New Moon on Monday
May 5, 2008 at 4:56 pm (Card Meanings, Haindl Tarot Study, Personal Readings)
Long story short: Gone off tarot lately so thought I would start drawing a daily card from the Haindl to try and get back in the swing of things.
Today’s card is XVIII, the Moon:
Unlike many tarot decks in which the Moon is often one of the most beautiful major arcana cards, Haindl’s Moon is quite unsettling. Central to the image is the head of a unicorn, but there is no body; instead, the head appears to grow out of a pillar of stone. And the unicorn’s horn is very large, reminiscent almost of a clown’s hat. Combined, these evoke a twisted image of childhood, as if the unicorn head is some sort of nightmare hobby horse.
The Moon was one of those cards which I never used to draw. Over the last month or so, however, it has come up several times in readings for myself and others. It is clear why*. Like the Wheel of Fortune I wrote about in my last post, the Moon’s pull is affecting my life in a big way at the moment. Everything may seem the same on the surface, but there are strong undercurrents at work - maybe even dangerous undercurrents - that threaten to cast me adrift. (Does all this talk of water sound familiar?)
Funnily enough, today I find myself looking back at a reading I did for someone else in April. In that reading, the Moon appeared in the position of “what you can do”. Its message seems relevant for me today:
“It refers to unfamiliar territory – not just physical territory but also psychological and emotional. It can signal a period of great confusion where each step you take is filled with trepidation. It sounds terrible(!) but it doesn’t have to be. Attitude is very important when this card appears. We humans tend to be creatures of comfort – we like the familiar and the safe, it makes us feel secure. When the Moon appears, and we are called to – or forced to – venture outside our comfort zone, it can be frightening and stressful.
The key here is to decide how you will deal with this uncertainty. Will you tremble and hesitate and let fear and doubt consume you? Or will you (to coin a phrase) “boldly go” where you haven’t been before, trusting that nothing can be as bad as you imagine and that you will be able to deal with whatever you encounter? Basically, in answer to the question “what you can do”, this card tells you to embrace the unknown. Things rarely turn out to be as bad as we fear.”
*Apologies for the veiled references to what’s going on in my life. It is too soon to talk about but all will be revealed in time. I guarantee, however, that when I tell you it won’t be anywhere near as exciting as what you’ve been imagining.







