OCCULT VIEW

Examples of the Moon Card

There are a few theories about how tarot cards work as divination.  Some say the cards spark our psychic intuition, and while the layout of the cards is random, it is our interpretation of the cards that matter. Others say the spirit world actually manipulates how the cards will play out, controlling the shuffle, causing certain cards to appear in order.  And others suggest the cards are an organized method of trying to tap into universal synchronicity, which creates meaningful coincidences and afterwards our attempts to understand them.

My personal view is the cards are used for channeling whatever spirits may be around.  By trying to read the meaning of a layout, I intently focus my intuition trying to understand the cards before me.  And in focusing my intuition, I am also opening myself to insights from the Unseen World…almost like an Ouija board. The issue with this method is that not all wanderers in the invisible world are positive or wise.  Therefore I don’t depend on my cards and use them infrequently.  If I do a layout, I never expect results, and I am the most surprised as anyone if the layout speaks.  The person receiving the reading will confirm if the cards are speaking (which often happens); I really never know.

I have a personal project to design my own set of Tarot cards, using different approaches to the symbolism.  For instance, above is my drawing of the Major Arcana “La Luna”, the Moon.  Beside it are the traditional versions of the Moon.  The woman depicted represents the Moon itself and is suggestive of the Goddess Diana/Hecate.  Here the skull elements represent the symbolism of the droplets rising upwards towards the moon, as seen in the traditional cards.  According to occult tradition, the moon was a place where souls of the dead were drawn, symbolized by those droplets.   If we look at the original moon cards, they really are sinister cards, with the baying hounds, the crayfish emerging from stagnant water, and those mysterious towers in the distance.