Further discourse on card # 18, the Moon.

Today's card is from Josef Machynka's Ibis Tarot. The deck is an Egyptian "theme" deck. The art is the standard for Egyptian decks, an attempt to duplicate the delicate style of temples and the Pharaoh's tombs; rendered with at least a partial success in this deck. (As with nearly every deck there are cards that have personal appeal and cards that do not)

The 18th card has been re-titled to "The Twilight", one supposes for the magic to be found between the day and the night, the light and the dark. The Moon has been rendered full and ripe-bellied, surrounded by a halo. Clouds scuttle and threaten to occult the light, but do not succeed. In the far distance are wind-sculpted sand dunes, towering and slightly menacing in the half-light of the moon. Two pyramids dominate the card, one white, one black. Before each sits a jackal, of reversed colour. The black jackal is the god Anubis, he who guides both in the physical world and the afterworld.

The black pyramid has no visible entrance while the white one stands open and beckons one to enter. Machynka tells us that the sign for Venus above the entrance is also the sign of the Egyptian Key of Life. To the left of the entrance is the sigil for Aquarius: an interesting juxtaposition the markings above the entrance, one for a planet, one for an Astrological sign...

A scorpion emerges from a pool of water. Although the creator of the deck does not say so, the water must be a remnant of the Nile's yearly flood. The scorpion is said to be the poisoner of that which is considered to be the lower nature of man, his passion.

No matter the rendering of the art the message of the Moon card seems to be universal. The meandering path of life leads from one place to another: from the familiar to the foreign, that which Professor Hotema calls "the dreaded area of the unknown". From whence his expression arose will become obvious!

Opensky had some interesting observations regarding card # 18 (although certainly NOT this particular card! and NO! I am neither recommending nor endorsing PD Opensky. As Robert says, "Opensky makes Crowley look like a rational and straight-forward individual.").

"The Path of Life, rising and falling with the undulating terrain, has been worn by the feet of many mortals who had travelled it before me. In the foreground the Path traversed a cultivated field, symbolizing things of common knowledge, unit it came to the two towers which marked the limits of the known. From there is extended into the dark regions of the unknown."

The dark regions of the unknown...it seems to me that for either emotional or spiritual growth to take place that is exactly where we need to venture, into the unknown. The everyday, the familiar and the comfortable may be a catalyst for staying replete, but can growth occur in repletion or in intellectual stagnation?

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Within the circle all becomes equal.
There is no one above, below, to the
left, the right, front or back. Unity
is at work. A pebble tossed into still
water stirs the water, the ripple starts
small and spreads and then disperses.
Thus it should be with knowledge.
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Make some ripples!

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