Why is The Moon card usually seen as negative?

junemarie said:

One of the things that is often lost sight of in discussions like this, is that Tarot cards are mostly read along with others. In other words, as a spread. Even if you have only two cards, they still modify one another. So the moon alongside the Tower, is going to mean something very different from the moon supported by the four of wands and the Lovers. Tarot cards derive their meaning from the way they interact with one another in a given spread. The meaning is never fixed, but always subtle, always subject to the pattern they create and recreate in each reading.
The Moon card is Feminine, but the who or how of that femininity (what 'feminine' means in a particular instance) will depend entirely on her relations with the cards that surround her. And sometimes the configuration is a negative one, and sometimes it's positive.
A Tarot spread is a discussion, not a monologue.

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LeFou said:

Moon thread -> misunderstandings.

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rwcarter said:

Please stop discussing the discussion (and each other's opinions) and return to discussing the topic of the thread.

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SkylerK said:

Personally, the only thing I find disturbing about the masculine, is that he might not be masculine enough, when it comes down to it, as it is too often the case....and that is definitely NOT represented by Mars, the Tower or the Emperor...

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Barleywine said:

Here's what I think I said:

This gets right to the heart of the matter, mythological and political antecedents aside. I never see the Moon as universally negative, but it can certainly be a mixed bag. In a reading I treat it as a cautionary statement, not to "jump at shadows," so to speak. Before New Age artists overlaid it with a sheen of glamour, all of the old images - up to and including the RWS - implied "proceed with caution." Uncertainty holds sway where the Moon presides. Motives and intentions should be carefully weighed.

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junemarie said:

The Moon in Tarot, as in astrology and other occult traditions, has had a bad press because of the rank misogyny of many male occultists - eg Papus and Crowley to name just two.

To become an occultist in Indo-European (and most other) cultures, you needed to be literate, preferably in Latin and Greek as well as your own vernacular, and have access to an exceptional library. A private income helped.

Few women had these opportunities before 19th century. Further, well-to-do educated men had the means, the contacts and the opportunity to publish in a way that simply wasn't open to women until the early 20th century.

Not only were male occultists informed by the misogyny of their own culture, but they understood better than most, the extraordinary and compelling nature of feminine magical power. For these reasons they were very wary and often negative about expressions of this power, of which the moon is perhaps the most important. Thus we have a tradition of negativity about the moon which still survives in some Tarot schools.

If you want a good corrective to all that nonsense, read (if you haven't already done so) Robert Graves' masterpiece on the magical feminine, The White Goddess.

For my money, the moon is the ruler of all magic, and especially of divination. You cannot interpret the planets, or understand your dreams, or read the Tarot, without honouring her. She is Mother, Goddess, and High Priestess, and you will understand nothing of the occult arts without her guidance.

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SkylerK said:

The fact is, mythology and greco-roman -christian or pagan traditions aside, the Moon in my experience-and that of most readers I know- often speaks of mental illness, hidden things, the dark side, and everything I said in my first post-and more. I pride myself in being a pragmatist and empiricist first of all, and in readings, I have never seen the Moon in a particularly positive way. Of course, maybe one day I will, I can't rule it out. Until then, I'm sorry if Tradition has treated the Moon-and the feminine in general- unfairly, I am a woman too. But that's the way it is, and it's not going to change because we disagree.

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