The Moon - Embracing Natural Order in the Tarot
The Moon is a card that makes room for strangeness, mystery, and wildness.
Hit play below to listen to the lesson, or scroll down to read it in text form.
To give you a bit of context whilst you reflect on your own relationship to the card, here are a few key things to know about the Moon.
The Moon is the 18th card in the Major Arcana, falling between the Star at 17 and the Sun at 19. Each of three cards represents a different quality of illumination. The Star is a soft glow that often encouraged self-care, the Sun is about unapologetically shining your light out into the world, and the Moon is about looking at your world and experience in a different light.
The Moon is a card rich in symbols. The Rider Waite Smith tarot presents quite an evocative scene: a brightly glowing full moon looks down on a river that runs between two towers. At the centre of the card, two wolves squat howling up at the moon. At the bottom of the card, a lobster emerges from a rippling pool.
It’s a strange tableau, but one that feels appropriate for the moon. Night casts a different shade on our world, and invites us to experience things differently. There is a dreamlike quality to this card that encourages getting in touch with the uncanny images the subconscious often deals in.
It’s interesting to note that the Moon is one of the only a few cards in the Rider Waite Smith deck that doesn’t feature human figures (the others which completely forgo human characters are: The Wheel of Fortune, the Aces of all four suits, the Eight of Wands and the Three of Swords). So there’s a natural wildness in this card - in fact, it’s the most “natural” scene in the tarot. It centres animals and nature more than any other card in the deck.
I sometimes see it as an invitation to connect to your animal side, your natural wildness. But also, the Moon offers a reminder that embracing your wild side doesn’t mean becoming lawless - after all, the moon has been waxing and waning in a predictable cycle for millennia. Rather, this is a card about embracing the natural order - of your body, your mind, your existence. It feels strange because we’re used to constructing order for ourselves… but what if we took time to tune in to the order that comes to us innately. To howl at the moon if we’re called to do so? To bubble up from our own depths and find shore? To follow the river path where it leads, and trust the journey will take us somewhere.
In your tarot journal, you’re asked to reflect on what this card means to you, now, in this moment, and what actions and thoughts it inspires in you. As you journal, pay attention to what you’re personally picking up in the card, but also consider what the key themes and symbols in the card might be telling you. How can you embrace wildness in your life right now? What subconscious messages can you welcome as illuminations? How can you tune in to your natural cycles?
This mini-tarot lesson was brought to you by me, Chelsey Pippin Mizzi, founder of Pip Cards Tarot. I hope you gained a little context to help you continue reflecting on the card in your own way, and I’ll see you tomorrow for another mini-lesson.