I've been reading tarot cards a lot lately. I received a beautiful set called the Spiral Tarot, with art by Kay Stevenson, as a gift. I have heard many rumors about the correct way to treat a tarot deck and the manners in which it should be used. One such myth says that a tarot card must not be purchased by the user, but should be received by some other means. I take this to be the same kind of superstition that says you should never buy opals for yourself, because it's bad luck. Then again, I have never bought myself anything with opal gemstones... However, this deck matches my own character fairly well, I find the spirals on the back cover personally significant, and the paintings are rich and organic, almost overflowing (yes, there are pastels and flowers and it's very optimistic, but I'm a pisces, ok?).
I have friends who do not want to know their future (a perfectly respectable attitude). When I consult this deck for practice and give myself personal readings, I've heard people remark that it's dangerous, as if I'm tempting fate by looking too often into something best left alone. My counter is that I don't know anything more about my future than before I read the cards. I get a hazy impression that certain forces are present, forces which I have already identified to be working in my life, and it is those forces to which I attribute the cards' meanings. Once I have read the cards, I incorporate the images into my story of the present moment, and they fade into my memory, leaving only the impression of mysterious knowledge, acknowledgement of hidden meaning. No wonder fortune tellers can create such a veil of mystery around them, the meaning of the cards is so opaque that one forgets the significance even as one discovers it. I am not certain that tarot cards tell us anything beyond the symbolism that speaks to our unconscious in the present. By doing frequent readings on myself, I am learning what the cards mean in the context of my experience, so I can understand them better. I am learning the language of the symbols.
The card I'm concerned with today is the Moon, one of my favorite cards in the deck.
Thirteen's observations on the tarot are very apt for this card. I'm especially enamored of the description of the moonlit landscape as a land of lunatics and poets. This is a card ruled by Pisces, and it is incredibly beautiful, powerful, and dark, ruling as it does over dreams and nightmares alike. You can become lost in this darkness and wander aroud howling at the moon, but this card has real guidance in it as well, if you will listen for it. Let yourself be guided by intuition through the emotional and mental rollercoaster ride that will surely follow. For surrendering and following a higher purpose through the night, allowing yourself to be led, your reward will be inspiration, visions, and creative genius. I also see the threefold Feminine Mystery represented in this card, and note that the moon has a light and a dark side. It's power lies in receptivity and reflection. The lunar cycle aligns the tides and our own bodies. This is a card of artistic vocation, though you must decide whether to listen to the voices calling you and take up the endeavor. You are not in control of the nighttime muse, though you decide whether or not to become a vessel for her.