The Moon – Card 18

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If you have been following my Chaos Pen Challenges over on my sister’s blog the Writing Hallow, then you are familiar with the artwork and artist of this card on DeviantArt. And yes, you can still purchase this amazing Tarot deck from this online store.

Today we’re featuring and exploring the nineteenth card in the Major Arcana, The Moon.

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Additional Card Images

  

So take a look at these three cards and compare them to the first one I presented. How are they the same? How are they different? What do they say to you?

Take your time. Let them “speak” to your soul and mind.

Feel free to click on each one to visit their page on DeviantArt to see a larger image and read what the artist had to say about it.

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Themes of the Card

The Moon is Card 18 in the Major Arcana and the seventeenth step in the Fool’s Journey. Here is where The Fool discovers confusion, fear, and his imagination.

According to the Learning the Tarot website, the keywords associated with the card are:

• FEAR
• ILLUSION
• IMAGINATION
• BEWILDERMENT

You can read more about this card in detail on their website here.

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What This Card Means to Me

“Fear is the mind killer” as the quote goes from the classic novel, Dune. And with fear our imagination will run wild if we let it. It’s too easy to believe in things that aren’t real if we allow our emotions rule the day. We need to step back, break the emotional chain reaction, and think with clarity. Imagination is good if we can reign it in and harness it.

Yes, I realize my link to emotional chain reactions is an article on Bipolar while this is a blog about writing and this is a post about the Tarot card, The Moon. And that’s precisely the point here. Think about it. In the real world what exactly does the moon do? It has a profound effect on the ocean tide. Symbolically water represents emotion and thus symbolically the moon represents the tide of emotions. Hence the need to discuss and understand the emotional chain reaction. Even if you don’t have a diagnosis it’s really good to understand and get a handle on this concept to master this coping skill for your personal well-being. So when I see this card it reminds me of this chain and its importance.

Not to mention it’s a potentially handy tool for dynamic writing because once you understand how it works you can better show (not tell) your readers how your characters tick. Take Natasha Tracy’s coffee chain reaction example in her article. How would your main character react in that chain? That one reaction will your readers fathoms about your character. The next reaction in the chain will tell more, and so on. If your character has the self awareness to break the chain reaction, it will tell your readers fathoms.

So even though one of the keywords for this card focuses on fear, I think the point here is really the fear of facing the truth or the fear of facing the unknown rather than fear as an emotion. After all how often have we heard the saying, “Love is blind” and it’s because people refuse to see with clarity or they do really stupid things in the name of love? How many of us have been guilty of blind anger? Again, it’s tied to that emotional chain reaction. The Moon is a reminder to step back, clear our heads, face the truth, and act rather than react.

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The Music Playlist

In the spirit of all this, these are the songs picked out thus far for this card.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axdu4gzNjk8&list=PL9nKO8l3c9MOBRvgWenBDwRfVWmEeHYQv

Do you have any songs you think should be on this list? Suggest them in the comments!

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The Writing Prompt

Now as a writer with everything we’ve gone over with this card what comes to mind? Start writing! Doesn’t matter what it is. Stretch your mind and let The Moon speak to you.

I would love it if you linked or pinged back what you wrote so I could see where you went with this.

Happy writing!