18:   The Moon

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BOTA (Builders of the Adytum)

Universal Waite

Key word:   Undercurrents. 1.   Deception; hidden enemies; concealed motives; illusions; falsehood and hypocrisy. A smoke screen. 2.   "Strange times;" the unknown (think of the word "lunatic"). 3.   Confusion; a "disinformation campaign."

COMMENTS:

There is a French expression: Entre chien et loup.   It means "between a dog and a wolf" (the two animals depicted on the card), and it's a reference to twilight   —   when it's hard to see things   —   "half light."   You can't tell the difference between a dog and a wolf.   It's hard to tell if you're safe or if you're in danger.

The Moon casts strange shadows at night.   This card says, "Take care, for all is not as it seems. Move cautiously, and in secret."

This card can even stand for self-deception (for instance, if it shows up as card #7 in the Celtic Cross spread).

It has been said that the Moon and the Sun are opposites.   The Moon stands for confusion and mystery and deception; the Sun, which brightly illuminates, stands for clarity and truth.

The two pylons in the background show up again in the Death card.

There are seven cards in the Rider deck that show a large, dominant figure "presiding" over two smaller figures standing below it (forming a triangle of sorts):

The Hierophant The Lovers The Chariot The Devil The Moon Two of Cups Six of Pentacles

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Here's what Arthur Edward Waite says about this card (in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot): The distinction between this card and some of the conventional types is that the moon is increasing on what is called the side of mercy, to the right of the observer. It has sixteen chief and sixteen secondary rays. The card represents life of the imagination apart from life of the spirit. The path between the towers is the issue into the unknown. The dog and wolf are the fears of the natural mind in the presence of that place of exit, when there is only reflected light to guide it. The last reference is a key to another form of symbolism. The intellectual light is a reflection and beyond it is the unknown mystery which it cannot shew forth. It illuminates our animal nature, types of which are represented below--the dog, the wolf and that which comes up out of the deeps, the nameless and hideous tendency which is lower than the savage beast. It strives to attain manifestation, symbolized by crawling from the abyss of water to the land, but as a rule it sinks back whence it came. The face of the mind directs a calm gaze upon the unrest below; the dew of thought falls; the message is: Peace, be still; and it may be that there shall come a calm upon the animal nature, while the abyss beneath shall cease from giving up a form.