The Moon: Tarot Arcana XVIII Meaning, Dreams and Intuition

In brief: number, names and keywords

The Moon is the eighteenth card, with the same number and the same name in both major traditions. It follows The Star and comes before The Sun: one moves from hope to clarity by crossing the night. The number eighteen, 1 + 8, evokes in many traditions a time of inner trial.

The Moon is, together with the High Priestess, the great card of intuition. But it is more ambiguous: it speaks as much of sensitivity and creativity as of confusion and fear.

Keywords: dreams, intuition, uncertainty, emotions, imagination, cycles.

The image in the Tarot de Marseille

In Marseille, a large crescent moon, one part of which shows a face in profile, dominates the card. Rays surround it, and coloured drops fall from it towards the ground. Below, two animals, a dog and a wolf according to most commentators (or two dogs), face each other on either side of a path, and seem to howl at the moon.

Two towers rise on either side. In the foreground, a pool from which a crustacean emerges: a crayfish or a lobster. The mood is that of a night at once disquieting and poetic: nothing is quite clear, everything is suspended.

The image in the Rider-Waite-Smith

In the Rider-Waite-Smith, a large full moon, with a crescent in profile at its centre, shines in a dark sky. Fifteen drops of light (yods) fall from it. Between two towers, a winding path dips towards distant mountains.

On the path, a dog and a wolf howl at the moon. In front of them, a pool from which a crayfish emerges. The whole creates an impression of dreaming, with animals that evoke instinctive forces, and a path that one senses but does not see in full.

Symbolism of the elements in the image

Here are the details that come up most often in traditional readings. They are paths for interpretation, not official definitions.

• The moon: reflected light, intuition, imagination, the cycles of body and soul. It illuminates without showing everything.
• The dog and the wolf: the domesticated instinct and the wild instinct within us. Both howl at the moon: one and the same impulse, two faces.
• The crayfish: what rises from the depths of the unconscious to the surface. It moves slowly, often backwards.
• The two towers: a threshold to cross, the gate between the known and the unknown.
• The path: a route to follow despite the darkness, step by step.
• The drops of light: sparks that fall: inspiration, dreams, but also stray thoughts.

Upright meaning

Upright, The Moon traditionally suggests the inner night: dreams, unclear emotions, intuition, imagination. It is read as uncertainty, heightened sensitivity, creativity, but also fears, doubts and illusions. The card invites you to trust your feelings while checking them in the light of day.

In a reading, it may indicate that a situation is not yet clear, that some information is missing, that fears are distorting perception. It advises not to decide in the fog and to wait for the light to return. It is also the card of artists, dreamers and those who listen to their inner world.

Reversed: two schools of reading

School 1: the opposite. Reversed, The Moon speaks of a clarity that returns, fears that dissipate, confusion that clears; or, according to others, of increased confusion and illusions that impose themselves.

School 2: a block. Intuition is stifled or overwhelmed: too much worry, difficulty telling a hunch from fear. The card invites you to check the facts and to rest. Several tarot readers, moreover, read only upright cards.

In common areas of reading

Tarot does not say what is going to happen: it offers images for reflection. Here, in symbolic terms, is what this card can suggest depending on the theme of your question.

• Personal reflection: dreams, shifting emotions, doubts, creativity. A possible question: which uncertainty would benefit from being looked at in full light?
• Relationships: sensitivity, possible misunderstandings, unspoken things. The card invites you to check rather than assume, and to talk rather than imagine.
• Work: a project still vague, missing information, creative professions (art, writing, music). Symbolically, a time of gestation.
• Money: caution with what is not clear, verifying information. It predicts nothing and does not replace the advice of a finance professional.

Combinations with neighbouring cards

A card is rarely read on its own: its neighbour qualifies it. Here are some common pairings, to be taken as starting ideas.

• The Star: hope and doubt: the glow of the Star and the night of the Moon.
• The Sun: night and day: the clarity that follows uncertainty.
• The High Priestess: two cards of intuition: the High Priestess guards it, the Moon passes through it.
• The Hermit: doubt and withdrawal: stepping away from the noise to see better.
• The Devil: illusion and attachment: beware the fears that hold you back.

To learn how to combine cards, try the three-card spread. To place this card among the 22 major arcana, see our guide to the major arcana.

Word of the day, question and practice

Word of the day: Intuition. For the day, note a hunch, then check it against one concrete fact. Observe what belongs to intuition and what belongs to worry.

Question to ask yourself: Which uncertainty would benefit from being looked at in full light?

Writing (10 minutes). On waking, note a dream or an image from the night, even a brief one. Write what it evokes for you, then one concrete thing you can check during the day.

Short meditation. In the half-light, look at the card or the sky. Breathe slowly and name three emotions present, without trying to explain them. Let them pass like clouds in front of the moon.

History and variants of the card

The Moon is found in the oldest surviving Italian tarots. There it is sometimes shown as a woman holding a crescent, or as astrologers observing the sky: the card is linked to the astronomy of the time, when the moon governed tides, harvests and calendars. In Marseille, it becomes more mysterious, with the animals and the pool.

Occultists read in it the depths of the unconscious, in the sense the word would take with psychoanalysis. The Golden Dawn ties the card to the letter Qoph (“the back of the head”) and to Pisces. In Waite, a crescent in profile is set within the full moon, like a double image of the same heavenly body.

Variants: the dog and the wolf may become two dogs, the crustacean sometimes a crayfish, sometimes a lobster; the towers may be replaced by two pillars. The mood remains the same: night and passage.

Frequently asked questions

Also read

The meanings mentioned belong to tradition and symbolism. They are neither promises of results nor medical advice. Back to The 22 Major Arcana, card by card.