Four Pillars Society Tarot: The Moon (ii)

NOTES ON: THE MOON

(Guiding Shadows)

Artist’s Notes:
 
 
In this card, Diana’s Full figure and a shadow animal to guide us on the path. You look out at the waters and all manner of illusions can be seen half-cloaked in shadow. Yet still, if you trust your guide you will learn things from this night’s journey. The funny thing is that we can learn as much from the appearance that things take as we can from what they actually are, perhaps even more. After all, are they not cloaked in the guise of our own inner symbolism and language? If we do not understand the language of our unconscious, then how can we learn how to manipulate it? This key to inner knowledge may be the greatest gift of the Moon archetype.
 
About the Archetype:
 
At night, by the light of the Moon (particularly when it’s waning), we can see a lot less of our external surroundings than we can by daylight. Things appear shadowed and hazy and any light may seem blinding. Our imaginations have full play and we try to fill in the darkened spaces with a combination of intuition and imagination. What we see and how we interpret it can tell us a lot about ourselves if we are open to it. The Moon in this way illuminates our interior selves.
 
The Moon trump shows us our fears and dark desires. It can give us a deep understanding of our hidden longings or it can send us reeling into insanity, beset by fears and emotional demons that we have repressed and refused to face. When we find ourselves least able to cope with this psychic and emotional shitstorm, the best that we can do is endure, knowing that night inevitably gives way today.
 
When talking about the greater cycle of the Fool’s Journey or the Great Work, the Moon comes at a time when we have bravely made it through most of our shadow work, and what’s left is some of the really dark repressed stuff that we were not yet ready to face. Under the influence of the Moon it becomes revealed and with courage, will, and endurance we will survive.
 
 
Astrological Correspondent:
 
Pisces(♓︎)-Pisces is an inward-dwelling intuitive energy. It lives in its dreams and then brings them to the surface. Like an iceberg, three-quarters of what Pisces feels is hidden and it prefers it that way. Pisces is sensitive and compassionate and feels things deeply both for himself and others. This can sometimes lead to self-pity or an over-sympathetic approach.
 
Pisces would rather face happy dreams than unhappy reality. When it sees external life falling short of its dreams it tends to withdraw or may indulge in self-destructive behaviour. It looks for direction from other more self-directed energies. The Piscean energy can all too easily lose its identity as it takes on the characteristics of those it admires or who can get them through the stormy seas. It is self-sacrificing in the extreme and this can lead to loss of self as well. Pisces is ruled by Neptune and is mutable in its ways.
 
 
In a Reading:
 
When the Moon shows up in a reading it may indicate that the querent cannot see the way ahead clearly and needs to trust their intuition rather than logic to find their way.  The card may mean that the querent is beset by fears and imagining the worst in everything and everyone. Everything that once seemed bright may seem dark now. This is what many refer to as the dark night of the soul. When one is going through this, the best advice may be to just endure it until it’s over. There is value in seeing what one’s fears are and daylight will come eventually. Sometimes one has to feel the feelings until they stop and then move forward.
 
The Moon may also be telling the querent that they need to trust their intuition even if they don’t feel that they can see things clearly. They need to accept what their perceptions are and move beyond them, as difficult as that may sound. When one has lost their way in the woods, it is not what they imagine that matters but what signposts they can find that will lead them out.
 
The card may also mean that the querent is dealing with emotional issues that they have been repressing.
 
 
 
The reversed or badly aspected Moon may be telling us that we need to learn how to better discern between our intuition and our imagination. Things may be seeming a bit brighter and they may be seeing things more as they are and less how they fear them to be. It may mean that they are struggling against integrating recent lessons about themselves into their life and regressing a bit. The Reversed Moon may indicate that the querent is caught up in a frenzy of day-to-day activity to avoid taking a good look at emotions and thoughts that they are repressing. The card may also mean that someone has their psychic channels activated but due to their own lack of clarity is unable to distinguish between what’s real and what’s an illusion.
 
–GAR
 
 
Fate’s Whisper:
 
Vicious echos assault our minds every moment we live. These can be traumas, fears, and many other things. These can manifest horrors that mean tearing us down from the inside where no one can help us. These forces were made to empower us by breaking away the parts we no longer need. This process, very rarely, can be pleasant but most of the time it will tear us down.
 
Many will only realize this year if not decades after the fact. The idea we shed our skin to grow into our greater selves is very important. It is this realization that we are that much stronger that empowers us up to unfathomable heights. Who are you to your shadow? Master or slave?
–NF

Drawing the Moon

 

“The moon likes secrets. And secret things. She lets mysteries bleed into her shadows and leaves us to ask whether they originated from otherworlds, or from our own imaginations.”
— Charles de Lint

 

The moon runs through my veins
and gives me succour.
In the dark she draws me in
and enlivens me
We whispers in the night hours
She keeps my confidences
as I walk beneath her
In her fullness her tides draw me
and racede as she grows dark
She is ever changing yet constant
as her face becomes veiled
Each aspect entrances me
in new ways.
With Diana I hunt
my being for new depths
To Isis I ask for protection
Hecate draws my secret being
and plants the seed for change.
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Power Within the WoodsPower Within the Woods by G A Rosenberg

 

Breaking From the ShellBreaking From the Shell by G A Rosenberg

 

Nocturnal Rambling

 

“Acquainted with the Night

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.”
― Robert Frost

 

This poem speaks for I know what it is to walk in my night. The shadows long and the moon holding riddles with a hazy mist around everything. Nothing is quite clear yet I will not give into sadness or despair. I will walk it out and see what I will and perhaps find answers that will stand out. Each vision teaches me something when I see them even if quite what is not clear. There will be time enough to meditate on it. If no visions arise then I will enjoy the quiet mystery, the empty streets and the echoing footsteps. Inevitably for both the world and myself the morning will come. I say this not without regret for there is something in me that needs that nighttime stillness.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Cosmic Dance 2Cosmic Dance by G A Rosenberg

 

Trident EmanationsTrident Emanations by G A Rosenberg

 

Silvery Friendship

“The moon is friend for the lonesome to talk to.”
― Carl Sandburg

 

You see all
my silent companion
and everything is embraced by your pale glow
I have no secrets under your fullness
and when in shadow
you hold your own counsel
I know you hold mine as well
Under your guidance
I walk and sometimes run.
Under your care
I slumber
Walking at night
when I look up
your silent promise
lulls my emotions
and there is a peace.
— G A Rosenberg

Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

RadientRadient by G A Rosenberg

 

Mitosis2Mitosis by G A Rosenberg

Tarot Post – Four of Cups

Four of Cups (Luxury)

 

Four of CupsFour of Cups (Revised) by G A Rosenberg

 
When life seems the same

New experience can bring growth

Explore potential

___________________________
 

There is something new to be had
I just know it
It comes into view and it will be better than
anything before
This new cup
This new game…
Have I said it before
of each of the others?
I mean it now…
I just know the next
dream come true
will make my dreams come true….

___________________
 

The Most amazing gift
a dream created
A seed that if cared for
will become real
if not, it can join this pile
of seeds over here

____________
 

Cups deal with our emotional nature including love, both that as in a relationship between two (and rarely more) people and that of friends and companions. Fours express a stability and manifestation of the energy involved. In this case our emotions are stabilized and at peace. Something new appears on the horizon. Do we accept it as one more thing or do we fully explore its potential? When we become too jaded to see each new thing that appears in our life, good and bad as a gift to be explored, appreciated and integrated rather than something else to use and discard then we set ourselves up for frustration later on.

 

Astrological Correspondence – Moon in Cancer – Cancer is the moon’s home and in this sign, each thing encountered makes its emotional impression  and adds to the awareness. It is also an energy that is always looking for something more as the possible answer to its needs and can never be totally satisfied.

 

I Ching Correspondence – 3) Chun – “Difficulty at the Beginning”
___ ___
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This hexagram is comprised of the trigram for water over that of thunder.  It has connotations of both a seed sprouting and pushing up above the earth and also that of a storm, rain and thunder combining to cause severe noise and tempestuousness. That same rain tho can make any seeds planted grow and will give much needed water to the biosphere. It needs to be appreciated for what it is. Everything especially in the first pangs of life struggles to find its way and how it will integrate new things into its environment

 

When the four of cups occurs in a reading, it can indicate something new that has entered the life of the querent, usually of an emotional nature. It can be something as simple as advice. Will we listen to it or at least seek to understand how it may apply to us or will we throw it away as just one more in a series of thing we have heard? Do we believe we have heard it all before or are we truly willing to listen?
 
When the four of cups shows reversed, it says that we have learned to use what is offered to us and to accept it in the spirit offered. It may also show that this has occurred out of necessity because everything that we have taken for granted has been seeping away.

 

Song to the Wise

Wiccan women calling down the moon
seeking to travel
seeking to learn
Does it speak to the heart?
Does it speak to within
Does it speak to virtue
Does it speak to your sin
and what have you done
for what do you grieve?
You have lived, nothing less
than what you believe

 

Medicine man singing the sun
seeking to guide
seeking to heal
Does it come from spirit
Does it speak to your soul?
Does it bring us together?
and make the parts whole?
and what have we done
what do we believed
With you love, we have grown
A new life we must weave
–G A Rosenberg

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Expressio3 by G A Rosenberg (2010)

Reworked Tarot Entry – Nine Of Wands

At Dawn they come
I hear the drums beating
as they plan their approach
I alone remain
to meet them
I cannot give way
Will this battle be the one I cannot win?
NO!
I will not surrender
My gods watch over me and so much has been lost
The drums echo louder as I kneel in prayer
Leaning on my staff for support
My company of nine
eight well used and on e freshly carved
tell of other times
that I came through
Drumming louder, drumming sronger
and voices heard
“The dr will see you now
you may go in”
–G A Rosenberg

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Nine of Wands by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – November 6 2011

Two quotes tonight from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ‘s Little Prince

“But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart…”

“And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure… And your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them, ‘Yes, the stars always make me laugh!’”
–Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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Love Moon by G A Rosenberg