Cards with moons

[pirbid]

Hallo, again, everybody!

PayeWacker next challenged viewers to look for those cards depicting the moon in them, looking at its phases when upright, then turning them one by one to see how their meanings would change.



As Cedars pointed out, none of them are full moons, save for the High Priestess crown, if you consider it the moon and not a scrying ball, as PW says. Since RW uses very basic colors and only yellow for both moon and sun -and crowns, as PW reminded us-, I wonder if they didn't use full moons for fear of their being mistaken with suns.
However, they are different phases, which could also give us hints on the time scale of the reading.
- The High Priestess is wearing the crown of Isis, Egyptian goddess of the moon, often depicted with the head of a cow because of the moon's horns. This crown covers all phases of the moon, so as PW also told us, she masters all hidden knowledge. The moon at her feet is a crescent, gathering power and energy on its way to fullness, the sign of new beginnings and efforts to come.
Once again, I can't help seeing how little the image of the feminine goddess has changed, even when translated from one cult into another. Isis is probably taken from an earlier goddess, and I have seen countless statues of the Virgin Mary both with the moon crown and/or the moon at her feet. Isn't that interesting? No matter what we chose to call her, there seems to always have been a moon goddess and probably there will always be.
The point I think PW wanted to raise is that the HP reversed shows a waning moon: all energy and projects retreating into ourselves, the energy dissipating, the link with our inner wisdom weakening in this period.
- The Chariot, or rather the charioteer, sports both crescent and waning moons on his shoulders - not my merit: I only found them after reading it from PW's post-. Curiously enough, the crescent seems in a foul mood and the waning in a happier, relaxed stance when the card is upright, which of course reverse when the card is upside down. Now, why would the gathering energies be so aggressive? Maybe because we feel impelled to take action while we can? I can see how the waning phase would be more relaxing, as we wrap up our business and prepare to get some well earned rest.
I am curious about the starry canopy. Not counting the Pentacles, there aren't that many starry cards in this deck. I only found the Star, of course, and also the crown of the Empress and even the star shaped flowers in the 6 of Cups. I am sure PW will draw our attention to those sooner or later  :)

Now, if you try putting both the Chariot and the HP together and reversed, you see her 'moon horns' and his shoulder pads are the exact reverse of the other's phases, but still covering all of them between the two and twice, so... 2 months? This is beginning to look like a calendar!

- The Moon: I am curious why this crescent moon should be backed by the sun, both raining yod tears on Earth below. This moon looks none too happy to have her domains so invaded: in fact, if sun and moon were to hold this position, we would only be able to see the sun, most probably. Disquieting card, this. Once again, when overturned the moon becomes a waning phase, so the energy and meaning derived from this card would have less of an impact on the seeker, maybe.
- 8 of Cups: this is one of the few waning phases in its upright position but, is it really? Because it could also be part of an eclipse. Of course, if the sun passes in front of the moon, we never notice the first. If it is a sun eclipse, then this moon is not waning but the only full moon - save for the HP crown-. So, which would you say it is? Considering the card's usual meaning of leaving a situation before it falls around our ears, I would say the energies are waning and we don't feel strong enough to take it any longer. When reversed, our crescent energies prevent us from knowing the right moment to leave, or maybe we know this time it is worth to make an extra effort and stay.
- Finally, the 2 of Swords is once again a crescent. Let's hope the rising energies help break the uneasy and tense balance of this card. When reversed, the waning energies deprive us of the necessary tension to keep fighting the unknown, we relax our stance, open our arms -armed arms, hee, hee- and hopefully let the blindfold drop from our eyes.

[Payewacker]

Hi Guys,

Yes, cards with Moons, interesting subject. Pirbid, I'll get stuck in a reply.But what I also want to do, would be to start attaching the symbolism on other cards to the actuall event, the card with a Moon would imply. There are more than just a flat meaning to a card with a Moon. The old saying goes" Not all is written knowledge, read between the lines and the truth be revealed"

Look at the the Yods on the Moon card, and then find these on all other cards, you will be amased at this revelation!!!

Blessed be

[cedars]

I cant wait Payewacker!

[pirbid]

PW, you sometimes talk like a book... a closed one! If you keep talking in riddles we will never learn. You are right when you said some of us haven't the faintest idea what Yod is, save for a hebrew letter of the alphabet with some divine meaning.

Ok, ok, we will search for all cards with Yods on them. From the top of my mind, I recall the Tower has them, the Ace of Swords and... I can't remember, but there are a few more, I am sure. So, what does it all mean? Go on, say, don't be mean...

[cedars]

I have already researched the word Yod and it was all Hebrew to me. For someone who speaks Arabic (me, that is) most of the Hebrew alphabet is quite similar, and some in fact the same as Arabic. But, that still doesnt bring me any closer to the tarot-related meanings of the Yods and yids or the yads..... (the last three are my own inventions).


I am sure we will soon find out.

If we are talking about the same thing, The Tower, Ace of Swords, Ace of Cups also have them. To me they look like the Arabic letter Aleph which is the A sound in plain terms - the first letter of the Arabic (and Hebrew I gather) alphabet.

Bella, in her entries in the Rider Waite section of this forum, once mentioned a book which talks about all these symbolism. I have been researching to find out which book........... but no luck yet.

[sweetsunray]

Cards with yods are aside from the Moon, the Tower and three aces. The sole ace that dooes not depict them is the ace of pentacles. You could see the Tower as divine intervention to get you on the right path... a helping hand. And is not that what "yod" means? The aces, all four of them show a hand giving you an opportunity to help you on you way: an inspirational idea with the ace of wands (EUREKA!), a clear insight with the ace of swords, a feeling of love that gives you faith with the ace of cups. Therefore the road of the moon, the night, dreams could also be seen as a divine helping hand to help you on your life's path.

But why is it missing from the ace of pentacles? Because the divine helping hand cannot materialize? And yet we see a literal divine hand holding the ace of the suit up in the sky, just like any other aces.

Btw talking about helping hands... the hands in the sky... the sword and pentacle have a hand on the left side of the card, whereas the cups and wands is held by a hand on the right side of the card. Since I have been working on dreams and what happens in the brain while dream sleeping only yesterday (with the Moon as card for the day...hmmmm), I see the left or right side of the divine hand as "left brained" or "right brained". Creativity, inspiration and what we cannot put into words such as emotions belong to the right brain, and this fits the side of the hands (although the right brain controls the left hand physically, but I guess an ethereal hand would be directed by the same side?). Rational thought and relating to matter and reality is mastered by the left brain, the left divine hand?

Maybe the four cards together might be seen... your worst fears might come true in the nightmare of the Tower, but it will be to your benefit, otherwise the night and dreamworld may inspire you, heal your heart, or give you insight (the latter though only after waking up... because left brain cognition is shut off neurologically when we dream).

[sweetsunray]

Been looking crosseyed at every RW card... but I did find another clear Yod, on the Wheel of Fortune, in between T and A.  :smt003 I thought of looking for such an actually written yod after doing a bit of research on yods with the Toth deck, where Crowley identified The Hermit as Yod himself. There is no yod depicted on the image itself, but written at the bottom of the card. So, that inspired me to go look at what was written on RW cards.

There are a few cards that do not have actual yods as in those other mentioned cards, but at least give a hint of them possibly coming to fruit or having been used with success... The Lover's right tree for example. Almost all the wands on the suit carry leaves that turned into yods in the ace. Perhaps the World's circle is made of yods? Or what about triumph crowns? Are they made out of yods? One could argue that the page of Wands is carrying a yod on his hat, and what does the beggar of the 6 of pentacles carry in the pocket of his blue coat? Could that be a yod?

Lastly, I think there's one more card that has the Moon in it, not as a moon in the sky, but as one of the astrological symbols on the quilt of the 9 of swords. Of course that card depicts a woman waking from a night terror still in despair.

Going to check what I can find for myself on the moons and yods in the Toth deck

[cedars]

Great findings Sweetsunray!! I hope you gave your eyes a rest overnight

As for the Lovers,  the tree on the right (the one behind the man) I believe these are 12 leaves or possibly fruits depicting the 12 astrological signs. I know we are digressing here, but the two trees in the Lovers card are the trees of life: the one behind the man has 12 fruits - for sustenance - and the one behind the woman is the tree of knowledge for good and evil.

But I am with you where the Wands are concerned; the falling leaves off the rods can be seen as Yods too and I do like your explanation of the Yods being the divine intervention on the other cards.

This is enlightening isn't it? Unlike the exchange that took place yesterday with a certain thread.....

I would like to see some of the examples on the Thoth deck should you find any Yods there.

Good day to you.

[sweetsunray]

I agree about the Lovers. You could see them as yods only once they fall from the tree "perhaps".

Well, I already went through the Toth deck for yods and moon signs. There are an awful lot of moon symbols on the Toth cards. Crowley used the astrologoical planet and moon positions and aspects for each card to in part determine the influence. And every minor at least depicts the two interacting planets (+ moon) that influence it. There are no yods on the Tower with the Toth deck, but they are on the Moon, Ace of Wands, and Aeon (Universe) for example.

I only went through it to pick out the cards. Will take a while to figure out the Moon related cards (as there are so many) and then the Yod cards, which ought to include the Hermit (as Crowley calls him Yod) and the Lovers (because in the Toth deck it's the Hermit giving the blessing over the couple). I think I also have to go through some of his ritual writing, because I suspect the Tarot cards may relate to that... which is some of the hardest ritual reading I've done since a long while.

B studying the Toth Moon more regarding the moon phase it depicts, I can now understand why RW has a sun together with the moon crecent. We see the waning moon in the early hours of the night, just before and after sunrise until 9am.

The best time to have a chance to recall our dreams are in the early hours before the morning. We sleep more lightly, less deeply and therefore wake up more easily. Normally our short term memory shuts off while we dream sleep. If we go on sleeping we won't remember the dream we had. But if we wake up during the REM sleep we do recall our dream, because the short memory is forced to kick back into action. The shutting off of this short term episodic memory is a way from the brain to seal ourselves from the outer world, not just physically (we are paralized and hardly don't receive input from outside), but also in our mind and memory. That way our rational perceptions of the world cannot interfere with the dream process, and we accept the weirdest situations without question and are open while dreaming to the symbolical and methaphorical language of the dream where nothing is what it seems when we wake up afterwards and ask ourselves what it all was about.

So for me, both cards suggest to look for dreams in help, and depict the best time at night when we will most likely remember our dreams to figure them out afterwards.

[pirbid]

Coincidentally, you are an expert dream interpreter, so your view might be slightly biased?  :smt003  Just joking. I found your explanation quite interesting in all counts.

[sweetsunray]

I've been going through the Toth deck for moons... and I split it into 3 groups

The first group, shows shows a moon either in the sky or as part of the attributes. The second group has the astrological moon symbol depicted as one of the many elements. And the third group are those cards under the astrological ruling of a moon aspect.

For GROUP 1:
The Moon
The Priestess: her headdress + the Priestess is ruled by the moon
The Empress: two moon crescents, waxing + waning, in the background, and a crown like that of the Priestess
Adjustment (Justice): two moon crescents, waxing + waning, in the sword lady justice is holding
Art (Temperance): the heart of the angel looks like a dark crescent, surrounded by both full and dark moons + two waxing moon crescents at the top of the card.
The Star: a large, pink, full moon in the sky background
Ace of Swords: the sword is the same one that lady justice holds in the Adjustment card.

The RW also has the moon in the Moon and Priestess, and in both they are depicted in a similar way. Not surprisingly since female intuition is often seen to be linked with the moon. But the Empress is very different from the RW Empress. In the Toth deck with the blue hue she always reminds me more of Maria rather than an Empress. Crowley's Empress seems like a priestess who is also the reigning queen. She even has a similar crown, except that it also has the worldly, kingly cross on top of it. Of course in Corwley's priestess we don't see a priestess but the Goddess Isis. It's like 3 moon phases are presented on this card: waxing moon, full moon and waning moon. I think Crowley saw the moon's influence here from a fertility view as well as being a symbol of femininity.
With Adjustment and Ace of Swords we see the two moon crescents of waxing and waning moon as part of the sword. I think it symbolizes how lady justice and the ace of swords can cut through the moon's illusions and see the truth.
In Art I think the moon is used to denote extremes. At night we lose the sight of colours: there's dark, light and shady in between. The Angel in Art shows this bluish (colourless) night dark arm against a white one, same for the faces. In the card we see opposites being mixed (fire with water), and I think this card in Crowley is not just blending these extremes, but reminding us that differences and opposites are a mere illusion, and that all is one...
The Star's full pink moon gives the world a magical otherworldly but serene and beautful atmosphere. Full moon is also seen as the fertile moment within a woman's moon cycle, when a woman is seen by most religions as "clean" (and that is what the woman does, cleaning). Fertility also refers to time for new ideas, fertile plans... promises succes. The card can mean "dreams come true", and the dreamworld is ruled by the moon.

Note also how all of these cards are enveloped in a haze of night blue

[sweetsunray]

Moon GROUP 2 for Crowley Toth:  

Fool: the bag full of coins behind him all have an astrological sign on them... one of the coins is the moon symbol. At point 0 everything is possible, and the moon is just one of the many things.

Then there are three disk cards, and it seems strange that cards about the material world would carry moon symbols.

5 disks: one of the disks has a waxing moon symbol on one of the 5 disks on the upside-down pentagram. The card's supposedly ruled by Mercury in Taurus: stubborn, restricted speech, heavy mind, plodding thoughts, catching flies, rigid. So, a locked situation, cause for worrying, and hard to get out from. Aside from dreams, the moon also stands for fears, and one of those fears could be material trouble.

6 of disks: the bottom disk shows a waxing moon symbol, the other disks show other planet symbols (mercury, mars, venus, jupiter and saturn). And this card has Moon in Taurus (the Moon symbol is depicted in the orange part at the top, the taurus sign at the bottom). Moon in Taurus is seen as a practical mind, wanting material comfort and security, and using their will and determination to reach that, often bringing them success, which is what Crowley called this card. Looking up Moon in Taurus on the internet I come across this personality explanation: "There's a steadiness to this position of the Moon that is comforting to those close to them. But the conservative streak in these natives can be maddening to more progressive personalities. They tend to go out of their way to avoid "messy" or unpredictable situations, crises, and emotional displays. Instead, they focus on creating a reliable and secure life around them. In relationships, Lunar Taureans may not easily recognize their partner's need for change, growth, or emotional stimulation." "Since Taurus is a practical earth sign, the placement of the Moon in this sign suggests an ability to protect themselves and their own interests. They will rarely make a move without first determining that it is safe and that there's something in it for them."
This can be easily seen as the description of RW's money giver on his 6 of disks. Crowley's center of the card shines a full moonlike light, like that of the star, so in that sense is a "dreams come true" card.

9 of disks: the bottom purple disk shows a waning crescent with a man (man on the moon). Again 5 other disks here depict a planet symbol, and just like here with the moon, the symbol is found within a depiction of a personality: Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. I take the depcition of these 6 as if Crowley saw them as being in harmony with each other, cooperative factors. Crowley called this card "Gain"... it's like a six of disks + an extra 3 disks... therefore gain.

[sweetsunray]

Group 3 of Crowley-Toth cards under the moon's rule:
It should include the 6 of disks, but I already mentioned that one in group 2

4 of cups: Moon in Cancer... Some looking up of characterization of cancer moons reveal this... "They can be extremely passive when it comes to extricating themselves from unhappy emotional situations. They may even cling to such situations after they have managed to find happiness elsewhere. They hate to throw anything away. Lack of motivation can make them lazy, disorganized and sloppy." This immediately evokes the image of the man lazily sitting against a tree and reacting with apathy to the fourth cup, with the RW. However, Crowley emphasised the emotional richness as well as their need of making their home an environment that gives them all they need of Cancer moons. His 4 of cups is called luxury, and the image of the cups is indeed beautiful and shining brightly. Only they grey sky behind it shows that this affluence may have its downside and some day may be gone too. The Moon's intuition and duplicity plays a part here, because on the one hand the Cancer becomes so sensitive to others that it becomes unclear whether they are expressing their own emotions or those of the person they empathize with.

2 of swords: Moon in Libra
"Because this drive for harmony, peace, and sharing is so powerful, Lunar Librans are apt to do a lot of conceding."
And here we have the explanation of the 2 of swords, a situation where the querent tries to keep the peace at all cost. Crowley called the card Peace, and shows a harmonious picture. Libra stands for justice and thus truth, whereas the moon stands for illusions too, hence why the two swords are actually crossing each other. Strangely enough, the Toth 2 of swords actually has 4 swords in the picture. It's as if he's saying "Yes, there is actual peace and harmony, but beware you do not end up in the situation of 4 swords where everything comes to a standstill because you avoided to make a choice when a choice needed to be made."

7 of swords (Futility): Waning Moon in Aquarius...
Aquarius people have a tendency to want to be unique, loners, to feel they are above the common, and with the moon of illusion we can see the potential of deception and unreliability in order to show their independence. The big sword has the sun sign, and the four most middle ones have venus, mars, jupiter and mercury signs for handles. Alas I'm not sure about the outer two swords. It seems that here one tries to tie in too many planets that it's impossible to succeed, and hence futile... Crowley called this card "Futility"

10 of swords (Ruin): Sun in Libra versus Moon in Gemini, however I'm not really sure whether this is the case... there are so many symbols at the swords handles that it's not clear anymore which sign belongs to which. For example the sun symbol rests on the scale symbol at the top of the card, whiel at the bottom we have a waxing moon crescent with a pentagram and a square which probably indicates gemini.
Note how 8 of the 10 swords do not have an asotrological handle: one has a heart, two with hourglasses (time... situation has been going on for a while), two with crosses, two with stars, a to me undecipherable rich handle. So we must consider the moon symbol in opposition with the sun symbol at least... the sun with libra suggesting that in reality the situation is bright and clear, whereas moon in gemini indicates twice duplicity... the perceived situation is an illusion.
If you count the number of swords, you're more likely to count eight swords instead of 10. A closer look will suggest that the bottom sword is actually two swords, one atop the other. But that still only makes 9 swords, not 10. There's little left of the 10th sword that is at the center of this card... we can still see the heart handle. So, the card shows one sword with a heart handle attacked by 9 other swords, while most of the points of those 9 are broken. We can only see 3 whole points reaching the heart of the handle.
3 of swords stands for heartache, heartbreaking events... we only need 3 swords for that, not 10. And yet, those 3 points all miss the heart on this card, thereby indicating that the heart has already healed, or is not harmed as the querent thinks.

[Payewacker]

Hi Sweetsunray,

I didn't go through your 3 postings, but copied them onto a doc. I will then slowly go through them.

It's so nice to have people responding on these subjects. There is a wealth of knowledge in MB, unlike some other sites.

Blessed be