trogon]

For information on what these threads refer to, see this thread;

 

78 Weeks of Tarot - Informational Thread

 

The above linked thread gives suggested dates for the cards as well as links to the individual topics.

 

Some of us may be working through the study in a different order and using different decks. If you have general questions or comments regarding the 78 Weeks of Tarot study group, please post in the topic in the above link.

 

Have fun.

[Bookworm]

Deck: Fairytale Tarot

 

Card name: The Moon

 

First impressions:

 

A beautiful, serious young woman sits at a spindle on a beach under a night sky. She has very long dark wavy hair. I suspect she’s a mermaid, but I’m not sure. A large full moon and a few stars are visible in the night blue sky. Moonlight is reflected in the gently moving water. Behind the woman is a mill with what might be a house attached. On the opposite shore are some trees.

 

There must be a connection between the full moon and the spinning woman, but I don’t know what it is.

 

From the book:

 

Keywords and phrases: Magic and enchantment; wild imaginings, both visionary and somewhat frightening; mental disturbance, confusion.

 

Does the witch recognize in the young wife a witch in the making? She certainly seems to be able to call forth magical forces when needed. Do the three women represent the triumvirate of witches: maiden, mother and hag? The Moon has always been about the female principles of enchantment.

 

There is certainly much delusion, mental confusion and both fear and longing in this story, but as soon as the young wife enters the story, we know that there will be a happy ending.

 

The moral of the story is that we shouldn’t be pulled down into the deep pool of fantasy, etc., and that we need to use our wits and cunning to overcome our darker and more haunted imaginings. Yet we also mustn’t ignore the fact that this is a beautiful tale that conjures up memorable images. There is beauty in the enchantment of the moon and there are gentle sides to magic as well as darker ones.

 

The original story:

 

“The Water Nixy,” from The Yellow Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang

 

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/lfb/ye/yefb19.htm

 

Traditional meanings:

 

Dreams but also nightmares, illusion, hidden things – particularly enemies, insecurity, mystery, falsehoods, visions, mental confusion, a dark night of the soul, a difficult period, lacking clarity, deception, secrets, increased psychic ability and experiences, secrets being revealed, what was hidden is now becoming visible, deceptions are seen, mysteries unveiled, unusual dreams, psychic insights you may not understand, insomnia or unusual sleeping patterns, irrational thoughts/behaviours.

 

My impressions of the card/story combination:

 

This is a rare time in this project when I find the card and the story completely apt and complementary, but I find the commentary in the book a little strange.

 

It turns out that the woman on the card is the young wife who is obeying the instructions of a witch to bring a golden spinning wheel to the pond on a full moon night in order to break the spell that the Nixy has put on her husband. This is the third spell the witch has told her to try – the first ones made her husband partially rise up in the water, but then he disappeared. This spell makes lots of things happen, but not as the wife expects.

 

It is significant for the meaning of the card that the spell requires the full moon. Although you have to be careful of the moon, its mysterious power is the only thing that will allow the magic to work.

 

The Nixy herself is a fitting representative of the delusional behavior that can result from falling under the spell of The Moon. The miller, wanting to get rich quick, trusts the Nixy, which turns out to be a disaster for the family. Of course it is his own greed that started the disaster, the Nixy only took advantage of that.

 

The witch illustrates the more benign aspects of enchantment. Her spells start the process of the breaking of the Nixy’s spell, but both the concerned parties have to endure a lot, and finally it is true love that conquers all the difficulties they encounter.

 

My take (what I make of it/what I might see in a reading where I drew it):

 

I think I would see that it is a time of great power, but that care must be taken not to go off the deep end. Sometimes you really want or need to allow yourself to try something kind of crazy and risky, but, at the same time, you need to understand that you might not be able to return to your former self without great effort – or maybe not at all.

 

The card could be about magic, visions, nightmares, confusion and the dangers inherent there.

 

It could also be about looking at something with nighttime vision, by which I mean using a different set of skills from logic to understand something, like, for example, poetry.

[Hemera]

Everyday Witch Tarot (D.Blake & E.Alba 2017 Llewellyn)

 

The Moon

 

Description:

A black cat gazes into a pool and a reflection of a black panther gazes back. Yellow round full moon is shining in the sky.

 

What action is going on:

A witch is flying high above on her broom.

 

Images and Symbolism:

Felines: Independence, feminine powers, night, fertility, music, mystery, magic, healing, rebirth

- animals of many Goddesses such as Freya, Bast and Sekhmet

 

Colours:

Lots of lovely blues and greens. Almost as beautiful as in the Morgan-Greer Moon.

 

This card encourages:

- Trust your body & intuitions & dreams

- Create, make art, do tarot work

 

Warns against:

- Drowning in the unconsciousness

 

Traditional meanings (J. Bunning):

- Releasing inner demons; phobias and anxieties

- Believing illusions; unrealistic ideas

- Imagination; vivid dreams or visions, fantasy

- Feeling bewildered; confusion, aimlessness

 

From the Book:

- Feeling restless, torn between two paths

- Listen to your subconscious

- Time of flux and change ahead

- Neither good or bad, but look closely at the reflections in the water for there may be hidden secrets there. Unseen forces at work.

- The feeling is mysterious; half wild, half tame

 

Sallie Nichols: (in Jung and Tarot. An Archetypal Journey. Weiser 1984)

- This is the hero’s moment of truth, his “Dark Night of the Soul”, time of terror and awe

-The hero must overcome the monster who can devour his consciousness and hold it captive

-The Moon card is showing the hero’s victory over the devouring aspects of the unconscious

 

Notes:

-I’m not a cat person at all so somewhat surprisingly, it was this card that sold this deck to me. I love the symbolism in this card, and the beauty of it colours almost makes this card worth framing.

-The twin motif that Nichols talks about is present as the half wild, half tame sides of the cat and panther pair. The cat is the hero and the panther is her other half, her shadow

Quote:

One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light but by making the darkness conscious.  -C.G.Jung