The divine Moon.
On a divinatory level, the card of Hecate, the moon-goddess, augurs a period of confusion, fluctuation and uncertainty. We are in the grip of the unconscious and can do nothing but wait and cling to the elusive images of dreams and the vague sense of hope and faith. Thus the Fool awaits his rebirth in the waters of a greater womb, dimly aware that his journey of personal development is only a small fragment of a vast, unknowable life which spans millennia and which remains eternally fertile yet unformed.
Meaning:
A subtle and magical card. Dreams, intuition, imagination and psychic abilities all flow freely with it. A time in your life where you are reconnecting to your subconscious mind, through dreams, symbols and strange coincidences. At this time, the arts may influence you more than normal, and through poetry and water colors you may be better able to express you feelings than with words. For career issues, the areas of film, visual arts, writing, healing and anything connected to beauty will be influenced for the better. Your mind is filled with rich ideas and you have an uncanny ability to connect with people right now. Sometimes this energy can be draining any your body may require more sleep than normal. Treat yourself gently and allow the ideas coming to you to settle in.
Reversed Meaning:
When the moon is reversed, you are entering a period where the line between dreams and reality have become blurred. You may have false people around you or find it hard to be honest with yourself. In the resulting chaos, nothing is concrete and everything is more than a little confusing. It’s not the time to bet on anything. Job offers will evaporate, potential homes turning out bad investments: nothing is what it seems. Keep ideas to yourself, and be wary of advice you receive. Depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, and illness can all appear when the Moon is reversed.
The inner Moon.
On an inner level, Hecate, the moon-goddess, is an image of the mysterious watery depths of the unconscious. We have already encountered this strange and elusive realm in two other cards in the Major Arcana: the High Priestess and the Wheel of Fortune. These three cards are linked in meaning and represent a progression in deepening Through Persephone, the High Priestess, the Fool became aware of an ordinary mundane life. Through the Moirai who preside over the Wheel of Fortune, he experienced the power which we call Fate, through sudden changes of fortune that reveal an invisible law or purposeful pattern within. Here, in the card of the Moon, we find in the image of Hecate is more than a portrayal of personal depths. She embodies the feminine principle in life itself, and the three faces and three lunar phases reflect her multifaceted power over heaven, earth and underworld. In psychological terms, it is from this oceanic realm of the human imagination that the great myths and religious symbols and works of art are born over the centuries. It is chaotic, confusing, unbounded world of which the individual with his personal journey and search for self are only a tiny part.
The meeting with Hecate, the moon-goddess, is a confrontation with a transpersonal world, where individual boundaries dissolve and the sense of direction and ego are lost. It is as though we must wait submerged in the waters of this world while the new potentials arise which will eventually become our future. But the dark waters of the collective unconscious contain both negative and positive, and it is sometimes hard to distinguish its shifting movements from madness and delusion. It can be a frightening, anxiety-provoking world, for living in the realm over which Hecate presides means living without knowledge and clarity. Something has washed over us which cleanses the past and prepares the way for the future, but we must wait as the fetus waits in the womb. The only road to Hecate’s world is the ‘royal road’ of dreams, which like the crab tantalize us with a glimpse and then slips back into the water again. The card of the Moon is a card of gestation, full of confusion, anxiety and bewilderment. We have nothing but the dream-world and the Star of Hope to guide us, for this image of the feminine is not a personal one like that of the High Priestess. It is vague and elusive and impersonal, embodying itself as shifting moods and confusion. Hecate is never really graspable, for she is a goddess of magic, and initiates the Fool into a world greater than himself, that primal water out of which all life comes.
Hecate’s Moon.
Here we meet the ancient underworld goddess Hecate, ruler of the moon, magic and enchantment. In myth Hecate was sometimes interchangeable with Artemis the moon-goddess, although a much older deity, and was powerful both in the sky and beneath the earth. The child of Zeus and Hera, she incurred her mother’s wrath by stealing a pot of rouge. She fled to earth and hid in the house of a woman who had just been brought to bed with a child. Contact with childbirth rendered her impure, and she was thus taken to the underworld to be washed of her stain. Instead she became on of the underworld rulers, and was called and Invincible Queen, presiding over purifications and expiation. As a goddess of enchantment, she sent demons to earth who tormented men through their dreams. She was accompanied by Cerberus, the three-headed guardian of the underworld’s gate, who was her animal form and familiar spirit. The places she most frequently haunted were crossroads, tombs and the scenes of crimes, and three-headed images sacred to her were erected at crossroads and worshipped on the eve of the full moon.
Zeus himself honored Hecate so greatly that he never denied her the ancient power which she so greatly enjoyed: that of bestowing or withholding from mortals any desired gift. Her companions in the underworld were the three Erinyes or Furies, who punished offenses against nature and represented in a more threatening form the three Moirai or Fates. Thus Hecate is one of the most archaic images in myth presiding over magic, childbirth, death, the underworld and fate.
The divine Star.
On a divinatory level, the card of the Star when it appears in a spread portends the experience of hope, meaning and faith in the midst of difficulties. Although the Star too can be ambivalent, and can warn against blind hope without the necessary action to build upon it, the card of the Star is an augury of promise, an altogether welcome experience for the Fool who has passed through the collapse of everything which he believed to be of value in his life.
Meaning:
Insight, understanding and hope for the future. This card will be a good indication that wishes will be fulfilled, not always as one expects, but even so, the unexpected can have a good result. Shows good health and that gifts will be given. Shows good health and that gifts will be given. The spiritual dimension of life should not be ignored. Old problems can be solved, wounds heal and you are refreshed and ready to try again when the Star appears. A time when you will heal and connect with others, giving them a gift of help and helping yourself in the processes. Assistance will come soon. At this time, nature will become more important to you and you will want to head out to the country. Working in a garden or with animals could also reconnect you with a natural life; being involved in this will bring you down to earth in addition to making you happy. The Star is motivated by social issues environmental causes, human rights, and helping others. Relationships affected by the Star are joyful and balanced; pleasure is reciprocal and there is never a lack of things to talk about.
Reversed Meaning:
When this Tarot card is reversed, its meaning connects to the dark moments of the heart when it feels like nothing will ever work. At this low point, you may doubt your ability and what you can achieve while this is connected to recent events you perceive as failures, you’re also worn down and need a break. The Star still offers a chance of success. It is a time where you would benefit from removing yourself from the situation and taking a change to reassess before continuing. The Star can refer to a period were emotions are detached and there is a lack of sharing in a relationship; tension and pessimism may play a role in this.
The inner Star.
On an inner level, the image of Pandora and the Star of Hope is a symbol of that part of us which, despite disappointment, depression and loss can still cling to a sense of meaning and a future which might grow out of the unhappiness of the past. The Star does not represent a fully formed conviction of future plans, or solution to one’s problems, or a guide to action. Like the cards of the Hermit and the Hanged Man, the card of the Star is a card of waiting, for the sense of hope is a fragile light which glimmers and guides but does not dispel the darkness altogether. Hope is therefore shown as a female figure, because it is the irrational side of us – the intuition – which perceives the Star in the middle of the noxious swarm of Spites. Hope does not make the Spites go away, or undo the vengeance which Zeus has unleashed. But somehow, in some mysterious way, it offers faith, and therefore in the image Pandora’s eyes are fixed not on the unhappiness of the human condition, but on this vague, irrational, inexplicable sense that soon there will be a dawn.
This quality of hope has nothing to do with planned expectations. It is connected with something deep within us which has sometimes been called the will to live, and which – despite being a subjective experience with no visible with no concrete reason – can often make difference between life and death. Physicians know this about an ill patient – that the individual who has a sense of hope and a will to live can often find the inner resources to battle with a disease which would otherwise kill. Likewise individuals who have suffered tragic circumstances or been faced with challenges which are far greater than the ordinary human capacity to cope – such as those who experienced the imprisonment of concentration camps in Germany and Poland during the Second World War, or saw families destroyed in the Russian invasions of Czechoslovakia in 1948 and Hungary in 1956 – have often expressed their belief that it was some inner feeling of faith and meaning that meant the difference between survival and complete collapse and death. Hope is a profound and mysterious thing, for it would seem that it can transcend anything life offers us in the way of catastrophe. Yet it does not arise from an act of will, any more than the Star of Hope appears in the myth of Pandora through any deliberate action on her part. It is simply there, mysteriously locked in the chest along with all woes, and if the individual can perceive its delicate glimmering then one’s response to difficulties is radically altered. Thus the Star, the guiding vision of hope and promise, arises not from intention but out of the ashes of the Tower which has been destroyed. The Fool waits amidst the rubble, without any clear sense of how or what to rebuild. In the midst of this confusion and collapse of old attitudes and structures, the faint, elusive yet potent Star of Hope rises.
The Star and Pandora.
Here we meet Pandora, who in myth opened the chest which Zeus had maliciously given to mankind, and released all the Spites. After the Titan Prometheus had stolen the sacred fire of the gods to give to mankind, the king of the gods resolved to inflict severe punishments on the human race, which culminated in the great flood described in the card of the Hanged Man. Before this flood, however, his anger was more subtle, although not yet satisfied. Zeus ordered Hephaestus the smith-god to fashion clay and water into a body, to give it vital force and human voice, and to make a virgin whose dazzling beauty would equal that of the immortal goddesses. All the divinities heaped their special gifts on this new creature, who received the name of Pandora. Hermes, however, put perfidy into Pandora’s heart and lies into her mouth. This woman Zeus sent to Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus, along with a great chest. But Epimetheus, having been warned by his brother to accept no gifts from Zeus, respectfully excused himself. However, having seen the terrible vengeance which the king of the gods then inflicted upon Prometheus, Epimetheus (whose name means ‘hindsight’) hastened to marry Pandora.
Prometheus, before he was seized and imprisoned on his lonely mountain peak, managed to warn Epimetheus not to touch the chest, and Epimetheus conveyed this warning to Pandora with frightening threats. But Hephaestus had made Pandora as foolish, mischievous and idle as she was beautiful. Presently she opened the lid of the chest, and the terrible afflictions which Zeus had gathered – Old Age, Labour, infecting the whole of mankind. Hope alone, which had somehow got locked in the chest with the Spites, did not fly away.
The divine Tower.
On a divinatory level, the card of the Tower appearing in a spread augurs the breaking down of existing forms. This card, like the cards of Death and the Devil, depends a great deal upon the attitude of the individual in terms of how difficult or painful it is to deal with. Obviously it is more creative to ask oneself where one is constricted or bound by a false persona or image, because a willing effort to break through this pretense can spare a great deal of anguish. But it seems that the Tower will fall anyway, whether we are willing or unwilling, not because some malicious eternal fate decrees it, but because something within the individual has reached boiling point and can no longer live within such confines.
Meaning:
Breaking down of an outworn sense of values. A sudden shock that is never the less a blessing in disguise. Freedom from possibly self-imposed restriction. Sudden disruptive changes are inevitable but there is nothing to be feared, since you will come through this a better person. Change without warning is about to turn your life up-side-down. This may wreak havoc on you as the Tower’s change is disruptive and even revolutionary. After the waves have calmed, this may be a positive experience, – freedom quickly follows change. Results of the tower may be radical new ways of thinking, feeling or acting; they may take you off guard, unprepared for their appearance in your life right now. It can also refer to a period of frustration where intense anger will burn to the surface and explode, then vanish again. In terms of changes to the rest of your life, your home, career or relationship may be altered with similar speed. These changes may seem out-of-the-blue, but really they have been coming for some time. When the Tower appears, it affects pars of your life that were struck. The complete changes of the Tower are giving you a chance to transform your life. Relationships that the Tower touches may not end but will change for the better.
Reversed Meaning:
Reversed, the Tower’s effects are more revolutionary and chaotic. While it may seem like a punishment, when it is reversed, it seems less fair. The company you work for could go out of business without warning, and all its employees laid off; this may be the time you needed to discover a much-loved career. When experiencing these changes, you may feel like you need to know why. The answers will come to you eventually but for now remain beyond you. You feel you are stuck in a situation. While you may not be able to free yourself right now, the freedom you seek will come but it has a price.
The inner Tower.
On an inner level, the god struck Tower is an image of the collapse of old forms. The Tower is the only man-made structure in the Major Arcana, and is thus a representation of structures, inner and outer, which we ourselves build, like Minos, as defenses against life and as concealment to hide our less agreeable sides from others. In many ways the Tower is the image of the socially acceptable facades we adapt to hide the beast within. Then we use our professions, our good credentials, our affiliations with respectable institutions and companies, our carefully mannered social roles, our politest smiles and most diplomatic exchanges, our magazine-inspired appearances, and family instilled morals, to hide that shameful secret which in the card of the Devil awaits the Fool in the underworld. The Tower is a structure of false or outgrown values, those attitudes toward life which do not spring from the whole self but are ‘put on’ like costumes in a play to impress the audience. Likewise the Tower also represents the structures we build in the outside world to embody our incomplete selves.
Thus, when the Fool confronts the great god Pan at the heart of the Labyrinth within, he is changed by the encounter. He is more humble, more complete, and more real. Inevitably, this change will result in changes occurring in outer life. Just as our attitudes are altered by any encounter with what lies in the unconscious, so too are our chosen lifestyles. One of the reasons why many people fear this inward-looking process is that they are dimly aware that, having discovered one’s real nature, one can no longer pretend in the eyes of the world. Honest encounter with the Devil invokes a profound integrity, and thus the Tower, the edifice which represents the values of the past, must fall. The Fool perceives the ways in which he has betrayed his essential self, and this shock is like the trident of Poseidon striking the Labyrinth: It cracks open the defenses and releases those parts of ourselves which have been enslaved. In many ways the Minotaur is like the Devil, for both represent a bestial secret connected with the body and with shameful sexual feelings which must be concealed even from ourselves if we are to appear blameless and ‘nice’ in the eyes of society.
The Tower and the Labyrinth.
Here we see the famous Labyrinth of King Minos, which was struck by an earthquake when the angry god Poseidon rose up from the waters to topple the kingdom. In myth, Minos was the wealthy and powerful king of Crete. He was given this power by Poseidon, god of earthquakes and the ocean depths, who agreed to make Minos sovereign of the seas if the king offered a beautiful white bull in sacrifice to the god. But King Minos did not want to give up the bull, and hid it in his heard, substituting a lesser animal in its place. In fury at this act of arrogance and repudiation of the pact, Poseidon called upon the love-goddess Aphrodite for aid. She afflicted Minos’ wife Pasiphae with a consuming passion for the white bull. The queen bribed the palace artisan Daedalus to build her a wooden cow. Pasipae entered the cow, the bull entered Pasiphae, and from this union of queen and beast was born the Minotaur, the shame of Minos, a horrible creature with a man’s body and a bull’s head which fed on human flesh. In terror the king hid this creature at the heart of a great stone Labyrinth which he ordered Daedalus to build.
But the kingdom could not remain forever in such a stagnant state, with such a shameful secret hidden as its core. With the help of Minos’ daughter Ariadne, the hero Theseus, son of Poseidon, came and slew the Minotaur, and the god at the same moment rose up in anger from his bed beneath the sea and struck at the Labyrinth. The building was reduced to rubble by the earthquake, burying both King Minos and the corpse of the Minotaur beneath it, while all the slaves who had been held in bondage by Minos’ power were set free. Theseus was proclaimed king of Crete, a new era was inaugurated, and the Labyrinth was never raised again.
The divine Devil.
On a divinatory level, the card of Pan, the devil, implies the necessity of a confrontation with all that is shadowy, shameful and base in the personality. The Fool must free himself by gaining knowledge and power which held in chains by his own panic and self-disgust. Thus he comes to the heart of the labyrinth and faces his own darkness in the essential darkness of his body, in order to become what he always was merely natural.
Meaning:
Unyielding power and tyranny, lust and greed. An immovable obstacle that cannot be overcome yet may yet be worked around. Discontent and depression caused by an overwhelming force. I t also means unbreakable bonds. A good omen for marriage. It appears at a time in your life when the material world is most important to you. There is nothing wrong with money and the security it provides. You may be entering a time in your life where you are all spending money on beautiful clothes, fine dinners, luxurious furnishings – and enjoying every minute of it! As long as it is all kept in perspective, there is no harm. The card can also be a warning against using money and power in relationships. You may be substituting material pleasures to make up for what is missing emotionally in your life. If you are involved in a new relationship, there may be more lust than love involved. It can be intoxicating but be certain you are aware what you are getting into. You may learn new things about yourself, but could be disappointed if you think this will be a permanent thing.
Reversed Meaning:
When reversed, the Devil is suggesting you attitudes towards money, power or sex are unbalanced. Absorbed with the material world, and you may be stuck in a greedy and self-absorbed mindset. However, it is also difficult to let go, feeling trapped and depressed. Relationships at this time can be equally unbalanced, usually with one partner calling all the shots. There may be an element of bondage in this relationship that makes it hard to leave. The card can refer to exploring uncharted sexual waters, some erotic fantasies may become a reality.
Gypsy Magic 