Just adding a few Lunar observations on Liber VII from an Atu XVIII angle.
The Druids are said to have performed some of their rites according to the phase of the moon. Their name is supposed to originate from old Irish and Welsh words for sorcerer and seer. Sorcery and seership are both connected to the moon.
The temple of stones in the shape of the Universe is the Vesica Piscis - the Lunar Yoni. The waning moon is said to be the time for the practice of sorcery or witchcraft, in the old sense of the word. The wolf reference suggests lycanthropy and shape-shifting.
Always Wondering said:
There seems lots of grey and an emphasis on horses and Romans that I couldn't make much sense out of.
Messalina and Caligula are two colourful figures from Roman history who seem to have been afflicted with more than a little Lunacy, or so the stories say.
Caligula is supposed to have been quite insane. He had people killed on a whim, just for the fun of it. Once he was bored at the Roman games and ordered his guards to throw some of the other spectators into the arena to liven up the show. He wasted his money on follies and sent his soldiers on stupid exercises, and turned his palace into a brothel. He is also accused of committing incest with his sisters and prostituting them. And he tried to make his favourite horse, Incitatus, a priest. The horse even had it's own house, complete with servants, and would invite people round for dinner. Personally if I got an invite I would have just said nay
Messalina was the wife of Emperor Claudius. She basically had him wrapped around her finger and would manipulate him to eliminate or exile anyone who she felt was a threat to her ambitions. Eventually she tried to orchastrate a secret plot to kill Claudius and have her new lover, Silius, declared Emperor. She was found out and executed. Scheming, treachery, and deceit are all negative qualities of the moon.
Aside from her plotting and avariciousness, Messalina is most famous for her insatiable sexual appetite and promiscuity. She is reputed to have run her own brothel and taken part in a 24 hour sex contest against a prostitute. Apparently Messalina won.
I think both of them fit nicely into the Moon card. Caligula was simply barking mad, and Messalina seems to epitomize some of the qualities that are traditionally thought of as negative feminine qualities. The old joke is that men worry about what their wives/girlfriends are secretly plotting behind their back. But is it a joke?
Grey - everything looks grey under moonlight. The grey land is a metaphor for the everyday world we all know, bathed in the light of illusion.