THE MOON: The Great Mystery
Part of the Tarot series.
In life, sometimes it’s best to start with a definition from the mighty Akashic records of propaganda itself:
The Moon is a card of illusion and deception, and therefore often suggests a time when something is not as it appears to be. Perhaps a misunderstanding on your part, or a truth you cannot admit to yourself.
-Wikipedia
Not bad!
When The Moon (XVIII in the Major Arcana) turns up in a reading, especially these days (yes, even tarot card interpretations fluctuate with the ever-fluctuating zeitgeist), I find myself consoling a client like this:
“Sometimes it doesn’t matter how hard we try…we just can’t seem to get a grip on what is actually going on. It’s like Life keeps raising the stakes but won’t, under any circumstances, give us EVEN A GLIMPSE of its hand.”
The moon is the sign of a mandatory media blackout. It’s as if the Universe is putting blinders on us. There is this pervading feeling of helplessness—over not knowing. We simply cannot know.
How does this play out in real-world terms?
The querent (old fortune-telling term for “client”) is likely feeling vexed:
She wants to know what to do about her marriage. Something isn’t right. But she can’t quite put her finger on what.
He wants to help his son. His son just quit his job, and he’s acting kind of distant. But they used to be so close.
She hasn’t spoken to her sister in years—and shock!—she has just received an invitation to her sister’s funeral. They’re telling her it was natural causes. But her sister called her a month ago…and didn’t leave a message.
The moon is the great mystery.
We are told (which doesn’t mean it’s true) that the moon is a spherical rock, a giant planet-like satellite orbiting our spherical Earth. They tell us it is the closest cosmic body—by far—between the Earth and the Sun.
But we are also told the opposite side of this spherical moon (its “dark side”) is forever faced away from us, that despite an ever-spinning Earth and an ever-spinning everything—the moon refuses to turn on its axis in such a way that it reveals to us its hidden side.
Interesting.
And then there are other stories, stranger stories (which doesn’t mean to say they’re true either):
That the moon is an artificially constructed satellite, not a natural luminary at all
That George Lucas based the Death Star in Star Wars on secret knowledge that the moon is, in fact, a space station
That there are extensive, covert mining operations happening 24/7 on the moon’s dark side
That the moon is a spaceport between Earth and the galactic outlands
That the moon is made of plasma (not rock)
That the moon is actually a reflection or projection of the true (and hidden) map of the Earth
That the moon landing was fake
That the moon is made of green cheese
Well!.. How can something SO close be SO distant?!!
In tarot lore, the moon represents the unconscious mind. It’s the symbol of the imagination and dreams—and of an imagination gone too far. It speaks of confusion, delusion, and misunderstandings. And it warns us to delay our plans until things become more apparent.
In the classic Rider-Waite deck, a crab/crayfish (purple lobster) crawls out of the water into the night. For me, this was always a reminder of the creatures of the night—the animals that live among us, that are so WELL HIDDEN during the day, which suddenly materialize at night as if from nowhere.
Everything involving the moon lives in shadows.
But what if the great mystery of creation, the TRUE history that so many of us seek, is a mystery by its very nature? And that it must always REMAIN a mystery. And that that is how things work?
For such a fantastic, ever-evolving, magnificent creation to continue to manifest itself creatively requires an ethereal canvas. What if there is no absolute reality to find?
The tarot card The Moon is a force of nature and a life lesson: there will be moments when the reassurance of knowing—will be ripped from your hands.
