Moon Page

The Moon
Completed May 27, 2000
Medium: Cut-and-paste collage with computer-generated title

I struggled with the idea of putting a person in this card because so many Moon cards are sans human figures - but I felt very strongly that I wanted to do so. I suppose it's because the Moon card is very personal card for me - I struggle with its issues contantly.

I included the traditional dual pillars with the moon showing beyond them, but I picked a foggy, mysterious moon because that is how Moon issues often seem to me - phantasmagoric, not quite clearly visible. The dragon is a personal symbol for me. . . I love dragons (collect images of them, in fact), and I got gifted with the nickname "DragonLady" early in my career (It was, I think, generally intended as a compliment, although probably not always!).

But things can change by moonlight. This dragon has turned menacing, and is breaking free of the misty subconscious realm. It surrounds the woman's form, and holds her prisoner in the shadows. In the same way, those wild lurkers in our own subconscious or unconscious worlds - our personal dragons - can sometimes turn on us, even when we thought we knew them and/or had them safely tamed. They break free, and get into the forefront of our lives, where we must face them and learn to treat with them; otherwise they hold us back. This is, I think, one of the lessons of the Moon card.

The woman in the painting is exerpted from a painting called "Sin" by Franz Von Stuck which I found in a catalog. Stuck created several versions of the work; this particular one was completed in 1893. Interested readers can learn more about Stuck at ArtMagick. A close look at the image will reveal a serpent draped over the woman's right shoulder. The intended symbolism of this is obvious in Stuck's original work. However, in the context of this card, I mean for it to protray that the woman's subconscious or unconscious demons are not only breaking free and coming to the surface (the dragon), but are also still close to her - literally wrapped around her - a part of her very being. Additionally, her haunted expression captured perfectly the mood I wanted for this card.

The dragon is actually a garden sculpture entitled "Order of the Dragon" by Greg Gold, a contemporary artist. The remainder of the images were collected from various catalogs and magazines. The font is Wizard, one of my favorites!

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