Welcome to Tarot Thursdays! This week we will be exploring The Moon and how it can be used as a prompt or brainstorming in our writing.

Tarot is an interesting thing. It’s based upon symbolism and metaphors through imagery. With these images the subconscious mind is tapped into through the story provided. Not everyone gets the same thing from a piece of art. Each piece will influence each person in a slightly different way.

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Introduction of the Card

The Moon is card number 18 in the deck and the nineteenth card in the Major Arcana of the Tarot.

Let’s take a look at the following examples of this card below.

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Card Examples

 

 

Notice the similarities between them and take note of their differences. Do any of these move you more than the others? Take your time and allow these cards to tell you their story.

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My Analysis of These Cards

The Mythic Tarot card depicts the Greek goddess Hecate. Admittedly though, I have no idea what’s up with the three headed hound in this image. The only one that I know of in Greek myth is Cerberus from the Underworld. If this hound is supposed to Cerberus, then I have no idea why it’s on this card.

Next we have the Dragon Tarot, and gain the dragon is looking upward. However instead of a hopeful appearance like it had on The Star card, this dragon seems afraid as it gazes upon the moon. And if you look at the moon closely, you can see some strange images inside it – like what looks to be a pair of whales circling each other. If I was this dragon, I would be concerned as well in seeing this.

The Universal Tarot card is sterile for me. A path winds its way between two towers beneath a serious looking moon and ends at a pool of water. At the edge of the water it look like either a lobster or crayfish is waiting. On either side of the path are two gray hounds. They look somewhat spooked to me. I honestly don’t know what the artist was trying to convey here with this image. Like at all. I don’t get it.

And then we have the Tarot of Dreams card which is equally weird to me. A pair of wolves in a night scene. If this is where the image had ended, I think I would have been fine but instead it includes what looks to be a magic mirror releasing bats into the sky. Really? We couldn’t just make the night foggy and have the bats flying in the fog? I’m confused here.

The only card here that makes complete sense to me is the Dragon Tarot card. The rest of them feel out of context somehow. Perhaps this is the point?

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Themes of the Card

Each card has a set of keywords associated with it that serve as themes for its image. These keywords will vary somewhat depending on who you ask.

According to the Learning the Tarot website, the keywords associated with the card are:

• FEAR
• ILLUSION
• IMAGINATION
• BEWILDERMENT

You can learn more about what this site has to say about this card here.

According to the Biddy Tarot website, the keywords associated with the card are:

• ILLUSION
• FEAR
• ANXIETY
• INSECURITY
• SUBCONSCIOUS

You can learn more about what this site has to say about this card here.

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What this Card Means to Me

This card deals with the subconscious, illusions, and the unknown. This is largely, I believe, the realm in which the High Priestess travels comfortably.

Here you need to walk in faith even if you have no idea of where you’re going. It’s that whole idea of the only way out is through. Sometimes you just need to feel your way and keep pressing forward.

The important thing to keep in mind here is to not allow your fear and imagination to run wild and take over. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Eventually the dawn will come. Night doesn’t last forever.

And you know what? I don’t think there’s any shame in sitting back and waiting for clarity either. There are times my thoughts can be so muddled that it stirs up a panic. This is not a time for me to be making decisions or anything else. I need to be clearing my head first. Then I can take action.

However, as a night owl, I usually find the sight of the moon comforting so I find this interpretation somewhat odd. It’s like they taken The High Priestess card and have expanded it with a layer of fear, insecurity, and illusions. Instead of coming to her for knowledge, you are going out there into this mysterious shifting unknown to find them.

I think perhaps the difference here is that the High Priestess is an active personification of ourselves while the Moon represents a landscape of our mind or state of being. So how frightening it is or isn’t depends upon how self-aware we are.

The keyword I choose for this card is: SUBCONSCIOUS.

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Music Playlist

In this spirit of all this, these are the songs I have picked out for this card.

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The Writing Exercise

This exercise is a free write. Permit yourself to write whatever comes to mind based upon the theme of this card. Choose a keyword or key phrase and run with it to see what you come up with.

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I would love it if you linked or pinged back what you wrote so I could see where you went with this.

Happy writing!

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Mythic Tarot by Liz Greene (Author), Juliet Sharman-Burke (Author), Tricia Newell (Illustrator) © 1989
Dragon Tarot by Terry Donaldson (Author), Peter Pracownik (Author) © 1996
Universal Tarot by Lo Scarabeo (Author), R. De Angelis (Illustrator), A. E. Waite (Designer) © 2001
Tarot of Dreams by Ciro Marchetti (Author), Lee Bursten (Author) © 2015