All that is now
All that is gone
All that’s to come
And everything under the Sun is in tune
But the Sun is eclipsed by the Moon.
Eclipse, from Dark Side of the Moon, lyrics by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd
This week, strangeness and possible illusions may be in store. Having been quiet since 2024, prepare for the final exam of the Fool’s Journey. As the days of Samhain progress (the astronomical date of the cross-quarter is Nov. 7), get ready for a time that features magic, dark mystery, and Women’s Mysteries. This week we welcome The Moon.
If we understand the triumph cards as depicting a progression of the soul’s evolution, or human awareness, this is the last of the “Nighttime Cards” in the Major Arcana. The Moon arrives after the lessons of Death, Temperance, the Devil, the Tower, and the Star. Each of these offers important teachings about our shadow self and our fears.
Here we see a ferocious dog and a wolf, howling and hackles raised. A dark, grassy pathway lies between them, and it is clear we must walk through if we are to go forward.
Could there possibly be a more fitting snapshot of current events?
And Arthur Waite himself describes the crayfish emerging from the pool as “that which comes up out of the deeps, the nameless and hideous tendency which is lower than the savage beast.”
This aligns with what was once understood to be the “reptilian brain.” The Triune Brain theory, now widely discredited, posited that the basal ganglia and limbic system were “older” parts of the brain stem. They not only control the autonomic, involuntary physical processes like the cardiac and respiratory functions, but when overstimulated, could trigger rampant violence or even chronic disorders. This more primitive process, so the idea went, locks the brain in a defensive coping mechanism against perceived antagonistic forces.
However, while our brain is not an “onion with a tiny reptile inside,” humans under extreme or prolonged stress can behave ways that seem to be all instinct and no judgment. Thus, the Moon’s crayfish, with its very non-mammalian responses and acts, is still a recognizable representative of those tendencies that are “lower than the savage beast.”
So the Moon is the card of the imagination, the subconscious, and the fears that lie just below the surface so much of the time. It speaks of cycles and patterns of which we may be only partially aware but which strongly influence us just the same.
Other images here are also enigmatic and vaguely unsettling. We are shown two towers in the distance—the same ones that are on either side of the Sun on the horizon of the Death card. But in it, they are far away and on the other side of the water. In The Moon, we have crossed that river, and they lie directly before us.
Fate in Motion
Other important details in the Waite-Smith version of The Moon include the 32 rays emanating from the Moon’s face. This is the number of the ten Qabalistic sephiroth, combined with the twenty-two paths on the Tree of Life.
Plus, it is hard to miss that there are 15 yods.
The yod is the small section of the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, usually portrayed in the Tarot as small bits of fire. The yod is, as Tarot scholar and deck creator Robert Place notes, “the seminal form of all the other letters in the Hebrew alphabet.”
It is also the first letter of the name of the Abrahamic Supreme Being (YHWH, pronounced “Yahway” or “Jehovah”).
And a yod in astrology is an isosceles triangle formed by two planets sextile (sixty degrees from) each other and both quincunx (one hundred fifty degrees from) a third, Fulcrum planet.
It is also called the Finger of God, the Eye of God, or the Finger of Fate. The latter is particularly common, since “yod” is closely related to the Hebrew word for hand (“yad”). Wikipedia tells us that astrological yods of every type “represent extraordinary powers available for good or ill; it is largely a matter of how the individual uses the energy and whether the planets forming the crucial aspects are in any way harmonious.”
So when yods appear in the Tarot, there is a sense of fate moving, with major forces and life-changing events in play. In other words, the Divine is directly interacting with events. Either in the short term or perhaps after a longer, more challenging period, this will be recognized as a blessing, like dew drops that fertilize for future growth.
Yods, Fate, and Prescient Dreams
I asked our wise astrologer and current events expert, Elisabeth Grace, about any yods in the charts for this week. Indeed, she noted, “Not in the chart for the opening of the polls, but as the day progresses into night, the Moon’s sextiles to Sun-Mercury will form a yod to Saturn…”
Please read her article in its entirety. Including, too, her observation about how powerful dreams are likely to be this week. Just like our card suggests. She tells us that especially on Wednesday:
…Note your dreams upon waking, as Mercury meets up with Sun at 9:24 AM ET. That’s deep—and being exactly conjunct Sun, Mercury is said to be “cazimi”—in the heart of Sun. Whatever this Messenger God has to tell us is being channeled straight from the Source. Pay close attention.
This Mercury cazimi also marks the beginning of a new thought cycle, and its Sabian symbol offers insight. “An inventor experimenting” certainly bodes well for getting out of a perceived rut. You are more personally affected by this Mercury cazimi if you have planets around 12 degrees of Taurus, Leo, Aquarius, and Scorpio. That includes Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Jeffrey Epstein and Hakeem Jeffries—perhaps some of them will make news.
And then on Thursday, the astrology and the Tarot continue to dream together when she warns that we should —
Double-check everything thrice around midday, as Moon’s first encounter is an opposition to Neptune at 1:17 PM ET. Facts may be elusive, perceptions distorted, and wishful thinking may masquerade as certainty. Meanwhile, Moon trines Pluto at 3:28 PM ET and Uranus at 5:54 PM ET, forming a brief Air Grand Trine. These three outer planets are already in a tight configuration and the Moon’s engagement with them strikes a chord of their larger potential: radical change, technological innovation, and the transformation of established systems.
Translation: we may be witnessing plenty of action from people who know what they know, and don’t care much about what anyone else has to say about it. Silver lining: you, too, can forge ahead, if you’re feeling certain in your mindset. Just make sure that certainty is grounded in reality.
That sounds precisely like The Moon’s influence, so be advised.
The Calling of the Dark
I don’t know anyone who is not, by turns, feeling baffled, horrified, hopeful, frightened, euphoric, furious, and very weary from the long, dangerous journey that we’ve endured for the past ten years. As the world we have known continues to crumble beneath our feet, our moods and dreams are very much like the changing face of the Moon.
It has been said that “The Moon reveals what the High Priestess conceals.” In both cards, we are being shown the solemn potency of the Feminine Divine.
Perhaps that is why it was long a tradition in Tarot to consider The Moon a card of ill favor, enemies, occult forces, danger, and delusion. And I would not discount a time of cautious reflection when she comes calling.
However, as Tarot and times have evolved, many have examined and now reject the misogynist, patriarchal overlay of these interpretations, for The Moon is nothing, if not a representation of the Dark Goddess in all her many guises.
For thousands of years, women’s natural powers of seership, emotional sophistication, menstruation, and even our near-universal role of presiding over birth and death (until “modern medicine” appropriated it) have been necessary, yet also feared, demonized, persecuted, and subverted.
The Moon is a card that challenges one’s deeper instincts regarding whether we will embrace or reject this face of the Divine Feminine. I am convinced that our survival as a species will depend on how we, as a culture, choose.
Like the shaman who travels between worlds, The Moon appears when we must be willing to be stripped of our ego, our cultured personality, and logic, in order to go into the deepest, most shadowed realms. Such a journey must never be undertaken without great experience, respect, and preparation, lest terror and madness be all that remain.
Dare you take this path? Do you dare not?
You may find illusion, or you may find your truest self, but not without passing the challenger guardians of the dog and wolf, and the Guardians of the Watchtowers themselves. What lies ahead in those shadowed mountains?
What Shall Be Revealed
The Moon is a mirror; what will it reveal? Its light comes from the reflection of that which cannot be directly seen. She guides us in the night; what cloak of obscurity lies about us now?
Hers is the ever-changing, most ancient, and most beautiful Mystery that pulls our women’s blood and our oceans’ tides. What memory, past life, or dream rises from the deep now to haunt you?
While there is ambivalence and even a hint of danger in this card, there is also great power and hope. The climbing path is clear once the challenges are met.
But not before.
All things must unfold in their natural cycle, as truly and surely as the phases of the Moon. The light cannot be forced. We ignore this ancient guidance at our peril.
This week, do not be surprised to see fears take center stage. Be prepared for intense dreams and emotions. The Moon often appears when we need to examine the repeating patterns and possible distortions in our lives. And while your intuitive skills may be much more powerful than usual, stay grounded and do not get swept away, for there is a strong river of illusion also flowing.
The Moon can be fickle, lovely, seductive, wild, and peaceful all at once. Her gifts are given to those who are willing to go beyond the surface, unmask deception, and forgo familiar comforts.
Strange, unnamable realms await. The seeds are in your hands. The Mystery beckons.