The Moon in Card XVIII is one of those images whose original spiritual meaning and function have become largely unrecognizable over the centuries. In contemporary interpretations, the Moon card is often associated with imprecise, blurred perception and, consequently, with half-truths; in divination, it is also linked to deception.

Giordano Bruno once summed up the original character of the Moon as a well-known Renaissance metaphor in two concise sentences:

'What the Sun does not reveal, the Moon brings to light.
What the light conceals, the shadow reveals.'

Bruno emphasized the discernibility of hidden, “nocturnal” truths that are not revealed by the glaring light of the sun (knowledge), but rather by the moon as a symbol of spiritual intuition. According to this view, the moon does not obscure truths, but rather brings to light things that remain hidden in the clear light of thought.

For Neoplatonic Hermeticism, the moon was not merely a celestial body but also represented a realm of reality, a layer of the soul itself. Card XVIII depicts a phase of development described as the “lunar state,” in which the soul encounters its own images without losing itself in them.

On this theme, the card’s designers incorporated several allegories of ancient thinkers that were taken up by contemporary philosophers and became an integral part of their linguistic usage at the time: the crab in the water, two towers on the horizon, two dogs, and, of course, a specific depiction of the moon itself.

The earliest reference to the moon shining with “borrowed light” came from the natural philosopher Parmenides around 500 B.C. The moon does not shine of its own accord but reflects the light of the sun. What we take for granted today was a groundbreaking cosmological insight in antiquity.

Nor does the moon on Card XVIII shine like a lamp. The card’s designers emphasized this with the blue-and-red halo surrounding the moon. It resembles the red-yellow rays surrounding the appearance of Eros on Card VI and behind the star on Card XVII. There, the red-yellow tips were hallmarks of a dazzling glow emanating from a background perceived as divine. Since the luminous red-yellow here has been replaced by a subdued red-blue, the radiance must have taken on a different meaning.

The surrounding droplet-like shapes suggest a falling motion toward the moon. This is emphasized by the two dogs howling at it. It seems as though the moon is drawing these shapes toward it, which are streaming toward it in every color except blue. The moon itself emits only a blue glow against a red background. It is as if colorful diversity is absorbed and reflected as a pale blue—a color that is absent from the incoming material.

Now one might ask: To what end?

The Lunar Sphere of Antiquity

“In the lunar region, the soul receives the forms of the images which arise from its own essence.”
Marsilio Ficino

The images that arise in the lunar realm are reflections in which the forms and impulses of the soul are revealed—forms and impulses that still lie unresolved and undifferentiated in the shadow of consciousness.

Here, first, is the basic framework handed down from ancient times regarding the position of the chart, with the Moon between the “Star” and the “Sun.” In ancient and medieval cosmology, the world was divided into three spheres or realms of being: sublunar, lunar, and supralunar.

The light of the full Moon, however, calls to mind the light conditions
of dusk and dawn. I was reminded […] of a phrase my grandmother used for the period: ‘entre le chien et le loup’ (‘between dog and wolf ’), derived from a phrase describing dusk (and pre-dawn) that makes sense when more complete:
“quand l’homme ne peut distinguer le chien du loup”
“when man cannot distinguish dog from wolf ”

This phrase dates, supposedly, from at least the 2nd century, and was common in France from the 13th onwards. And with this phrase concepts enter into considerations, concepts that have made their mark in various exegetical ways, including ideas about the difference between the wild and the domesticated; fear and trust; ravager versus companion.

The sense of difficulty in distinguishing between one and the other, on the other hand, adds an element to the frequently mentioned quality of the Moon card as delusory.

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