Major arcana · XVIII
The Moon
Upright
illusion · fear · the unconscious · the path by night
The Moon hangs over a path between two towers, with a dog and a wolf howling and a creature climbing out of the pool. The card means the night mind: illusion, anxiety, dreams, instinct, the things that are real and the things that only feel real, and the difficulty of telling them apart. Upright, it advises caution with what you think you see. Not everything is as it appears, including your fear.
The road was the same. The light made it a stranger.
What are you afraid of that you have never actually seen?
Reversed
clarity returning · the fog lifting · fear named
Reversed, the Moon is setting. Confusion clearing, a fear named and therefore shrinking, the return of a daylight sense of proportion. It can also mean a deception uncovered, or the release of an anxiety that has run its course. The card asks which of your night thoughts are already fading.
At dawn the monster was a coat on a chair.
Which worry is about to look smaller in daylight?