In October 2015, I ventured to New Orleans with three friends and one sister. We walked the French Quarter, floated through the bayou feeding marshmallows to alligators, and consumed our weight in beignets. We explored cemeteries and bars and restaurants. We slurped down Jell-O shots and savored Bloody Mary's. We talked about life and love and ghosts.
It was an amazing trip full of friendship and food.
And for me, it was life changing. It was the impetus for becoming more than just a twenty-something New Yorker stumbling her way through a series of bad decisions and even worse relationships.
And it all started with a tarot reading. One that I inexplicably cried my way through. Cathartic and inspiring, that reading threw me into the world of tarot and I never really looked back.
Don't get me wrong. I don't think tarot cards can tell the future. But I do think they can help you understand what you WANT from the future. And isn't that almost the same thing? With the right amount of self-awareness, self-love, motivation, and luck you can make your wildest dreams come true. Or at least give yourself a fighting chance.
So to celebrate my now three-year-plus love affair with the mystical and symbolic world of tarot, I'll be starting a weekly blog series about just that. Every week, I'll draw a card from one of my four decks. Each reading will come with a description of the card and what it means to me at this moment in my life, as well as some things to look out for in your own life, and an affirmation that will help you draw on the symbolic energy of what the card represents. So without further ado, I give you this week's card: The Moon.
The Moon
Card Type:
The Moon is a Major Arcana card, meaning it holds more power than your average tarot card. It's a symbol of something momentous happening in your life.
What You See:
A full and shining moon points sternly down upon the scene. Bright rays of golden light shine from behind it.
The Moon is a mask for the sun. It blocks it, filtering its rays in softer, subtler ways that force us to really look at the world around us with more discerning eyes.
Stars drip from the moon like little flames between two tall pillars. The light of the moon and sun combined light the path of a river, turning its blue trail golden. Mountains in the distance flatten to hills and end in a shallow pool of water. From this pool climbs a deep red lobster. A coyote and a dog howl at the moon, entranced by its brightness.
All attention is drawn to the moon's light, but it does not look upon the world. Its eyes are closed.
What You Feel:
This is a card of secrets and mystery, one that asks us to look more closely at our lives and our goals. If we block out the light of our ego and look at our hearts and emotions, what then do we see? Are we so focused on the light that we don’t see what’s coming for us in the darkness?
What You Say:
Like the two-sided moon, I see and accept both the light and the dark within me.
