I was struck by something in this card that I think isn’t often spoken of. It’s the Duality of the card.
Not only is the Moon may be a Solar eclipse (the rays behind the Moon look like Sun rays. The Moon doesn’t give rays). So we have day and night.
Then there are the two towers. One open at the top, the other closed – one receptive, one insular. One tower with doors apparent, the other with doors concealed or missing as in the Maison Dieu XVI.
And then we have the dogs. One is standing up, with its tail in the air. It is therefore in a dominant position. And the other dog is crouching with its tail lowered – it is submissive. Perhaps one is female, the other male.
I went reading up on Dualistic Cosmology and noted this paragraph :
Many myths and creation motifs with dualistic cosmologies have been described in ethnographic and anthropological literature. These motifs conceive the world as being created, organised, or influenced by two demiurges, culture heroes, or other mythological beings, who either compete with each other or have a complementary function in creating, arranging or influencing the world. There is a huge diversity of such cosmologies. In some cases, such as among the Chukchi (an indigeneous population living in the Russian Federation), the beings collaborate rather than competing, and contribute to the creation in a coequal way. In many other instances the two beings are not of the same importance or power (sometimes, one of them is even characterized as gullible). Sometimes they can be contrasted as good versus evil. They may be often believed to be twins or at least brothers. Dualistic motifs in mythologies can be observed in all inhabited continents.
It’s the yin/yang of Chinese cosmology. In Taoism, distinctions between good and bad, along with other dichotomous moral judgments, are perceptual, not real. The arcanum of the Moon is steeped with something that is unreal – it looks more like something pertaining to a dream. That is why I think it is often interpreted as such – with imagination and mystery and the Taoist “perceptual distinctions”.
How does one deal with the duality inherent in our world ? It is present in us always. It recalls in many ways Justice VIII – which if one does the pairing of the Major Arcana – is the twin of The Moon XVIII. Balance and equilibrium. But in the Tarot, the twins, the pairs, are not identical twins. They too are opposed to each other - but together create one whole.
I will in future pay more attention to duality when I’m faced with this card.
(Oh and by the way, the dogs are NOT barking at the moon. Dog don't bark with their tongues hanging out.)