The Moon, another view
Fifty years ago, on July 20, 1969, Astronaut Neil Armstrong
spoke to the world from the surface of the moon. The Apollo mission to land on
the moon had succeeded. It was “one
small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” he said as he and Buzz Aldrin
walked on the moon.
What is our attraction to the moon? Why were we going there? Were we just
“Moonstruck?
“It
is the symbol of natural rhythms of the transformation of elements, of time
that passes periodically, re-purposing
everything.”
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| BOTA |
(Visconti Tarots, Giordano Berti &
Tiberio Gonard, Lo Scarabeo, 2002)
First, some thoughts on what the moon is doing and how it
has affected past civilizations, before a discussion of The Moon card in Tarot. We can see that the moon is always in
motion, rising in the east and setting in the west, moving about 12 ½ degrees
each day. In the reflected light from the sun, it changes appearance from full
to shadow in about 29 ½ days. It is waxing to light and waning to dark, and then
we are amazed to see a full moon when it is opposite the sun. Furthermore, it’s
position in the sky is changing over an 18.61-year period from maximum
declination, where it appears going more north, and then in minimum, it appears
in the south. Every day, we experience the moon’s gravitational pull on the
earth in high and low tides and women are especially affected by it.
Seeing the moon at Stonehenge and Avebury -
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| Stonehenge Alignments |
In archeoastronomy, it is thought that early cultures in
Britain viewed themselves as an integral part of their natural surroundings. We
can see today that they constructed monumental arrangements of stones in
astronomical alignments that expressed their reverence of Mother Nature and the
sky. Modern day examination of the stone placements and alignments show that early
peoples measured the movement of the sun and moon in relation to the earth in
places like Stonehenge in England and, as far away as the buildings of Chaco
Canyon in New Mexico. The builders of Stonehenge not only measured the position
of the rising sun on Summer Solstice, but also followed the moon’s 18.6 years cyclic
movement in the heavens, which has now been confirmed by astronomers. (See In Search
of Ancient Astronomies, ed. Dr. E.C. Krupp of Griffith Observatory,
McGraw-Hill, 1978.) Studies were made of a series of 56 post holes
surrounding Stonehenge called the Aubrey Circle, which included 2 stones that are positioned opposite each other
indicating an alignment of moonrise and moonset at major and minor standstills.
It is also possible they could predict eclipses of the moon here. Not only did
they see the sun rise over the heel stone on summer solstice, they could also
watch the moonrise on Winter Solstice in the dead of winter.
The mystery of Avebury
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| Avebury (photo card Bob Croxford) |
Furthermore, not far from Stonehenge, we come upon the great
stone circle of Avebury and enormous mound, Silbury Hill, where it has been
conjectured by Michael Dames in his book, The
Avebury Cycle (Thames & Hudson, 1977),
that a vast immanent Mother Earth Goddess figure can still be seen on the
farming landscape. Ariel photographs seem to confirm that. Mr. Dames proposes
that watchers on Silbury Hill (interpreted as the womb of the goddess) could
observe the full moon rising as it was reflected in the waters of Swallowhead
Spring, which could be construed as the Goddess giving birth. It seems the
early people’s belief was that Mother Earth and man were celebrated as one in
Nature and they constructed the giant figure to represent seasonal changes that
affected their farming lives; the planting and harvest. Up until the 1930’s,
country fairs and celebrations took still place on the upper body of the figure
at harvest time.
“…the monuments were created as a coherent
ensemble to stage a religious drama
which took one year to perform”
The Avebury Cycle, Michael Dames
(Thames & Hudson, 1977)
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| Pueblo Bonito (Impact Photo) |
The
pueblo ruins of Chaco Canyon -
In 2006, I watched a magical moonrise over the silent, flat landscape
of Farmington, New Mexico, near Chaco Canyon. In the clear night sky, it was
enormous, bright and unforgettable. It is no wonder that the nearby early pueblo
builders established symbols and stations within their stone buildings for
viewing the rising and setting motion of the moon. What a grand nighttime inspiration
for the people to celebrate and invoke nature spirits in mystical ceremonies with
kachina costumes and dances held in secret kivas. Their belief was that every
living thing had a spiritual counterpart, and atmospheric conditions were part
of their supernatural world – rain, clouds, steam, the sun and the moon were
there to guide them. Through complex rituals, they invoked supernatural beings (kachinas)
to help them find water, bring rain, and make plants grow. They made elaborate masks
and costumes and danced in seasonal ceremonies as representatives of a
particular kachina at each season of the year.
“A kachina impersonator is believed to
receive the spirit of the kachina he depicts
when he wears the mask.”
Southwest Indian Ceremonials, Tom
Bahti, (KC Publications, 1982)
At Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon, the artist Anna Sofaer,
discovered a spiral petroglyph that was crossed by a “sun dagger” of light on
Summer Solstice; a kind of sundial carved in stone. It also indicated major and
minor standstills of the moon in cast shadows on the spiral. In the CD, The Mystery of Chaco Canyon, narrated by
Robert Redford, he points out that the National Geodetic Survey has discovered
that several of the buildings in this area are aligned with the motions of the
moon and also indicated the path of the sun. This must have been very important
to them to go to such great lengths to incorporate astronomical alignments into
their buildings. At Pueblo Bonito, the
sun sets along a central wall on the days of the equinoxes. At Chimney Rock Pueblo, the rising moon is only
visible between the two chimneys at the major northern standstill, which occurs
once every 18.61 years.
“Much of the Puebloan lore revolves around
women and children, and pregnant women are most vulnerable to the dangers of an
eclipse.”
Prehistoric Astronomy in the Southwest
(Malville & Putnam, Johnson Books, 1993)
The
status of Chaco Canyon today -
Currently, the area around Chaco Canyon is under threat. The
government is leasing 6.2 million acres of federal land for drilling by the gas
and oil industry. But for the moment, the 10th Circuit Court has
reversed or suspended hundreds of leases for drilling near Chaco Canyon. A
one-year moratorium was passed by the house of Representatives for review of
the current situation. (For more information, see solsticeproject.org)
Tarot interpretation of The Moon card
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| The Moon TOCC |
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| Marseille Deck |
In Tarot, we are talking about a different kind of
experience for Tarot lovers. The Moon
card is usually interpreted as symbolic of the human waxing and waning of our
mysterious inner states, which are always in flux. You can expect change and fluctuation when The Moon card comes up in a reading. In
interpreting The Moon card, we look
for hidden emotional reactions to our “human condition.” It inspires us to turn
to the intuitive part of ourselves and listen for hidden messages from our deeper
inner being. Here we can experience a “dream time” and give free reign to exploring
our imagination and creative ideas. Ask yourself what your moods are and what
your emotional reaction is to things right now. Give credence to feminine
intuition and pay attention to how you are feeling. In a positive sense, just as
the moon is mirroring sunlight, are you feeling strong and good, radiating joyousness
and festivity? Or as in the dark side of the moon, are you feeling vulnerable, muddled,
anxious, distressed, and stuck in emotional uncertainty?
Reversed, The Moon card is a warning to beware of
illusions, deceptions, wild imaginings, fear, and hidden secrets. Rachael
Pollack, in her commentary in the Vertigo
Tarot by Dave McKean (DC Comics, 1995), she gives us an interpretation
of the meaning of the Moon card in traditional decks (such as the Marseille Tarot): “We have descended below human consciousness to our
animal selves (the dog and the wolf) and deeper still to strange primal
instincts symbolized by the lobster.” This is
a time to go inward and reflect on your thought processes and way of being in
the world.
Resources:
The Avebury Cycle,
Michael Dames (Thames &Hudson, 1977)
Early Man and the
Cosmos, Evan Haddingham (University of Oklahoma Press, 1984)
Stonehenge Decoded,
Gerald Hawkins (Dell Publishing, 1965)
In Search of Ancient
Astronomies, (Ed.) E.C. Krupp (Griffith Observatory, McGraw-Hill, 1978)
Prehistoric Astronomy
in the Southwest, Malville & Putnam, Johnson Printing, 1993)
Southwestern Indian
Ceremonials, Mark Bahti (KC Publishing, 1982)
The Mystery of Chaco
Canyon, CD by Anna Sofaer, The Solstice Project (Bullfrog Films, 2003)
