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Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot- Key 18-The Moon
The Connolly Tarot-Key 13- The Moon
In Western Magic and Tarot, it is known that the way of attainment is the way of return; you cannot escape the consequences of one’s actions. This is a main attribute of the Moon, which reflects from the Sun what the Sun radiates. On Rider-Waite-Smith Moon card, the crayfish that is climbing out of the pool, represents the instinctive mind of the subconscious, as does the wolf and dog, but in a higher form of intelligence, resulting from evolutionary modification. Also, the wolf is a symbol of nature, and the dog, of art because he is a product of human genetic manipulation and/or adaptation. The Path, the RWS Moon Card, which lies between dog and wolf, suggests the way of balance, goes neither too far toward artificiality nor allows everything to be influenced by ungoverned natural impulses.
On the Connolly Tarot- key 18-The Moon, the man represents the awake consciousness and the woman the subconscious. Here the man has used his higher self to persuade the subconscious to drink of greater solar/soul energy. The staff is nourished in the Moon pool and grows fertile green leaves. He has manifested the pentacle that is now engraved in the stone (philosopher's stone). The subconscious (woman) watches him walk away, free from doubt while viewing the mystical moon, he allows his intuition to realize the impregnation of the Sun, the unity of the known and the unknown. The key word is Intuition.
The path wanders through well-tilled fields on the Waite card, or to the mysterious world of the unknown heights beyond the 2 towers of present human achievement. The undulation of the ground represents alternate periods of rest and action. Therefore, the stage of unfoldment is Organization. This is the Path of Qoph, a Hebrew letter, shown on the bottom of the Qabalistic Thoth ATU 18 Moon card. The Path of Qoph, is called by Dr. Paul Foster Case (of B.O.T.A.) as the Corporeal Intelligence, meaning body consciousness-known as the subconscious, which is the body collective or aggregate intelligence generated by the individual cells and that has become profaned by the "mind virus" of the "false ego" and/or the Shadow side of our mind. Also, the Hebrew word "corporeal" means to "rain upon" and this is shown by the raining of the Yod shaped solar radiant on the Rider-Waite-Smith Moon Card and the Connolly Tarot Key 18- The Moon.
The Moon represents the reflected light of the subconscious (animal mind), it is the Crone of the Triple goddess-Maid-Mother-Crone (shown in the moon pool of the Modern Witch Tarot). The 18 Yods, falling from Sun-Moon image on the both the Waite card and the Connolly card, represent the Key number as well as "falling rain"; eighteen is also the Hebrew number of the noun Chi; Chi signifying "Life". Hence, the falling Yods, (flames) represent the life-force from above to the below of the living and/or the conditions of corporeal existence. The Pool below (Moon Pool) symbolizes the "Abyssal Womb" and/or "Great Deep" of Cosmic Mind-Stuff, out of which emerges "dry land" and/or physical manifestation. This pool also signifies the 9th Sephiroth-Yesod, "The Sphere of the Moon" and is the seat of the Vital Soul, manifested in the human as the automatic consciousness, commonly known as the subconsciousness.
Aleister Crowley, a Western Hermetic Qaballist, disagrees with the Rider-Waite-Smith representation of this Key 18, as Waite believed the Moon to be on its increase. Waite's rational being that, on one level, the crayfish crawling out of the water (On his card) is the symbol of Cancer, meaning that when the Sun is in Pisces the Moon will be increasing in Cancer. As he stated," the Sun below the horizon, as he ever is when the Moon is increasing above." Crowley/Harris developed the idea of the Crayfish as a representation of the Water Strider, making the water element central to the Thoth card emphasizing the darker aspects of the Moon Key 18, on its last dark cycle. and/or tidal change.
Water striders.
The Moon -Key-18, symbolizes the rebirth of light out of hideous darkness; bright intellect overcoming the dark denizens of our subconscious, i.e., the illusions of instinctual fears. from the depths of the subconscious.
In the Qabalistic Thoth Tarot, THE HIGH PRIESTESS, is a source of pure, crystal-clear waters (consciousness) emerging from the from the Godhead-The Father to the Son/Sun. The Same waters of consciousness are seen here on the Rider-Waite-Smith -the Moon card, Thoth Tarot they are polluted with the dark subconscious fears of mortality, something that physical manifestation bestows on consciousness. However, as I have stated before, the traveling up the Path of Qoph, (Moon) towards the "Sun/Son Consciousness", notably changes the body physiology, as the Bright Beautiful Light Intellect of the Son/Sun (Tiphareth) descends into it, dissolving the "False ego". When traveling up the Path of Qoph, the Personality becomes increasingly aware of the Higher Self and less control by the dark fears of the body /mind virus of the "lower false self/ego" where they are felt.
The Path of Qoph is where we meet the Animal's fears of being preyed on. Here the Survival Mind (subconscious) has stored the deep dark fears of being "eaten" and/or of Death. Hence, the aspirant not only must conquer their own "nightmares" but also those of humanity. Without this face to face with your shadows, you won't be able to "push" the subconscious up the "Tree of the One Mind" into higher and higher states of SELF, making the subconscious more consciously awake. To me it seems funny that we will train our dog, but not our own "inner dog", that is the subconscious. You are a Higher Psyche called a Soul (Solar/Sun Self) and the subconscious, is but a "reflection" of that Powerful Radiant Mind, which has become polluted with falsehood provided by the evil indoctrination and dogma of the Military Industrial Complex; a phrase created by President Dwight Eisenhower. Hence, it is time to redirect your animal fears of death, to the greater enlightenment of I AM ---the Alpha and the Omega of manifestation. As Spirit, we know death to be a transformative, not an end of Being. In Qabalah, a "Being" is an immortal Intelligence, while an entity is but a "self-reflection". It is now time to strap on your Golden Chariot armor and defeat your inner dragons. It's obvious that ships need their anchors tied down on their decks, not buried in the mud, to steam onward and travel the ever-wonderous seas of the Mind. Hence, one needs to "raise" the body out of instinctual fears, for it to be our companion among the stars.
All dark shadows aside, the Moon is also a card of Childbirth. Which seems understandably in error as it is representation of the trinity Goddess. However, this is a card of the deepest anguish and pain as well as the gateway to life and death. Hence, childbirth.
When the Moon, Key 18- is thrown during a divination, it implies:
- Journey into subconscious depths.
- The eerie path into the dark depths of the Soul.
- Confrontation with the night.
- Encounter with fears.
- Deepest self-knowledge.
- Devotion to intuitive knowledge.
When Reversed:
- Illusion.
- Hysteria.
- Persecution complex.
- Hallucinations.
- Drug abuse.
- Flight from reality.
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