Moonlight Becomes You – #18, The Moon

                                                        “If I say I love you I want you to know 

It’s not just because there’s moonlight

Although, moonlight becomes you so”

“Moonlight Becomes You”

by Jimmy Van Heusen 

               and Johnny Burke  

 

#18, The Moon, imagination, illusion, fear
and confusion - RWSC by US Game©

Romance and lunatics – yup, those things pretty much go hand in hand. Tarot’s major arcana card, #18, The Moon is the stuff of dreams. Everything looks better in the moonlight. Unless, of course, you wake up in the middle of the night and the moonlight streaming through your bedroom window turns your pile of discarded clothing into a gargoyle perched at the end of your bed.  Which brings us to one of The Moon’s primary keywords, illusion.  

Moonlight paints our world with a fanciful glow. That can be a good thing as long as living in illusion doesn’t become a way of life.  The Moon also represents our imagination which can work for us as creative muse, or turn against us by summoning up our fears.  In the RWCS depiction of #18, we see a deep pool of water in the foreground.  This pool represents the our subconscious self, or Freud’s id.  The crayfish (or lobster if you prefer) is a creature crawling from the depths of our subconscious – a monster from the id.  (Just like in “Forbidden Planet,” a 1956 science fiction retelling of Shakespeare’s, “The Tempest.” If you haven’t seen it, what’s wrong with you?)  The creature never fully emerges from the shadows just as our fears rarely emerge into the light where we can deal with them by dispelling their illusion. Another lunar keyword revealed – fear.

A path runs from the bank of the pool, dividing the realm of

#2, The High Priestess is tarot's associate card
for Lady Moon. Depiction from Aly Fell and
Barbara Moore's, legendary "Steampunk Tarot"©

shadows in half.  One side, ruled by the domesticated dog, represents our civilized selves. The other side, where the wolves run free shows us our wilder, less tamed natures.  Both animals look to the sullen Moon for answers.  However, The Moon remains silent.  We brought ourselves here and it’s our job to get ourselves out.  The Moon’s job is to simply illuminate the pathway through the shadows with reflected light. Its illusionary light cannot provide us with genuine insights like the direct light of The Sun. (#19, The Sun) We must follow the path towards the horizon and the sunrise.  Here we discover two more keywords of the Moon; confusion and disorientation.  The Moon doesn’t abandon us, though.  We have our guides.  Moonlight enhances intuition and carries a spiritual connection to the Divine.  Note the yods used to illustrate the moonbeams. Yod is the 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet representing Divine presence and life force.  

#18, The Moon as depicted in
"Wizard's Tarot"© from the amazing talents
of Corrine Kenner and John J. Blumen

Two sentry towers act as a gateway into the deeper shadowland. Notice that as the path runs towards the horizon, it remains clearly visible, as though widening out into an actual roadway.  The symbolism here is clear.  Stay on the path. Stay balanced. Don’t let your imaginary fears bind you into blind obedience making you incapable of using your own reason to guide yourself (the dog side). Likewise, guard against allowing your fears to drive you wildly into the shadows, frantically searching for something real to grab onto (the wolf side).  

The Moon is a tremendous source of Divine energy and creativity.  By pulling its energy we can intuitively avoid pitfalls and make conscious decisions that have a positive impact on our lives.  When you find yourself traveling through the illusionary landscape of #18, The Moon, ask yourself one thing.  With an infinite amount of reactions available to you as the shadows twist and turn around you, why choose fear?

LADY ORACLE   

Here's a link to YouTube and the wonderful trailer for "Forbidden Planet."  Watch this movie! I love Robbie the Robot!

When the Glass is Empty, Stay in the Moment

There are days when you get up with the best intentions of remaining positive and like the driver in "The Chariot," rise above the fray.  You never expected to stumble out of your door to find your chariot has a flat tire. There you were focusing on your goals, getting ready for your day and suddenly you discovered that your glass is not only half empty, but that gremlins had drilled a hole in the bottom of the little sucker to drain away your peace of mind, your hope and your enthusiasm.  You thought your efforts made a difference, no matter how slight and now staring at the bottom of the glass, you feel foolish, even bereft for your assumptions.

Unfortunately there is no reset button in life and you often have to muddle through as best you can.  I'm particularly fond of the expression, "Begin as you mean to go on."  There's a certain amount of bluster implied in that statement, but sometimes bluster is exactly what you need to find your way through a particularly trying period of time.  Start by holding a positive attitude - the type of attitude born of a positive outcome.  This is the mindset you must create before you attempt to resolve the issues at hand.  Commit completely to your course of action.  Be the moment, because if you are in the moment you are no longer anywhere near the fray.

Your end goal is clear skies, full sails and brilliant sunshine and you won't find them hanging out in The Doldrums (No, seriously. The Doldrums is a real place. Check this out! ) Even if your forward momentum has been reduced to one baby step at a time, you're still going somewhere.  Visualize the end result of your accomplishment - whatever your particular brand of sunshine happens to be.  How does it feel?  What does it smell like?  Where are you and what are you wearing when everything you wish for comes about?  Now press the mental 'back skip' button.  Think about various steps you took to get you where you are in your vision of your future self.  Never concentrate on the obstacles you faced in your imagined journey.  Concentrate on the feeling you had each time you surmounted a problem.  Cue yourself to respond with a burst of positive energy when you reach a stumbling block. Don't get lost in potential fear of an imagined moment.  That's a trap you can all too easily spring on yourself.  Remember the lesson of tarot's # 18, The Moon.  Stay on the lighted path and don't be pulled into the anxiety-producing shadows around you.  Before you know it, you'll be back on course with fair winds and following seas.


LADY ORACLE

Major Arcana No. 19, The Sun - Pay It Forward

The battle with your shadow-self in over and now you get to ride a pony around the garden, naked, with a plume on your head.  We've talked about free will before.  Don't blame me if you get arrested, or at the very least, get a bad sunburn.  Flowers are blooming, you are innocent, open and happy.  Be encouraged.  Life is filled with possibilities and it's time to find ways to express your joy in the moment.  Just as The Moon (No. 18) portrayed your doubts and anxieties in the shadows of the rocky lunar landscape,  The Sun offers a warm, fertile place to grow our dreams and make them a reality.

It's all too easy to let our anxiety and fear take hold of us.  We become focused on lack and scarcity.  We also stop living in the moment and that's when we get blindsided by issues and problems caused by not being present in our own life.  The Sun encourages you to join the dance and explore your potential.  Sunshine is for everyone.  There are no judgments.  All you have to do is show up and pay attention.

A friend of mine received an envelope in her mail this week.  It wasn't an ad,  or the chance  to make millions.  It was the identification that she'd lost on a hiking trip in the Columbia River Gorge a month earlier.  There was a note enclosed that simply said, "Pay it forward."  This could just be a pleasant little story about the kindness of strangers, but it isn't.  There's much more to it than that.  My friend had strayed off the path in The Moon.  It wasn't entirely her fault, she got bombarded by the Universe and ran into the shadows for cover.  Heck, we've all done the same thing and we all know people who've chosen to never come back.  But a wonderful thing happened for my friend.  She asked herself why she'd decided to stop being present in her own life.  Why did she stop taking responsibility for her journey and allow other people and their energy to effect her?  In that moment of realization, she stepped back into the moonlight and headed for the sunrise.

The decision to take accountability and make positive changes in our lives is never easy.  You have to face the issues that made you surrender your control in the first place.  It takes a strong light to see things clearly and as we step from the darkness into the sunlight, we naturally squeeze our eyes shut.  But slowly, our vision adjusts and the fresh air and birdsong fills us with enough hope that we gain the courage to open our eyes.  Once our eyes are opened, we can see our reality and garner the perspective we need to make changes.

I received a call from my friend shortly after her moment of clarity.  It wasn't a call filled with woe, or asking for a pity party.  She gave me a short list of what she wanted in her life.  Not her problems, mind you, but her solutions to them along with her goals.  My friend had stepped into the garden of The Sun.  She told me about losing her identification and stated with conviction that someone would find it and return it to her.  Three weeks later that's exactly what happened.  Amazing occurrences continue to happen in her life, her problems, while not entirely cleared up, are becoming manageable and her goals, suddenly more attainable.  

Stories like my friend's encourage all of us when we find ourselves lurking in the lunar shadows.  If The Sun has shown up in your reading, follow it with joy and an open spirit.  As miraculous things unfold in your life, own them.  By being present and focused, you've brought them to you.  And as the stranger reminded my friend, "Pay It Forward."


LADY ORACLE