Cult of Tarot Forum

Posted: **29 Jul 2019, 10:20**

I have always considered the Moon in the tarot to be female, and the Sun male.

A long time ago, I copied part of an essay on the Sacred Texts archives. It no longer seems to be there. But here is what I copied. I think it's an interesting topic for a Tarot forum.

We have already in part pointed out that the moon has been considered as of the masculine gender; and have therefore but to travel a little farther afield to show that in the Aryan of India, in Egyptian, Arabian, Slavonian, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic, Teutonic, Swedish, Anglo-Saxon, and South American, the moon is a male god.

To do this, in addition to former quotations, it will be sufficient to adduce a few authorities. "Moon," says Max Müller, is a very old word. It was móna in Anglo-Saxon, and was used there, not as a feminine, but as a masculine for the moon was originally a masculine, and the sun a feminine, in all Teutonic languages; and it is only through the influence of classical models that in English moon has been changed into a feminine, and sun into a masculine. It was a most unlucky assertion which Mr. Harris made in his Hermes, that all nations ascribe to the sun a masculine, and to the moon a feminine gender."

Grimm says, "Down to recent times, our people were fond of calling the sun and moon frau sonne and herr mond." Sir Gardner Wilkinson writes: "Another reason that the moon in the Egyptian mythology could not be related to Bubastis is, that it was a male and not a female deity, personified in the god Thoth. This was also the case in some religions of the West. The Romans recognised the god Lunus; and the Germans, like the Arabs, to this day, consider the moon masculine, and not feminine, as were the Selênê and Luna of the Greeks and Latins."

Again, "The Egyptians represented their moon as a male deity, like the German mond and monat, or the Lunus of the Latins; and it is worthy of remark, that the same custom of calling it male is retained in the East to the present day, while the sun is considered female, as in the language of the Germans." "In Slavonic," Sir George Cox tells us, "as in the Teutonic mythology, the moon is male.

I wonder, did the Moon become associated with the female due to the menstrual cycle ?

Posted: **16 Aug 2019, 07:43**

Great question Marigold:) Thanks for providing the information, I hadn't realised that the sun and moon were tradtionally considered feminine and masculine respectively. I would guess that you may be correct, that the moon has more recently become associated with the feminine due to the menstrual cycle. I think I have thought of the moon as having a feminine principle in terms of energy. This is definately an interesting topic to explore.

Posted: **16 Aug 2019, 17:15**

BlueStar : I found this essay on the Moon on the Sacred Texts archive : http://www.sacred-texts.com/astro/ml/ml12.htm. It goes on for about eight pages. I'll be reading it when I have the proper time. Looks very interesting. Hope to get back here with some more insights for discussion.

(I have an issue with the Moon in the Tarot - that card scares the hell out of me so anything I find on the Moon I jump on to try and solve my "phobia"

It's that darn Tarot of Marseille Moon card. It gives me some helluva heebie jeebies. And now I don't even know if it's male or female!! That's not helping one bit!!

).

Posted: **16 Aug 2019, 17:29**

I still consider the moon female,,

because in my native culture we call her grandmother moon,, and talk about moon cycles..
and i suppose we would call the sun grandfather sun , but i haven't heard anyone call it that in my tribe.. but then again i haven't gone to cermonies in a long time.

Posted: **16 Aug 2019, 19:01**

HOLMES wrote: ↑16 Aug 2019, 17:29
because in my native culture we call her grandmother moon,, and talk about moon cycles..

Now this adds another dimension to the moon. Grandmother. I like that. Very much indeed. And not just because I'm a Granny.

Posted: **17 Aug 2019, 02:06**

I hold that the moon is the moon and that lunar femininity is rather a part of Arcanum II. However, if the Sun and Moon were to come up in a reading in a way that clearly suggested a binary pairing and male/female made sense in the context, then yes.

Posted: **17 Aug 2019, 05:39**

while it's generally accepted that the moon represents feminine qualities/energies and the sun masculine qualities/energies, it's a mistake to consider them in literal terms, the way one would a queen and king of the courts or even the empress and emperor. male and female qualites, when so spoken of in tarot terms, are used symbolically, as a binary short-hand. more accurately speaking, the moon represents the sub-conscious or Id while the sun represents the conscious mind or ego/super-ego. an even more accurate way of describing the 2 cards in the left and right hemispheres of the brain - the right half controls the left side and is associated with the big picture thinking and feeling (female/moon), while the left which controls the right half is focused on detail and rationalism (male/sun).

for hundreds of years, perhaps since the garden of eden, we have been living increasingly in a land of the left hemisphere, and the unbalance is so dangerously lop-sided at the moment that truth means nothing and the big-picture reality of all life on earth being seriously threatened is lost in ratiocination. if anyone's interested, there's a very good discussion about the differences and ramifications of the 2 hemispheres on the NPR show Hidden Brain:

I wonder, did the Moon become associated with the female due to the menstrual cycle ?

That sort of begs the question: did people not know about the connection between moon and mensies? of course, the connection between the moon and the ocean tides suggests another traditional symbol of the female: water.

cultures where the moon and sun gender roles are reversed may say something about how they think about gender and/or how gender dynamics worked in those cultures. with our allocation, we can see some of the inbuilt prejudices - or "opinions" is you prefer - in our own culture's gender allocation: the moon doesn't create light of her own, rather she merely reflects the solar male's luminosity. we don't associate her with the day where she is always out-shone, but with darkness - the frightening, the bad, and the unfathomable. further, insane people are lunatics. Waite compounds the chauvinism by turning the sun card into Christian wish-fulfillment and masculine encomium.

.

Posted: **17 Aug 2019, 06:08**

In my culture, moon is a female figure, while sun is male figure. When we pray for our parents for long live and healthy, we pray the moon for mother, and sun for father.

Posted: **17 Aug 2019, 15:22**

To me, I associate the moon as female while the sun as male. That is just me, though.

Posted: **17 Aug 2019, 17:21**

I think people aren't being clear on whether they are referring to the celestial object and its attendant symbolism as feminine vs whether they are referring to Arcanum XVIII as feminine.

Posted: **18 Aug 2019, 09:28**

Very interesting subject.

Maybe we can see the Moon as Androgyn? Both Male and Female? The fluids of man in the Moon connecting with the Female fluids?

I think religion is responsible for a lot of switches; they not only changed time and Calender but also the dieties (Gods and Goddesses of the Sun and Moon) were switching from male to female or from female to male.

Male Sun Gods appeared quit late on the scene in history.
Male priesthoods became dominant over the priestesshoods of the Sun Goddess.
So what to do?
The Sun is the biggest light and the Moon the lesser light on our sky. The solution was quit simple: Downgrade the Sun Goddess to a Moon Goddess and upgrade the Moon God to Sun God.

Card XVIII the Moon is in my opinion connected with Pisces and Card II with the Moon.

Card II the High Priestess is associated with path 3 from Kether (1- middle pillar) to Tipharet (6- middle pillar) on the Middle pillar of the tree of life (vertical line)
Sefirot 9: Yesod (the 9-cards) is connected with the Moon: Middle Pillar Pillar of balance.

Isn't it part in tarot, maybe even the goal, to unify the male with the female?
Do we have to reconnect our inner Sun and Moon?
Can we bring back the sun and moon info partnership and harmony?
The light of our higher self (the Sun) can poor down into us and illuminate all our actions.
'On the other hand' the lunar strand of the Self seeks out and rejoin the solar One.

Posted: **19 Aug 2019, 06:03**

chiscotheque wrote: ↑17 Aug 2019, 05:39
I wonder, did the Moon become associated with the female due to the menstrual cycle ?
That sort of begs the question: did people not know about the connection between moon and mensies?

They had to have.
There was no artificial light other than fire. Moon phases would have been pretty obvious to everybody. They would have noticed that a lot of women were on their period during the new/dark moon. That's not so much the case now, due to artificial light, but light levels at night have a definite effect. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2243890 Then the full moon would come along and people could see at night, so I imagine they might have stayed up singing and dancing, people would have paired off, women were ovulating.

cultures where the moon and sun gender roles are reversed may say something about how they think about gender and/or how gender dynamics worked in those cultures. with our allocation, we can see some of the inbuilt prejudices - or "opinions" is you prefer - in our own culture's gender allocation: the moon doesn't create light of her own, rather she merely reflects the solar male's luminosity.

But did they know that then?

Posted: **19 Aug 2019, 06:40**

chiscotheque wrote: ↑17 Aug 2019, 05:39 while it's generally accepted that the moon represents feminine qualities/energies and the sun masculine qualities/energies, it's a mistake to consider them in literal terms, the way one would a queen and king of the courts or even the empress and emperor. male and female qualites, when so spoken of in tarot terms, are used symbolically, as a binary short-hand. more accurately speaking, the moon represents the sub-conscious or Id while the sun represents the conscious mind or ego/super-ego. an even more accurate way of describing the 2 cards in the left and right hemispheres of the brain - the right half controls the left side and is associated with the big picture thinking and feeling (female/moon), while the left which controls the right half is focused on detail and rationalism (male/sun).

for hundreds of years, perhaps since the garden of eden, we have been living increasingly in a land of the left hemisphere, and the unbalance is so dangerously lop-sided at the moment that truth means nothing and the big-picture reality of all life on earth being seriously threatened is lost in ratiocination. if anyone's interested, there's a very good discussion about the differences and ramifications of the 2 hemispheres on the NPR show Hidden Brain

These are very important remarks that you've made here. Thanks for the reminder. Tarot can be literal in a reading sometimes, but when one is trying to uncover the deeper meanings behind the Arcana one absolutely has to go beyond the literal to the "darker meanings". Dark in the sense of "hidden". To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. (That's from the book of Proverbs). The word "Arcanum" does mean secret and mystery after all.

I am looking forward to listening to the podcast you shared. It's quite long so I'll listen it to this evening after the hustle and bustle of the day. There's a lot of nonsense indeed floating around about the brain. If you've recommended it, I reckon it will be most enlightening.

Posted: **19 Aug 2019, 06:59**

Lucifall wrote: ↑18 Aug 2019, 09:28 Very interesting subject.

Maybe we can see the Moon as Androgyn? Both Male and Female? The fluids of man in the Moon connecting with the Female fluids?

I think religion is responsible for a lot of switches; they not only changed time and Calender but also the dieties (Gods and Goddesses of the Sun and Moon) were switching from male to female or from female to male.

Male Sun Gods appeared quit late on the scene in history.
Male priesthoods became dominant over the priestesshoods of the Sun Goddess.
So what to do?
The Sun is the biggest light and the Moon the lesser light on our sky. The solution was quit simple: Downgrade the Sun Goddess to a Moon Goddess and upgrade the Moon God to Sun God.

Card XVIII the Moon is in my opinion connected with Pisces and Card II with the Moon.

Card II the High Priestess is associated with path 3 from Kether (1- middle pillar) to Tipharet (6- middle pillar) on the Middle pillar of the tree of life (vertical line)
Sefirot 9: Yesod (the 9-cards) is connected with the Moon: Middle Pillar Pillar of balance.

Isn't it part in tarot, maybe even the goal, to unify the male with the female?
Do we have to reconnect our inner Sun and Moon?
Can we bring back the sun and moon info partnership and harmony?
The light of our higher self (the Sun) can poor down into us and illuminate all our actions.
'On the other hand' the lunar strand of the Self seeks out and rejoin the solar One.

What a great post !! Thanks for jumping in here Lucifall.

Reminds me that in the Tarot of Marseilles, the Moon has rays behind it. I've always thought that these rays were the sun and that therefore we're seeing a lunar eclipse here. Because the Moon doesn't have rays. I brought this idea to the table a couple of times on AtF, but received always very vague answers in the line of "yes, this has been discussed at times, but the idea has been dismissed". I was never told why it was dismissed. Because to me it's as clear as daylight. If they're not sun rays, what are they then ?

: La Lune XVIII grimaud.png (90.18 KiB) Viewed 3949 times

Posted: **19 Aug 2019, 07:02**

katrinka wrote: ↑19 Aug 2019, 06:03
chiscotheque wrote: ↑17 Aug 2019, 05:39 in our own culture's gender allocation: the moon doesn't create light of her own, rather she merely reflects the solar male's luminosity.
But did they know that then?

Good question katrinka. I would assume they did. They had fine astrologers in those days. But if anyone here could confirm that they did know this, this would be most helpful.

Posted: **19 Aug 2019, 08:06**

Thanks Marigold.

In the Marseille Moon Card i also see a moon inside a sun with multiple rays.

Maybe Waite write something about this mystery?
RWS:The Moon; Waite writes:
The Moon has "sixteen chief and sixteen secondary rays" and "[is] shedding the moisture of fertilizing dew in great drops"

Chief and secondary?
The biggest light in the sky or the lesser light in the sky?
Sixteen chief rays: The light of the Sun
Sixteen secondary rays: The reflecting light of the Moon

Dew in great drops:
Dew is caused by temperature differences. The Cold air of the night and hot air which is still in the earth or in the sky.
Alchemists used dew to produce life-elixer.
Mutus Liber desrcibes this process in pictures. (Moon and Sun are involved)

http://www.alchimie-mundi.com/telecharg ... _liber.pdf

Dew of different plants was used for healing.
In early days dew was collected during spring festivals for beauty and used to clean the house and land.
The best time to collect dew?
The Ancients learned us: The best time to collect dew is with full moon with Monday as most proper day.

Posted: **19 Aug 2019, 08:36**

Oh, so much great stuff you're sharing, Lucifall.

So I went to look up on this alchemical dew. I see it has something to do with the Philosopher's Stone. Now I've got to change my plans for this morning because I want to read up on all this in more depth.

Posted: **19 Aug 2019, 17:15**

the Moon doesn't have rays.

perhaps not, but it certainly has beams. which, if we think of the water feature in the foreground of The Moon card as a moat, calls to mind the sermon on the mount's

why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye

the water droplets let's call them which it appears are being pulled upward are often interpreted as Yods. important in the kabbalah, yods (or jots) can be said to symbolize language and the smallest detail and the presence of god (Yod is the first mark of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH). its gematria significance is 10. the TdeM has 19 yods, perhaps alluding to the Moon's affinity with the Sun card and, reducing to 2, suggesting the Papess card. The RWS has 15 yods, perhaps suggesting an affinity to the Devil card and as it reduces to 6, the Lovers. 150 is also the number of the days the great flood of the bible lasted. the TdeM has 7 blue beams, 8 white beams, and 15 red beams. aside from the chariot and justice, 7+8 = 15, again alluding to the devil & lovers. but i would note that with the Moon, some of her beams shoot beyond the scope of the card - they are"hidden", aptly enough - and would number 40 in total - 40 being a hugely significant religious number, ie: number of curses on Adam, the age a man must be to learn kabbalah, number of days it rained during the flood, the years considered a "generation".

what does it all mean? who the hell knows. but i would point out that 15 and 16 which recur on the Moons are the 2 numbers in Hebrew written differently to avoid the name of god.

if we are witnessing a lunar eclipse on the moon card, what would it be signifying? i would note that the TdM Moon image differs slightly in different versions - sometimes it's clearly a shining crescent, with a somewhat morose face residing on the dark side (perhaps, like my mother, dismayed by barking dogs):

: moon.jpg (44.68 KiB) Viewed 3913 times

fun fact: "dew" in Norse is dogg. dog backwards is god, and god en francais is dieu (pronounced "dew").

.

Posted: **19 Aug 2019, 17:49**

chiscotheque wrote: ↑19 Aug 2019, 17:15
the Moon doesn't have rays.
perhaps not, but it certainly has beams. which, if we think of the water feature in the foreground of The Moon card as a moat, calls to mind the sermon on the mount's
why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye

Hmm... I don't see the connection. But I'm sure you'll have an explanation. A mote isn't a moat... And in French a moat is a "douve" so there would be no play on words.

chiscotheque wrote: ↑19 Aug 2019, 17:15 the water droplets let's call them which it appears are being pulled upward are often interpreted as Yods. important in the kabbalah, yods (or jots) can be said to symbolize language and the smallest detail and the presence of god (Yod is the first mark of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH). its gematria significance is 10. the TdeM has 19 yods, perhaps alluding to the Moon's affinity with the Sun card and, reducing to 2, suggesting the Papess card. The RWS has 15 yods, perhaps suggesting an affinity to the Devil card and as it reduces to 6, the Lovers. 150 is also the number of the days the great flood of the bible lasted. the TdeM has 7 blue beams, 8 white beams, and 15 red beams. aside from the chariot and justice, 7+8 = 15, again alluding to the devil & lovers. but i would note that with the Moon, some of her beams shoot beyond the scope of the card - they are"hidden", aptly enough - and would number 40 in total - 40 being a hugely significant religious number, ie: number of curses on Adam, the age a man must be to learn kabbalah, number of days it rained during the flood, the years considered a "generation".

what does it all mean? who the hell knows. but i would point out that 15 and 16 which recur on the Moons are the 2 numbers in Hebrew written differently to avoid the name of god.

You're very funny. "Who the hell knows what it means?" LOL. It's fascinating all the same.

chiscotheque wrote: ↑19 Aug 2019, 17:15 if we are witnessing a lunar eclipse on the moon card, what would it be signifying? i would note that the TdM Moon image differs slightly in different versions - sometimes it's clearly a shining crescent, with a somewhat morose face residing on the dark side (perhaps, like my mother, dismayed by barking dogs):

I suppose it could signify that the coming together of the two energies - the Moon taking precedence over the Sun at the moment as she slowly emerges and rises.

I don't think the dogs are barking. Dogs don't bark with their tongues sticking out. They're lapping up the dew or the yods or whatever they are I think.

chiscotheque wrote: ↑19 Aug 2019, 17:15 fun fact: "dew" in Norse is dogg. dog backwards is god, and god en francais is dieu (pronounced "dew").

Like the old joke about the dyslexic that stayed up all night wondering whether Dog existed.

Posted: **19 Aug 2019, 19:15**

Marigold wrote: ↑19 Aug 2019, 07:02
katrinka wrote: ↑19 Aug 2019, 06:03
chiscotheque wrote: ↑17 Aug 2019, 05:39 in our own culture's gender allocation: the moon doesn't create light of her own, rather she merely reflects the solar male's luminosity.
But did they know that then?
Good question katrinka. I would assume they did. They had fine astrologers in those days. But if anyone here could confirm that they did know this, this would be most helpful.

The idea has been suggested at various times through history but didn't seem to catch on. Anaxagoras proposed it in his lifetime (500-428 BCE) and nobody paid attention.

But the card seems to be depicting earthshine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetshine
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say yes. Leonardo da Vinci came up with that in plenty of time for the idea to spread and make it to TdM. Older Tarots might be another story, lol.

Posted: **19 Aug 2019, 19:50**

katrinka wrote: ↑19 Aug 2019, 19:15
But the card seems to be depicting earthshine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetshine

Well blow me down with a feather !!! I'd never heard of Earthshine. You've opened a whole new door in my perception of this card.

Suddenly my mind is racing. Literally. I'm trying to catch up with it but as I'm a smoker I don't run so fast !!

The meeting of the earth and the sky; Uranus and Gaia - Uranus or Father Sky being both the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth - ; the Marriage of the King's Son in Jesus' parable of the Great Banquet; union of Spirit and Mind ... and even more.

(I'm really so glad I've come back to a Tarot discussion board. These moments when ideas and knowledge from others and and one's own search come together at times is so exciting and it's like a new piece in the jigsaw puzzle has found its place. I do love a jigsaw puzzle.)

Posted: **19 Aug 2019, 21:34**

why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye

Hmm... I don't see the connection. But I'm sure you'll have an explanation. A mote isn't a moat... And in French a moat is a "douve" so there would be no play on words.

i have no explanation, save my penchant for the cherished tarot tradition of the language of the birds - langue verte blossoms not only in french.

that said, i do have an explanation, but it's oblique, which is why the cryptic allusion - when you have to explain a joke, it sort of zaps the whole project. but here goes: another way to look at the Moon and the Sun are as Subjectivity and Objectivity. Jesus chastises those who look outwards, accusing Others, suggesting we must first start with the self. a moral argument can be made that we are not responsible for other's actions but only for our own, drawing a distinction between the outside world and the inside - again, versions of the male/female dichotomy. further, if you know anything about the gospels of Philip or Thomas or the teachings of the gnostics, their instruction is that those who set up the early church were making the same error the Jewish Pharisees and Sanhedrin made: controlling others and strictly following false rules. the true Christian didn't just go through the motions, they were transformed from within by the union of the soul and the holy spirit (the male and female) and in doing so became a christ.

Posted: **20 Aug 2019, 07:22**

chiscotheque wrote: ↑19 Aug 2019, 21:34
i have no explanation, save my penchant for the cherished tarot tradition of the language of the birds - langue verte blossoms not only in french.

Well, I think you have honoured the tarotic language of the birds, and indeed, why not in English ? The Tarot is universal.

chiscotheque wrote: ↑19 Aug 2019, 21:34
that said, i do have an explanation, but it's oblique, which is why the cryptic allusion - when you have to explain a joke, it sort of zaps the whole project. but here goes: another way to look at the Moon and the Sun are as Subjectivity and Objectivity. Jesus chastises those who look outwards, accusing Others, suggesting we must first start with the self. a moral argument can be made that we are not responsible for other's actions but only for our own, drawing a distinction between the outside world and the inside - again, versions of the male/female dichotomy. further, if you know anything about the gospels of Philip or Thomas or the teachings of the gnostics, their instruction is that those who set up the early church were making the same error the Jewish Pharisees and Sanhedrin made: controlling others and strictly following false rules. the true Christian didn't just go through the motions, they were transformed from within by the union of the soul and the holy spirit (the male and female) and in doing so became a christ.

Thank you for the explanation. It would have been a pity to keep your cryptic allusions a secret as you've evoked and highlighted yet another layer of the Moon in the Tarot. The Tarot has so many layers - like an onion. We peel and peel and peel and still we do not reach the centre.

Now I had never thought in terms of male and female when thinking of the union of the soul and holy spirit. I also wouldn't have thought of considering one "male" and the other "female". Am still not certain why this would be so. But the concept sounds very promising. I've always had a bit of difficulty "defining" what the soul and what the holy spirit is. I would have thought that the holy spirit was the Christ that was already within us all waiting to be revealed - but I'm no teacher, no guru, no master and have never seen a burning bush, so I really don't know. And there's no need to debate or quibble about that here I would think. Your post was as usual up to your high standards and more cryptic "dark sayings" will always be welcome !!

Posted: **22 Aug 2019, 19:21**

On my eternal search to make peace with the Moon in the Tarot of Marseille, I came across a most interesting article. I don't know how to describe it, so I'll just give the link : http://www.mazzaroth.com/InsertTwo/CancerStarChart.htm

I found it on a thread on ATF. It was included in a post written by one of the most extraordinary members ATF ever had. There were many extraordinary members, but she was truly one of the finest. Discreet, didn't post much, so was not widely known, but what she posted always had the quality of pure gold. She went by the name of Smleite. I am going to copy her whole post here. It's always tricky copying someone's post from one board to another. Somehow, one wonders whether the person would agree. But I have the suspicion that she would be pleased to see her writings live on in such a fine place as the CoT. And she was fond of me and I of her. So I'm sure she would understand that I'm doing it to honour her. I don't think her wisdom should be buried somewhere. It deserves a good home.

Here goes.

********************** ***************************** ****************************

The Houses of the Moon

In ancient times, calendars were based on astronomical events, mainly (though not only) in the cycles of the sun and the moon. From those two, the easiest one to use is the moon cycle, shorter and more visible. The time from one new moon to the next is has approximately 29.5 days), and forms the basis of the Islamic calendar, in whose tradition (correct me if this is wrong) the solar (annual) cycle is totally disregarded. On the contrary, the Christian (Gregorian) calendar is a solar one, where the months are disposed without relation to the actual moon cycles. The Jewish calendar, a very interesting one, combines both systems: its years are based in solar cycles, and its months in the lunar cycles, as can be easily understood if one studies the way Easter is calculated in Jewish tradition. In the case of the Moon card, I think it is most interesting to study what Arabic astronomy has to say about this celestial body and its cycles, even if we accept that their knowledge might have passed to the Occident through the Jewish.

Well, Islamic cosmic observations, developed since very ancient times, implied the study of the helical raisings and settings (visible just before sunrise and sunset) of the “Mansions or Houses of the Moon”, manâzil (sing. manzil) al-qamar. These Mansions (known also to the Persians) result from the division of the moon cycle into 28 “places”, each corresponding to a star; during the night, the Moon enters in each one of those “places” during its sidereal revolution, or full orbit. This allusion to the Mansions of the Moon is very interesting by itself, since Marseilles Moon cards depict two “mansions” (houses, towers or temples) below the planet, and we could consider that this latter is travelling from one to the other. And more interesting this becomes when we analyze the relation between this mansions and the crab, symbol of Cancer. It just happens that the Egyptian name of the constellation of Cancer is Klaria, meaning "The Cattle Folds", or "The Resting-Places", whereas the seventh day of Cancer was considered to be God’s day of rest. The Romans interpreted Cancer as the result of the words Khan (a place of rest, an inn) and Cer (Arabic for encircling), reading it as "The Traveller’s Resting Place", just like the Greek used the name Karkinos, holding or encircling, according to the image of the crab’s arms. The notions of a sacred “resting place” and of a “cattle fold” are explored in the Bible in several passages; please, visit http://www.mazzaroth.com/InsertTwo/CancerStarChart.htm to find several examples. Two fundamental ones are “2 Chronicles 6:39-42 "…Now therefore arise, O LORD God, into thy resting place, thou, and the ark of thy strength." (Heb. nuwach, noo'-akh; or nowach, no'-akh; quiet, rest (-ed, -ing place)), and Isaiah 32:18 "And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places (Heb. menuwchah)", and I am quoting the mentioned site.

Silvia

Posted: **31 Aug 2019, 06:32**

I saw this topic this morning before I headed to work, and a part of the back of my mind has been pondering this a little bit ever since.
You would think with nearly a whole day I would have a cleverly written version of my thoughts, but that is not the case. x3

While the actual moon to me has always felt feminine and thus my first instinct would be to extend that same assumed association to the Moon card, thinking about it and looking at the cards and considering them, it really doesn't feel that way to me. Or masculine, really.
(Although with that said, it depends on the card - for these visual musings, I pulled up the Rider-Waite cards to look at. My preferred deck right now, the Shadowscapes, would completely change what I would say because the art is very different.)

To me, the Sun is very masculine and the Star is very feminine. The Moon, though...the only even vaguely human figure in the card is in the moon depiction itself, and that profile is...not clear what it is. There is a very strong nose, a sharp chin, but also delicate lips and well defined, rather thick eyelashes.
At first I was thinking, as Lucifall pointed out, that perhaps it is a an androgynous figure, somewhere between male and female.
But that doesn't seem quite right, either?
So then I was thinking about different ways I've seen or read different kinds of gender labeled, and I randomly remembered an interesting thing from one of my favorite fantasy novels. In Mercedes Lackey's Valder series, there is a species called the kyree - they have three genders, male, female, and neuter. (Oh, also Piers Anthony, in his Modes series, has a world with creatures gendered in a similar fashion)
The 'neuter' is not halfway between male and female, but neither and apart. If I remember rightly, they also have a higher tendency of being the memorykeepers and the storytellers in their culture.

So maybe, rather than something that is 'in between' male and female, the Moon is something that is neither.

On a random aside, perhaps that is also why the Moon is something mysterious and dark and hard to understand, because it is literally something difficult for the human psyche to comprehend - gender is so intensely coded into our culture, that to have something that does not fit so thoroughly makes it strange and odd and 'other'. We don't know exactly what it is or how it will act and therefore it is terrifying because it is not 'normal' and predictable.

To add ANOTHER aside, I think it's interesting that so much nature is depicted on the card - speaking with an artist's eye, the actual moon on the Moon card is huge and distracting and it feels like it has shoved its way onto the card. The bottom part is more soothing to the eye, with the way the winding path leads from the middle card and down to the bottom, with how the tails of the creatures actually mimic the curves of the road, the pond and the lobster(?) in the bottom nothing BUT curved lines. It may be more wild and untamed, but it's better than the harsh lines at the top.
Something something commentary on human need to straighten out and tame nature into straight roads and farms all completely under control?

Anyways, it is way too late at this point, and I'm beginning to ramble in directions that don't even make sense to me, so I'm going to stop now. xD

Cult of Tarot Forum

The Moon - female or male ?

The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?

Re: The Moon - female or male ?