The Moon Card & the Divine Feminine
Merging these archetypes, entering the mysteries.
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Today we are returning to the exploration of the major arcana of the tarot. To see prior posts, they can be found in the “Tarot Journeys” section of my substack site. In this post we are exploring the Archetype of The Moon. As Samhain, Halloween and All Saints’ and Souls’ days approach, it felt like the time to explore the Moon card. And to also post/e-mail it at the pinnacle of the full moon. Following is my musings and meanderings around it.
Preamble
I love the Moon!
This celestial orb that dances in our night sky.
Illuminating the ebony filament with her silvery soft light.
Luna riding her chariot across the heavens.
She is the ongoing cycles of wax and wane, light and dark.
Tidal influences that ebb and flow.
These untamed rhythms mirrored both in nature and our bodies.
Women’s menstrual cycles, the powerful undulations of Her blood.
Crops that rise from seed, sprouting and maturing to harvest.
Only then to wilt, wither and decay.
Life and death manifesting.
I bow before you, goddesses of the Moon…
Selene, Diana, Sen, Inanna, Isis, Hecate.
The Moon Card
When we look at the more traditional moon cards from the tarot we see some common images. The moon is orientated between two forms. In these cards here we see pillars, towers and rock formations. Very similar to what you might see in the High Priestess card, where she is veiling the entrance. Here in the moon card though, it is being revealed. These two structures create a gateway, inviting us to enter into the realms of the unknown. To follow the pathway into unfamiliar territory. That of dreams, intuition and the wild unknown.
In the foreground are the primordial waters of our emotions. Emerging is a crayfish, signifying our openness to initiation. A willingness to enter the path of illumination and transformation. Guarding the portal is a dog and a wolf. Symbolizing our tamed and untamed nature as the light and dark, our conscious and subconscious mind. Are these canines here to guide our journey or hinder it? Enter the path and find out.
What Does this Card Mean?
First let’s look at this card traditionally, it truly is an enigmatic card, things are not what they seem. Consider a moonlit night, the reflections of the moon casting shadows in ways that may look deceptive. In the daytime things are more easily perceived and recognized. In the umbra of night, vaguer and more ambiguous. Obscurity is at hand. Easy to get carried away by these ephemeral shapes. Is this our imagination or are we being visited by ethereal souls? As we approach Samhain and All Souls’ Day, one cannot be too sure!
When interpreting the moon card, this can be seen as our fears, what makes us anxious and emotionally distressed. Including our repressed memories and emotions that can arise from our subconscious casting shadows on our lives. A good time to ask what is your relationship with your emotional body? Are you meeting your fears or burying them? What traumas need to be tended to? Keep in mind this exploration may require support, like therapy and/or shamanic healing.
This is not a good time to make quick decisions, things are not what they seem. There is a sense of illusion and uncertainty. An invitation to tune into your intuition, sensing into what is transpiring, listening deeply. Not letting the mind chatter and limited beliefs get in the way. This could also be summoning you to pay attention to your dreams and their archetypal messages. Your subconscious has something to show you.
Bringing in the Divine Feminine
Our orbiting satellite known as the moon and the mysteries of the divine feminine are intertwined. Phases and cycles of life as perpetual change, an ongoing waxing and waning.
The moon calls forth a natural wildness from within. A deep yearning to howl and dance unabashedly in her glow. Life wants to be expressed creatively and passionately. Even animalistically, for after all we are animals. Do you feel the gut punch in that? Or are you relieved by these words?
Security, safety and survival are natural ways of expression. But we overcompensate by forcing a dominion upon life, making Her serve our needs. Sound familiar. The feminine/yin subservient to the masculine/yang order. By placing ourselves above the animal and plant kingdoms, we are slicing ourselves off from the natural world, including our innate connection we share with everything.
Receiving The Moon card, we are invited to open our being to an ancient longing that liberates feminine power. An invitation to follow the curves of the silver path. To wonder and wander. Cultivating the ability to see in the darkness. To embrace the time of the new moon and the underworld by taking a journey into the womb of the Mother.
Not all those who wander are lost.
J.R.R. Tolkien
MYSTERY rather than ILLUSION
There is magic all around us, we just need to remember we are part of it! Opening to the liminal, the paradox and the question, we enter the mystery. Solutions are not the primary focus here, the inquiries are. Trusting that the answers will come in their own time. For now, let’s not rush the unfurling. Befriend uncertainty and discover what else is present…
We are being asked, which falsehoods actually trap and entangle us into believing they are true? Ponder these questions… What is it about the illusionary nature of our protected lives, that we call real? What about these appearances of control, when we live in a world of impermanence?
The Moon deeply calls us to listen. Not to the ongoing toxic litany of the media, politics, religion and advertising that claims truth at every corner. No, we are invited to connect with the moon within, tend to the mysteries of our inner knowing and the hidden secrets waiting there to be revealed. Our bodies speak the truth through sensations, feelings, intuition and instinct. Heeding the wisdom of our body is an act of defiance against a status quo that wants us compliant, quiet and consuming. Basically, cut off from Her.
The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.
Frank Herbert
PHASES and CYCLES
The Moon is associated with the Divine Feminine because of its phases and its influence on the waters below. Apparent in the cycles of menstruation, movements of the seasons, day and night, all the many parts of Nature.
Luna teaches us that new beginnings happen. A birth of an idea, a creative impulse, a fresh start. From that spark there is growth and maturity, till fullness of expression is reached. And then, a time to retreat and reflect, leading us to closure and a void. That empty darkness, the fertile womb for new beginnings.
Best not to prefer just the waxing of the moon, for she wanes as well. And so do we. Within the cycles it is all there, our tamed and wild nature, conscious and subconscious. Outer and inner, material and ethereal. When we connect to the veil between the worlds we touch our inherent psychic ability. We open to the primordial force of Her.
The Feminine is the portal to forgotten knowledge.
To ancient energy, medicine, creation and recalibrating the soul
back to its original source self. Before being human got in the way.
Nikki Rowe.
Blessing
At this time of the full moon, I call on Luna and the Divine Feminine. With the inhalation opening to Her sacred mysteries. Receiving and remembering the ancient wisdom inherent in the cycles of life, in our bodies, in us. On the exhalation releasing what is in the way. Any guilt, fear or shame that was never ours to carry. Surrendering the old making room for the new. May this time of the Moon’s culmination be one of inner gratitude for what has been received. And as we entering this waning time, let us simply be loving and practice forgiveness.
There were many questions asked within this post, would love to know your thoughts and feelings. Let’s have a conversation…
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Ahhh, the Moon. This feels like just the medicine I need today! Thank you! I love how you call attention to the deep connection to the feminine here in all its ways. Cycles and mysteries and slow transformations. I want to linger in the space for a very long time. 💖💖💖
Julie I just did a guided hypnosis into the landscape of the moon card (my guides instructed me to do this). Still processing as it happened 2 days ago, wow wow wow. We may need to discuss.