The Moon

I'd be lying if I said this card hasn't always creeped me out a little. Maybe it's the expression on the moon's face, like someone conjuring negative energy.  And the spikes that indicate the moon's rays - as if the moon's intention is to goad you, prod you, get under your skin.  And the net of moon-drops cast beneath it suggest her work is done surreptitiously (yes, the moon's a Her) by osmosis, by intention. The air is suffused with moon-essence. It's all so nebulous.

Check out those darkling towers.  I imagine hooded gollum-type creatures splitting 12 hour shifts in a land of perpetual night, keeping watch for....what?!  See? That's my anxiety with this card!  Where's the hope, piping in a tree? Where's the payoff, the sure thing? 

The two dogs here are absolutely wired. They don't know what gives, but they hear the call of the wild.  I gave birth during a full moon.  I get up to drink hot milk and read archaic novels during the full moon, hoping for sleep to return.  Sometimes she is beautiful to me, spilling silver on the sea, or defining a tree's thousand leaves. And unlike the sun, you can look upon the moon without fear of having your retina burned out. She is generous like that.

What's interesting is that the lowest creature in the card - both graphically and evolution-wise - is the one that's bound for glory.  While the people in the towers nod and start, while the dogs drool and sound menacing and run in circles, the crayfish silently feels its way out of the water.  This crustacean is setting out upon the good gold road.  It's not a straight road...it curves every few yards, winding up and down hillocks.  But eventually it weaves its way to the top of the mountain peak in the distance.  The one we can barely see.  The one the crayfish only senses is there, urged on by her negative capability.

Speaking of Moons....http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/samrockwelloscar. Petition for Sam Rockwell to be nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for Moon -