The Moon Tarot Art History: Symbolism Across Decks

BY NICOLE LAU

The Moon Through the Ages: The Evolution of Tarot's Most Mysterious Card

The Moon is one of the most visually evocative and symbolically rich cards in tarot history. From medieval Italian playing cards to contemporary art decks, this card has maintained its core imagery—a moon illuminating a mysterious path with creatures responding to its pull—while each era and artist has infused it with their own understanding of illusion, intuition, and the subconscious. This journey through The Moon's artistic evolution reveals not just changing aesthetics, but evolving human relationships with mystery, the unconscious, and ways of knowing beyond logic.

Origins: The Visconti-Sforza Tarot (1440s)

The earliest known depiction of The Moon appears in the Visconti-Sforza deck, though the imagery is less developed than later versions.

Key Features:

• Moon as celestial body
• Astrological significance
• Connection to lunar cycles
• Less elaborate symbolism
• Emphasis on celestial influence

Historical Context: In 15th century Italy, The Moon represented lunar influence, the realm of night, and the mysterious forces that operate in darkness. The card reflected medieval understanding of the moon's power over tides, emotions, and the hidden aspects of life.

The Marseille Tradition (1650-1930)

The Tarot de Marseille established The Moon (La Lune) as one of the most recognizable and consistent images in tarot, with remarkable uniformity across centuries.

Iconic Marseille Features:

• Large moon with face looking down
• Two towers flanking a path
• Wolf and dog howling at moon
• Crayfish or lobster emerging from water
• Winding path between towers
• Numbered XVIII (18)
• Emphasis on duality and mystery

The Wolf and Dog: The Marseille tradition's inclusion of both wild wolf and domesticated dog represents the dual nature of instinct—wild and tamed, natural and civilized, raw intuition and refined knowing. Both respond to the moon's pull, suggesting that all creatures, wild or tame, are subject to lunar influence.

The Crayfish: The creature emerging from water represents what rises from the unconscious, what emerges from the depths, what surfaces from the hidden realm. This is the subconscious making itself known, the unconscious becoming conscious.

The Path: The winding path between towers represents the journey through uncertainty, the path that must be walked even when you cannot see where it leads, the way forward through mystery.

The Rider-Waite-Smith Revolution (1909)

When Pamela Colman Smith created The Moon for the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, she refined and clarified the Marseille imagery while adding psychological depth.

RWS Moon Innovations:

• Moon with face clearly visible
• Drops or rays falling from moon
• Two towers clearly defined
• Wolf and dog howling
• Crayfish emerging from pool
• Winding path leading into distance
• Mountains in far background
• Emphasis on psychological journey

The Drops from the Moon: Smith's addition of drops or rays falling from the moon emphasizes that lunar influence is active, that the moon is not just passive light but active force, that intuition and mystery are not just states but influences that affect us.

The Distant Mountains: The mountains in the background suggest that beyond the mystery lies something solid, that after the moonlit path comes clarity, that the journey through uncertainty leads somewhere even if you cannot see it yet.

Shift in Meaning: Smith's imagery shifted The Moon from lunar influence to psychological journey, from external mystery to internal navigation, from celestial force to subconscious realm. The Moon becomes the card of navigating the unconscious, trusting intuition, and walking through uncertainty.

Thoth Tarot: Crowley and Harris (1938-1943)

Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot, painted by Lady Frieda Harris, took The Moon in a more abstract, esoteric direction emphasizing the path of spiritual evolution through darkness.

Thoth Moon Features:

• Abstract, geometric representation
• Scarab beetle (Egyptian symbolism)
• Path through darkness
• Emphasis on spiritual evolution
• Less literal, more symbolic
• Connection to Pisces and dissolution
• Mystery as spiritual teacher

From Psychological to Spiritual: Crowley reframed The Moon from psychological navigation to spiritual evolution, from personal unconscious to collective mystery, from individual intuition to universal knowing. This Moon is not just about your subconscious—it's about the great mystery that all must navigate on the spiritual path.

The Scarab: Harris's use of the Egyptian scarab beetle (replacing the crayfish) connects The Moon to ancient mystery traditions, to the journey of the soul through darkness, to transformation through the unknown. The scarab represents what emerges transformed from darkness.

The Psychological Turn (1960s-1980s)

Influenced by Jungian psychology and depth psychology, many tarot artists began depicting The Moon as the realm of the unconscious and shadow work.

Psychological Moon Themes:

• The unconscious and shadow
• Dreams and subconscious messages
• Intuition as psychological capacity
• Fear and anxiety from the unknown
• Integration of shadow material
• Psychological navigation of mystery

This shift reframed The Moon from external mystery to internal landscape, from lunar influence to psychological realm, from celestial force to the territory of the unconscious mind that must be explored and integrated.

Contemporary Art Decks (2000-Present)

Modern tarot has brought diverse Moon interpretations, from minimalist to elaborate, from frightening to empowering.

The Wild Unknown Tarot (2012):

• Minimalist black and white aesthetic
• Abstract representation of mystery
• Less frightening, more contemplative
• Emphasis on intuitive knowing

The Fountain Tarot (2014):

• Sleek, modern aesthetic
• Emphasis on subconscious wisdom
• Beautiful mystery rather than frightening
• Intuition as resource

Diverse Cultural Perspectives:

• Decks removing Western fear-based imagery
• Indigenous-inspired decks connecting Moon to ancestral wisdom
• Afrofuturist decks reimagining mystery and intuition
• Feminist decks emphasizing lunar wisdom and cycles
• Decks connecting Moon to dream work and psychic development
• Decks emphasizing Moon as teacher rather than threat

Consistent Symbols Across All Traditions

Despite vast artistic differences, certain symbols remain remarkably consistent across Moon cards:

The Moon: Universal across virtually all Moon cards. Represents intuition, the subconscious, and the realm of mystery.

The Path: Nearly universal symbol of the journey through uncertainty, the way forward when clarity is absent.

The Creatures: Consistently shown responding to the moon—wolves, dogs, or other animals representing instinct and intuition.

The Water: Often present, representing the unconscious, emotions, or the realm from which intuition emerges.

The Number 18: Consistently associated with The Moon, reducing to 9 (completion), suggesting the final journey before enlightenment.

Cultural Variations in Moon Symbolism

Western Tradition: Moon as illusion, deception, fear. Emphasis on danger of the unknown and need for caution.

Occult Tradition: Moon as gateway to mystery, path of spiritual evolution. Emphasis on navigating darkness as spiritual practice.

Psychological Perspective: Moon as unconscious, shadow, dreams. Emphasis on integration and psychological navigation.

Modern Interpretation: Moon as intuition, psychic awareness, subconscious wisdom. Emphasis on trusting inner knowing and developing intuitive capacity.

The Evolution of Meaning

The Moon's meaning has evolved significantly across tarot history:

Medieval/Renaissance: Lunar influence, night forces, mysterious powers. External celestial influence on human affairs.

Occult Period: Spiritual mystery, path through darkness, esoteric knowing. Journey of spiritual evolution.

Psychological Era: Unconscious, shadow, dreams, psychological navigation. Internal rather than external. Integration work.

Contemporary: Intuition, psychic awareness, trusting inner knowing. Emphasis on developing intuitive capacity and navigating uncertainty with wisdom.

Artistic Techniques and Their Meanings

Frightening vs. Empowering: Traditional decks emphasize fear and danger. Modern decks often emphasize wisdom and intuition. Both serve different purposes.

Color Symbolism: Blue (intuition, water, emotion), silver (moon, reflection, psychic awareness), purple (mystery, spirituality, the unknown), black (unconscious, shadow, hidden).

Literal vs. Abstract: Realistic imagery emphasizes the journey and creatures. Abstract representations emphasize the psychological or spiritual principles.

Creatures Present vs. Absent: Some show wolf and dog, others different creatures or none. Creatures emphasize instinctual response; absence emphasizes pure mystery.

Choosing Your Moon: Deck Selection

When selecting a tarot deck, consider how The Moon is portrayed:

For intuition development: Rider-Waite-Smith offers balanced, accessible symbolism

For spiritual work: Thoth or esoteric decks emphasizing mystery as spiritual path

For psychological work: Decks emphasizing unconscious and shadow integration

For psychic development: Decks emphasizing intuitive capacity and psychic awareness

For traditional readings: Marseille or RWS for established symbolism

The Constant Unification Perspective

In the Constant Unification framework, the evolution of The Moon's imagery across centuries and cultures reveals a profound truth: while artistic expression changes, the underlying constant remains. Whether depicted as lunar influence, spiritual mystery, psychological unconscious, or intuitive knowing, The Moon always represents the same universal law—not all knowing comes through logic, intuition perceives what reason cannot, and sometimes you must navigate mystery trusting inner guidance rather than outer clarity.

Different artistic traditions are not contradictory interpretations but different calculation methods revealing the same constant. The Marseille Moon, the RWS Moon, the Thoth version, and contemporary reimaginings are all pointing to the same invariant truth: there is a way of knowing beyond logic, there is wisdom in the unconscious, and sometimes you must walk through uncertainty trusting what you sense rather than what you see.

This is why The Moon remains one of the most powerful and consistent cards across all tarot traditions. You can change the costume, the culture, the artistic style—but you cannot change what The Moon represents. Intuition is intuition, mystery is mystery, the unconscious is the unconscious, regardless of how you paint it.

The art changes; the principle doesn't. And that principle is this: Not all truth is visible. Not all knowing is logical. Not all guidance comes through clarity. Sometimes you must trust what you sense, follow what you feel, and walk the path even when you cannot see where it leads. This is not weakness—it's wisdom. The Moon is not your enemy. It's your teacher, showing you that there are ways of knowing beyond what logic can prove, that intuition is valid even when it cannot be explained, and that sometimes the most sophisticated thing you can do is trust what you sense even when you cannot see.