The Wild and Knowing Moon
The Wise and Knowing Moon also features as The Moon tarot card in the Chromatic Fates group tarot deck.
Would you howl if you knew where the mountains lead? Listen to the whispers of the crawdad that bled? Though your soul is heavier than the stars above, I can lead you with longing to the moon’s golden love.
The symbolism of this piece is largely about temptation, and illusions born from strife or trauma, especially those traumas rooted deep in one’s past. It is also about intuition and the truth it brings us.
The crawdad represents your purest, most childlike self. The spear in its side indicates that some of us have struggles almost as old as we are that can affect our perceptions. This old trauma is a great weight on the back of the stray dog who is caught between wild instincts, and domestic expectations. As such, she carries the burden of a cruel world on her back and frequently sees enemies where there are none, misinterpreting everything around her. She must learn to decipher the truth as she embarks on a path full of illusions.
The distant mountains replace the usual towers from the traditional Moon card. These represent a temptation into the wild where primal gods call you either to follow your intuition, or to give in to your inner wolf, your first reaction, your impulsiveness.
The fox acts as a strange and wise voice from beyond. Not quite a dog, not a wolf, but a cousin whispering wisdom about the path ahead.
And of course above all that sits the moon. A soulful thing whose light calls you to connect to your deepest knowledge as you make your way down the path.
The Moon card is really a heavy one, but what I love about it is the possibility echoed within its warnings, and the self reflection it brings. It can give us truths within the illusions we may have been holding onto, and helps empower us as we come to understand our past trauma, taking strength from our newfound clarity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Medium: Watercolour, metal leaf and 24K gold leaf on wood panel