Tarot · Major Arcana · 18

The Moon

  • intuition
  • dreams
  • uncertainty
  • the unconscious

Key facts

Arcana
Major Arcana
Suit
Major Arcana
Number
18
Numerology
18 = 1 + 8 = 9 (fullness, readiness, ripeness)
Element
Pisces
Keywords
intuition, dreams, uncertainty, the unconscious

The Moon upright

The Moon lights a nighttime landscape, where the outlines are blurred and the imagination takes its full place. She invites you to welcome your dreams, your sensations, and that part of mystery reason alone can’t grasp. Not everything needs to be clear right away: certain truths reveal themselves in the soft glow of intuition. Feel your way forward if you must, trusting your inner compass.

The Moon reversed

Reversed, the Moon speaks of confusions clearing away, or, on the contrary, of an inner fog that unsettles you. Maybe a fear is growing in the shadows, or you’re mistaking what you imagine for what is. Nothing to worry about: the light always returns to reveal the ground. Let your emotions settle, and soon you’ll see more clearly.

A question to sit with

Which vague feeling are you trying to ignore, and what is it trying to tell you?

Frequently asked questions about The Moon

What does The Moon mean upright?
The Moon lights a nighttime landscape, where the outlines are blurred and the imagination takes its full place. She invites you to welcome your dreams, your sensations, and that part of mystery reason alone can’t grasp. Not everything needs to be clear right away: certain truths reveal themselves in the soft glow of intuition. Feel your way forward if you must, trusting your inner compass.
What does The Moon mean reversed?
Reversed, the Moon speaks of confusions clearing away, or, on the contrary, of an inner fog that unsettles you. Maybe a fear is growing in the shadows, or you’re mistaking what you imagine for what is. Nothing to worry about: the light always returns to reveal the ground. Let your emotions settle, and soon you’ll see more clearly.

Sources

  • Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, William Rider & Son, 1911.
  • Rachel Pollack, Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, Weiser Books, 1980.