A sinister and gloomy atmosphere pervades the illustration on the Moon card.
The Moon is often shown in the first quarter, therefore not very bright, and in the oldest Tarot decks a few clouds are nearly always added to make the image even more spectral.
Today we have forgotten how frightening the night could be in the Middle Ages. Not just because without street lighting we could end up in total darkness, without any possibility of finding our way, but also because, unlike today, many wild animals roamed the countryside and approached our towns and cities.
In the historical period when it was created, the Moon card was undoubtedly associated with darkness, danger, and the possibility of making mistakes.
The external circumstances are such that we cannot get our bearings. Someone is hiding something from us, or in any case the route to obtain what we want is quite impassable if we decide to pursue it now.
It represents a state of darkness, which is the opposite of the next card of the Sun. If the Sun represents clarity, the Moon represents difficulties of judgment, confusion and uncertainty instead.
It can represent a person who proves particularly sensitive, or who behaves in a way that seems indecipherable or capricious to us.
It also represents our fears, our apprehensions, that we probably do not have the courage to face. In this case, the uncertain and unfavorable situation has arisen because of our prevarication. For example, we waited too long to declare ourselves to someone, and now that person is not free.
Dishonesty, someone is deceiving us (maybe we are deceiving ourselves).
You can find other articles like this in the section:
“Meaning of Tarot Cards”