18 - The Moon Tarot Card

The Moon is tarot card number 18, although it is the 19^th card of the Major Arcana because the 1^st of the 22 Major Arcana cards is number 0 (The Fool).

The Moon tarot card is one of several sublty different cards concerning the balancing of opposites.

In the cases of the Rider Waite and Robin Wood decks The Moon tarot card depicts a scene in which a domestic dog, a wolf, and a crayfish (symbol of conscious growth) are seen at the edge of a pool, beyond which are two stone monoliths that visually frame hills or mountains that can be seen extending into the distance beyond. The moon is above, illuminating the scene. A similar scene is illustrated in the Golden Dawn tarot deck, expect that in that case, the stone monoliths are replaced with brick towers onto which are also shown images of Ancient Egyptian figures, although the hills / mountains in the distance are not shown it is equally apparent that the path ahead lies betwen the two tall structures.

The opposites mentioned above may be illustrated on The Moon tarot card by the wolf and the dog representing our 'natural' and 'domesticated' instincts, the two opposing tall structures, the sun (which sometimes illustrated, for example on the Golden Dawn card) and the moon.

Some words and phrases associated with The Moon tarot card include:

• Caution
• Darkness
• Possible deception
• Importance of "gut" (instinctive) reactions
• A situation affected by something from the past

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