← Encyclopedia of Tarot · lesson 19/121
The Moon
The Moon is the card of the half-lit path: uncertainty, imagination, intuition and the feelings that rise from below the surface. It describes times when things are unclear, when fears or hopes can colour what we see, and when instinct may be a better guide than logic. It asks for patience and careful attention rather than quick conclusions.
The image
A full moon with a crescent and a face inside it shines down, shedding drops of dew. Below, a dog and a wolf bay at it, and a crayfish crawls out of a pool onto a path that winds between two towers towards distant hills. The moon is usually taken as reflected light that shows only part of the truth, the dog and wolf as the tame and wild sides of our nature, the crayfish as something emerging from the depths, and the path as a way forward that can still be followed in the dark.
Upright
Uncertainty, illusion, intuition, dreams and the unconscious. Waite's list is wary, naming deception, darkness and error among its meanings. Modern readers often take it more gently: a confusing time, anxieties that may be bigger than the facts, vivid dreams, creative imagination, or a need to trust one's instincts while the picture is unclear. It tends to advise against signing up to anything until more is known.
Reversed
Waite gives instability, inconstancy, silence and lesser degrees of deception. Modern readers often see confusion beginning to clear, a fear released or a truth surfacing — or, at times, a deeper withdrawal into worry. Some readers do not use reversals at all.
Correspondences
Major Arcana card XVIII. In the Golden Dawn system, which most English-language decks follow, it is the Hebrew letter Qoph (the back of the head), the 29th path on the Tree of Life, and the sign of Pisces; its element is water. Although the card is named for the Moon, its Golden Dawn attribution is the sign, not the planet. French (Papus) tradition attributes some Majors differently.
In a reading
In the past, it can describe a confusing period whose meaning is only now becoming clear. As an obstacle, it may point to misunderstanding, worry or a lack of information. As advice, it suggests listening to intuition and waiting for clarity; as an outcome, a situation still in flux. Beside the Sun, which follows it, it is often read as confusion giving way to clarity.
In astrology
The Golden Dawn's correspondences, which most English-language decks follow (French, Marseille-based tradition differs for some Major Arcana).
Sign: Pisces
Element: Water — the element of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces
Mode: Mutable — Pisces is a mutable sign