The Moon

Quick answer

The core meaning of The Moon is The fog of the subconscious. Upright, it usually points to Illusion, the subconscious, unease, intuition. Symbolizes walking through fog wh; reversed, it may suggest Illusions dispelled, confusion, deception exposed, fear subsiding. May indicate .

Card imagery

A moon combining crescent, full disc, and a sleeping face hangs in the sky. Below, a wolf and a dog howl up at it. A crayfish crawls from a pool, and in the distance a path winds between twin towers.

Upright meaning

Illusion, the subconscious, unease, intuition. Symbolizes walking through fog where things are not what they seem, calling you to face inner fears and shadows.

Reversed meaning

Illusions dispelled, confusion, deception exposed, fear subsiding. May indicate waking from bewilderment, or being plagued by nightmares and anxiety.

Love, Career, Money and Growth

Love

In love, The Moon points to The fog of the subconscious. Read it back against how the relationship actually behaves and what you are both choosing.

Career

In career matters, The Moon points to The fog of the subconscious. Start by working out which resources you control and what your next move is.

Money

In money matters, The Moon points to The fog of the subconscious. Do not treat a symbolic reading as an investment conclusion — go by facts, budget and your own risk tolerance.

Personal growth

For personal growth, The Moon points to The fog of the subconscious. Write down the question it raises, then turn that into an action you can actually check.

Yes or No

Upright

No

Reversed

Undecided

This is our own quick read, based on which way the card’s meaning leans. Traditions disagree about individual cards, and an "Undecided" needs to be weighed against the position in the spread and your actual situation rather than taken as a one-word answer.

Waite’s Original Text (1911)

Inner Symbolism (original)

The distinction between this card and some of the conventional types is that the moon is increasing on what is called the side of mercy, to the right of the observer. It has sixteen chief and sixteen secondary rays. The card represents life of the imagination apart from life of the spirit. The path between the towers is the issue into the unknown. The dog and the wolf are the fears of the natural mind in the presence of that place of exit, when there is only reflected light to guide it.

The last reference is a key to another form of symbolism. The intellectual light is a reflection and beyond it is the unknown mystery which it cannot show forth. It illuminates our animal nature, types of which are represented below—the dog, the wolf and that which comes up out of the deeps, the nameless and hideous tendency which is lower than the savage beast. It strives to attain manifestation, symbolized by crawling from the abyss of water to the land, but as a rule it sinks back whence it came. The face of the mind directs a calm gaze upon the unrest below; the dew of thought falls; the message is: Peace, be still; and it may be that there shall come a calm upon the animal nature, while the abyss beneath shall cease from giving up a form.

Original Upright Meaning

Hidden enemies, danger, calumny, darkness, terror, deception, occult forces, error.

Original Reversed Meaning

Instability, inconstancy, silence, lesser degrees of deception and error.

Quoted from A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. The text is in the public domain.