Melanie's vision of the Moon is radically different from the more traditional vision, in the Universal Waite or Marseille's decks. Emphasizing the mystical aspects of this card. Being pagan myself, the moon is a very special thing, it is our connection to the Goddess, her lantern in the sky. A beacon guiding us home to her temple. Mel's vision is very much a look at the Faery Land ruled by the Goddess of the Moon.

In the foreground Mel deftly blends an image of the reef under the sea, with an image of the surface, glimmering in the Moonlight. The Horizon is staked out by a line of sheer and dark Mountains, reminiscent of HP Lovecraft's Mountains of Madness. The sky is filled with migratory birds and deep clouds. A line of moons forms an arch at the top of the card, depicting the moon in all her phases from full to new.

Centered on the card, are a pair of dolphins, forming a heart shaped frame around the image of a woman's face, peeking out from overlaid image. The card teams with life. It's Iconography is very much about the moons natural relationship with the feminine, the sea, and the sea as the earths womb.

I feel Mel has chosen to emphasize the more positive aspects of the Moon, in her imagery. Reminding us the moon is intimately tied with the cycles of life. After all many more of us, than not, are conceived by moonlight and not under the blazing afternoon sun. Part of the price we pay for living a civilized life, is that we have attempted to lock our animal nature behind closed doors. Moving our bowels, grooming, making babies, are all locked away in private, so we can present to the world the facade we call a human being. But just as the traditional vision of the moon depicts the Dog and Wolf, we can imagine one that speaks more directly to ourselves, one that depicts a chimp and a man. The moon invites us to tune psyche's into our more natural self, to let the ape out of his civilized cage for a few hours, to participate in those cycles of life. Or simply appreciate the beauty of a moon lit night.

She walks in beauty, like the night 
of cloudless climes and starry skies;
and all that's best of dark and bright,
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies. 

The deep cloud and sheer peaks remind us of the darker elements of the moon. Leading us too the instinctive urges, and darker fantasies, beyond the Mountains of Madness. That place where the lands of Faery, meet with our own realm. After all not all our natural urges are pretty. Behind the mountains lay the addictions, melancholia, and madness that are also taxes we pay to the Lunar Goddess. Unfortunately those taxes have come due again in my life. The woman I was sitting with a little while ago, is now undergoing In-patient care. A few nights ago she nearly drank herself to death. Its a hard thing, watching someone dear to you, crumbling, almost before your very eyes.

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
  And the highwayman came riding,
  Riding, riding,
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

< Snip >

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
  But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
  Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Divination: Intuition, Occult Knowledge, Craft, Connection to Astral or Faery Realms, Dream Magick, Connection with ones primal self. Silence, Stillness

Reversed: A warning of deception, Enemies in the shadows, Madness, Addiction, Compulsive behaviour. A warning that danger lies off the beaten path.