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2.14 ☽ The Moon
After the Sun, the Moon has the strongest influence on the Earth, affecting the tides and
gravitational forces, growth cycles, and other natural rhythms, as well as our own behavior and
emotions. In our astrological charts, it represents the emotional aspects of our personality, our
feelings, instincts, reactions and subconscious impulses. It also symbolizes our need for
security, our nurturing side, and feelings of self-worth and self-image. Complementary to the
Sun, the Moon could be thought of as the right-brain and the Sun the left-brain aspects of our
approach to life. Like the Moon’s phases and cycles, our emotions, reactions, and impulses ebb
and flow, wax and wane, not always for reasons we can understand or predict consciously.
The Moon travels quickly through the astrological chart, spending only 2.5 days in each
astrological sign, and making a full circuit every 29.5 days. Every new Moon is conjunct with the
Sun in the heavens, and thus both are in the same sign. The Moon appears dark in the sky. At
this time, the conscious and subconscious mind (or the core identity and emotional self) can be
thought of as being in synch with each other. As the Moon travels through its phases, waxing,
full, and then waning again, it takes on various aspects to the transiting Sun, some harmonious,
some stressful and challenging. At the full moon, the Moon is in opposition to the Sun and at
the height of its expression. At this time, buried emotions, needs, dreams, and instincts may
come to the surface more than usual. Each full moon cycle you will experience in your lifetime
is slightly different, and although the moon cycle creates a backdrop of energies based on the
signs and phases it travels through, each person experiences them somewhat differently
because of their own Moon sign and the aspects the Moon makes to other planets in their
chart. For all of these reasons, the effects of Moon transits are considered personal and
somewhat ephemeral, although they can be very intense, as is also true of our emotions.
The High Priestess
In modern tarot, the Moon is associated with the High Priestess. There are many aspects
of the High Priestess that reflect Moon energies well, for example, her role as the keeper of
subconscious wisdom and the collective unconscious, veiled from direct knowledge and
conscious thought. The Moon in astrology does represent those who would introduce us to our
inner selves, and for men, it can represent the anima or inner feminine self, for which the High
Priestess is an appropriate symbol. The Moon represents our intuition, a quality the High
Priestess teaches us how to use, and which she is sometimes perceived as representing. At
times the Moon has a reflective stillness and a receptivity that is mirrored in this card.
In other ways, the two archetypes are very different. The Moon in astrology represents
an active emotional life, rather than the passivity of the High Priestess. It is more about feeling
than knowledge. Also, the Moon in astrology has a nurturing quality, and when it represents
other people, can represent mothers, wives, or others who provide emotional security and
bring you in touch with your feeling, caring side. The High Priestess in tarot is somewhat lacking
in these qualities, which are better expressed by the Empress.
The Moon in Tarot
In Renaissance tarot, the Moon in astrology would have been more straight-forwardly
associated with The Moon card. The Sun and the Moon were important heavenly bodies that
were placed above all earthly cards and mortal virtues and failings, and thus came after them in
the Trump order. Complementary to the Sun, the Moon represented the female or yin energies,
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and was associated with Moon goddesses such as Artemis, Demeter, and Hecate, the
maiden/mother/crone. This goddess trilogy reflects the Moon’s cycles as it moves from waxing
(maiden) to full (mother) to waning and dark (crone).
The Moon card also carries associations with the subconscious, instinctual, psychic, and
illusionary qualities shared by the Moon in astrology. Integration of the Moon and the Sun
aspects of self is an important life lesson to strive for in tarot, astrology, I Ching, and other
disciplines such as alchemy. The Moon in tarot is sometimes seen as a reflection of the Sun or
conscious self into the darkness of the shadow self, illuminating these depths just enough to
catch a glimpse but still leaving the conscious mind only partially aware of all that lies beneath.
In this way, it may be somewhat different from the Moon in astrology, as it can carry a darker
connotation of hidden dangers, illusions, inner demons, fantasies, dreams and nightmares,
untamed instincts and enticements that lead you off the path to one extreme or another.
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