Barleywine
You are right about the Moon not being connected to the 12th house or Pisces....not sure why I was making that connection......probably has something to do with the Moon card and addictions....anyway, you guys are really stimulating my brain here...I am going to have to sit back and think about this card a bit....I'm beginning to undergo a "gestalt shift" here...(laugh) and see this card in a completely different way than having to do with "love.".... thank goodness.
For tarot purposes (at least of the analytical variety), I prefer the term "emotional investment" to "love" anyway, it's more concrete (dare I say clinical?) and less sugary and vaporous. "Love" in modern terms is more like a projection of our sense (usually learned from purveyors of cultural cues like television and movies, from social peers, and from Hallmark cards) of what is virtuous and praisworthy, onto the object of our affections. Venus, after all, is as much about value and appreciation (an increase in value) as it is about the more "touchy-feely" stuff. And when Mars enters the picture, we get "lust;" the two are often woefully confused in the unsophisticated mind. Unconditional love (aka "pure love") is rarely attainable (and what carnal 20-year-old would want it anyway?); although the idea of it might be a universal romantic ideal, the reality is usually much more subjective and mundane: what we get is a "mongrel."
And hey, bring me back a beer! Oh wait, it's 5:00 AM . . .