Man comes to see himself as a symbol in so far as he is conscious of his
being. Hallstatt art, in Austria, shows fine examples of animal-heads with human
figures appearing above them. In India, in New Guinea, in the West as well, the
bull’s or ox’s head with a human form drawn between the horns is a very common
motif. Since the bull is a symbol for the father-heaven, man comes to be seen as
both his and the earth’s son (22), also, as a third possibility, the son of the sun and
the moon (49). The implications of Origen’s remark: ‘Understand that you are
another world in miniature and that in you are the sun, the moon and also the
stars’, are to be found in all symbolic traditions. In Moslem esoteric thought, man
is the symbol of universal existence (29), an idea which has found its way into
contemporary philosophy in the definition of man as ‘the messenger of being’;
however, in symbolic theory, man is not defined by function alone (that of
appropriating the consciousness of the cosmos), but rather by analogy, whereby
he is seen as an image of the universe. This analogical relationship is sometimes
expressed explicitly, as in some of the more ancient sections of the Upanishads—
the Brihadaranyaka and the Chandogya for instance—where the analogy between the human organism and the macrocosmos is drawn step by step by means
of correspondences with the organs of the body and the senses (7). So, for
example, the components of the nervous system are derived from fiery substance, and blood from watery substance (26). These oriental concepts first
appear in the West during the Romanesque period: Honorius of Autun, in his Elucidarium (12th century) states that the flesh (and the bones) of man are
derived from the earth, blood from water, his breath from air, and body-heat from
fire. Each part of the body relates to a corresponding part of the universe: the
head corresponds to the heavens, the breath to air, the belly to the sea, the lower
extremities to earth. The five senses were given analogies in accordance with a
system which came to Europe, perhaps, from the Hebrews and the Greeks (14).
Thus, Hildegard of Bingen, living in the same period, states that man is disposed
according to the number five: he is of five equal parts in height and five in girth; he
has five senses, and five members, echoed in the hand as five fingers. Hence the
pentagram is a sign of the microcosmos. Agrippa of Nettesheim represented this graphically, after Valeriano, who drew the analogy between the five-pointed star
and the five wounds of Christ. There is a relationship, too, between the organic
laws of Man and the Cistercian temple (14). Fabre d’Olivet, following the Cabala,
maintains that another number closely associated with the human being is nine—
the triple ternary. He divides human potentialities into three planes: those of the
body, of the soul or life and of the spirit. Each of these planes is characterized by
three modes: the active, the passive and the neutral (43). In the Far East, also,
speculation about the symbolism of man began very early. The same kind of
triple ternary organization is to be seen in the ancient teachings of the Taoists
(13). It is also interesting to note that there is a relationship between the human
being and the essential or archetypal animals (the turtle, the phoenix, the dragon
and the unicorn) who appear to bear the same relation to man—who is central—
as the tetramorphs do to the Pantokrator. Now, between man as a concrete
individual and the universe there is a medial term—a mesocosmos. And this
mesocosmos is the ‘Universal Man’, the King (Wang) in Far Eastern tradition,
and the Adam Kadmon of the Cabala. He symbolizes the whole pattern of the
world of manifestation, that is, the complete range of possibilities open to mankind. In a way, the concept corresponds to Jung’s ‘collective unconscious’. According to Guénon, Leibniz—perhaps influenced by Raymond Lull—conceded
that every ‘individual substance’ must contain within itself an integral reproduction of the universe, even if only as an image, just as the seed contains the totality
of the being into which it will develop (25). In Indian symbolism, Vaishvânara, or
the ‘Universal Man’, is divided into seven principal sections: (1) The superior,
luminous spheres as a whole, or the supreme states of being; (2) the sun and the
moon—or rather, the principles to which they pertain—as expressed in the right
and the left eye respectively; (3) the fire-principle—the mouth; (4) the directions
of space—the ears; (5) the atmosphere—the lungs; (6) the intermediary zone
between earth and heaven—the stomach; (7) the earth—the natural functions or
the lower part of the body. The heart is not mentioned, because, being the ‘centre’
or dwelling-place of Brahma, it is regarded as being beyond the ‘wheel’ of things
(26). Now, this concept of the ‘Universal Man’ implies hermaphroditism, though
never specifically. For the concrete, existential human being, in so far as he is
either a man or a woman, represents the dissected ‘human’ whole, not only in the
physical sense but also spiritually. Thus, to quote the Upanishads: ‘He was, in
truth, as big as a man and a woman embracing. He divided this atman into two
parts; from them sprang husband and wife.’ In Western iconography one sometimes finds images which would seem to be echoes of this concept (32). A human
couple, by their very nature, must always symbolize the urge to unite what is in
fact discrete. Figures which are shown embracing one another, or joining hands, or growing out of roots which bind them together, and so on, symbolize ‘conjunction’, that is, coincidentia oppositorum. There is a Hindu image representing the
‘joining of the unjoinable’ (analogous to the marriage of fire and water) by the
interlinking of Man and Woman, which may be taken to symbolize the joining of
all opposites: good and bad, high and low, cold and hot, wet and dry, and so on
(32). In alchemy, Man and Woman symbolize sulphur and mercury (the metal).
In psychology, level-symbolism is often brought to bear upon the members of the
body, so that the right side corresponds to the conscious level and the left to the
unconscious. The shapes of the parts of the body, depending upon whether they
are positive or negative—whether they are protuberances or cavities—should be
seen not only as sex-symbols but also in the light of the symbolism of levels. The
head is almost universally regarded as a symbol of virility (56). The attitudes
which the body may take up are of great symbolic importance, because they are
both the instrument and the expression of the human tendency towards ascendence
and evolution. A position with the arms wide open pertains to the symbolism of
the cross. And a posture in the form of the letter ‘X’ refers to the union of the two
worlds, a symbol which is related to the hour-glass, the ‘X’ and all other symbols
of intersection (50). Another important posture is that of Buddha in the traditional iconography of the Orient, a posture characteristic also of some Celtic gods
such as the so-called ‘Bouray god’ or the famous Roquepertuse figure. This
squatting position expresses the renunciation of the ‘baser part’ and of ambulatory movement and symbolizes identification with the mystic centre.

To see a man in your dream, denotes the aspect of yourself that is assertive, rational, aggressive, and/or competitive. Perhaps you need to incorporate these aspects into your own character. If the man is known to you, then the dream may reflect you feelings and concerns you have about him.

If you are a woman and dream that you are in the arms of a man, then it suggests that you are accepting and welcoming your stronger assertive personality. It may also highlight your desires to be in a relationship and your image of the ideal man.

To see an old man in your dream, represents wisdom or forgiveness. The old man may be a archetypal figure who is offering guidance to some daily problem.

To dream of a man, if handsome, well formed and supple, denotes that you will enjoy life vastly and come into rich possessions. If he is misshapen and sour-visaged, you will meet disappointments and many perplexities will involve you.

For a woman to dream of a handsome man, she is likely to have distinction offered her. If he is ugly, she will experience trouble through some one whom she considers a friend.

Seeing a man in your dream indicates the masculine aspect of yourself - the side that is assertive, rational, aggressive, and/or competitive. If the man is known to you, then the dream may reflect you feelings and concerns you have about him. If you are a woman and dream that you are in the arms of a man, suggests that you are accepting and welcoming your stronger assertive personality . It may also highlight your desires to be in a relationship and your image of the ideal man. Seeing an old man in your dream, represents wisdom or forgiveness.

All different kinds of people clutter our dream landscape. The men in your dream may include family members or total strangers. You may dream about your father, son, husband, or friend and should interpret the dream according to its details. A man, particularly the father figure, may represent collective consciousness and the traditional human spirit. He is the Yang and his energy, when mobilised, creates the earthly realities. Depending on the details of the dream, the masculine figure could be interpreted as the Creator or Destroyer. At times, women dream about men that are strangers to them. These men may represent the women's unconscious psychic energy. At times, a strange and ominous man in men's dreams could represent their "shadow" or their negativity and darker sides of personality.

The symbolism of the moon is wide in scope and very complex. The
power of this satellite was noted by Cicero, when he observed that ‘Every month
the moon completes the same trajectory executed by the sun in a year. . . . It
contributes in large measure to the maturation of shrubs and the growth of animals.’ This helps to explain the important rôle of the lunar goddesses such as
Ishtar, Hathor, Anaitis, Artemis. Man, from the earliest times, has been aware of
the relationship between the moon and the tides, and of the more mysterious
connexion between the lunar cycle and the physiological cycle of woman. Krappe
believes—with Darwin—that this follows from the fact that animal life originated in the watery deeps and that this origin imparted a rhythm to life which has
lasted for millions of years. As he observes, the moon thus becomes the ‘Master
of women’. Another essential fact in the ‘psychology of the moon’ is the apparent changes in its surface that accompany its periodic phases. He postulates that
these phases—especially in their negative sense of partial and gradual disappearance—may have been the source of inspiration for the Dismemberment myth
(Zagreus, Pentheus, Orpheus, Actaeon, and Osiris for example). The same might be said of the myths and legends of the ‘spinners’ (35). When patriarchy superseded matriarchy, a feminine character came to be attributed to the moon and a
masculine to the sun. The hieros gamos, generally understood as the marriage of
heaven and earth, may also be taken as the union of the sun and the moon. It is
generally conceded nowadays that the lunar rhythms were utilized before the
solar rhythms as measures of time, and there is also a possible equation with the
resurrection—spring follows upon winter, flowers appear after the frost, the sun
rises again after the gloom of night, and the crescent moon grows out of the ‘new
moon’. Eliade points to the connexion between these cosmic events and the myth
of the periodic creation and recreation of the universe (17). The regulating function of the moon can also be seen in the distribution of the waters and the rains,
and hence it made an early appearance as the mediator between earth and heaven.
The moon not only measures and determines terrestrial phases but also unifies
them through its activity: it unifies, that is, the waters and rain, the fecundity of
women and of animals, and the fertility of vegetation. But above all it is the being
which does not keep its identity but suffers ‘painful’ modifications to its shape
as a clear and entirely visible circle. These phases are analogous to the seasons of
the year and to the ages in the span of man’s life, and are the reasons for the
affinity of the moon with the biological order of things, since it is also subject to
the laws of change, growth (from youth to maturity) and decline (from maturity
to old age). This accounts for the mythic belief that the moon’s invisible phase
corresponds to death in man, and, in consequence, the idea that the dead go to the
moon (and return from it—according to those traditions which accept reincarnation). ‘Death’, observes Eliade, ‘is not therefore an extinction, but a temporal
modification of the plan of life. For three nights the moon disappears from
heaven, but on the fourth day it is reborn. . . . The idea of the journey to the moon
after death is one which has been preserved in the more advanced cultures (in
Greece, India and Iran). Pythagorean thought imparted a fresh impulse to astral
theology: the “Islands of the Blessed” and all mythic geography came to be
projected on to celestial planes—the sun, the moon, the Milky Way. It is not
difficult to find, in these later formulas, the traditional themes of the moon as the
Land of the Dead or as the regenerating receptacle of souls. (But) . . . lunar space
was no more than one stage in the ascension; there were others: the sun, the
Milky Way, the “supreme circle”. This is the reason why the moon presides over
the formation of organisms, and also over their decomposition (as the colour
green). Its destiny consists of reabsorbing forms and of recreating them. Only
that which is beyond the moon, or above it, can transcend becoming. Hence, for Plutarch, the souls of the just are purified in the moon, whilst their bodies return
to earth and their spirit to the sun.’ The lunar condition, then, is equivalent to the
human condition. Our Lady is depicted above the moon, thereby denoting that
eternity is above the mutable and transitory (17). René Guénon has confirmed
that, in ‘the sphere of the moon’, forms are dissolved, so that the superior states
are severed from the inferior; hence the dual rôle of the moon as Diana and
Hecate—the celestial and the infernal. Diana or Jana is the feminine form of Janus
(26, 17). Within the cosmic order, the moon is regarded as a duplication of the
sun, but in diminished form, for, if the latter brings life to the entire planetary
system, the moon influences only our own planet. Because of its passive character—in that it receives its light from the sun—it is equated with the symbolism of
the number two and with the passive or feminine principle. It is also related to the
Egg of the World, the matrix and the casket (9). The metal corresponding to the
moon is silver (57). It is regarded as the guide to the occult side of nature, as
opposed to the sun which is responsible for the life of the manifest world and for
fiery activity. In alchemy, the moon represents the volatile (or mutable) and
feminine principle, and also multiplicity because of the fragmentary nature of its
phases. These two ideas have sometimes been confused, giving rise to literal
interpretations which fall into the trap of superstition. The Greenlanders, for
example, believe that all celestial bodies were at one time human beings, but the
moon in particular they accuse of inciting their women to orgies and for this
reason they are not permitted to contemplate it for long (8). In pre-Islamic
Arabia, as in other Semitic cultures, the cult of the moon prevailed over sunworship. Mohammed forbade the use of any metal in amulets except silver (39).
Another significant aspect of the moon concerns its close association with the
night (maternal, enveloping, unconscious and ambivalent because it is both protective and dangerous) and the pale quality of its light only half-illuminating
objects. Because of this, the moon is associated with the imagination and the
fancy as the intermediary realm between the self-denial of the spiritual life and
the blazing sun of intuition. Schneider has drawn attention to a highly interesting
morphological point with his observation that the progressive change in the
shape of the moon—from disk-shape to a thin thread of light—seems to have
given birth to a mystic theory of forms which has influenced, for example, the
manner of constructing musical instruments (51). At the same time, Stuchen,
Hommel and Dornseif have demonstrated the influence of the lunar shapes upon
the characters of the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets, in addition to their profound
effect upon the morphology of instruments. Eliade quotes Hentze’s comment to the effect that all dualisms find in the moon’s phases, if not their historical cause,
at least a mythic and a symbolic model. ‘The nether world—the world of darkness—is represented by a dying moon (horns=quarter moon; the sign of a double
volute=two quarter moons facing in opposite directions; two quarters superimposed back to back = lunar change representing a decrepit, bony old man). The
upper world—the world of life and of the nascent sun—is symbolized by a tiger
(the monster of darkness and of the new moon) with the human being, represented by a child, emerging from its jaws’ (17). Animals regarded as lunar are
those which alternate between appearance and disappearance, like the amphibians; examples are the snail which leaves its shell and returns to it; or the bear
which vanishes in winter and reappears in spring, and so on. Lunar objects may
be taken as those of a passive or reflecting character, like the mirror; or those
which can alter their surface-area, like the fan. An interesting point to note is that
both objects are feminine in character.

To see the moon in your dream, represents some hidden, mysterious aspect of yourself. It is often associated with the feminine mystique and intuition. Alternatively, the moon signifies your changing moods.

To see the eclipse of the moon in your dream, signifies that your feminine side is being overshadowed. Or it may mean that some hidden aspect of yourself is coming to the surface.

To see the crescent moon in your dream, indicates cyclic changes, renewal, and movement. You are progressing smoothly toward your life path. A full moon signifies completion and wholeness, while a new moon symbolizes new beginnings.

To dream of seeing the moon with the aspect of the heavens remaining normal, prognosticates success in love and business affairs.

A weird and uncanny moon, denotes unpropitious lovemaking, domestic infelicities and disappointing enterprises of a business character.

The moon in eclipse, denotes that contagion will ravage your community.

To see the new moon, denotes an increase in wealth and congenial partners in marriage.

For a young woman to dream that she appeals to the moon to know her fate, denotes that she will soon be rewarded with marriage to the one of her choice. If she sees two moons, she will lose her lover by being mercenary. If she sees the moon grow dim, she will let the supreme happiness of her life slip for want of womanly tact.

To see a blood red moon, indicates war and strife, and she will see her lover march away in defence of his country.

Seeing the moon in your your dream, represents something hidden, mystery and the feminine aspect of your self. In particular, a full moon means completion, whereas a new moon symbolizes new beginnings. Dreaming that the moon in odd in any way means infidelity of your lover and disappointments in business. Seeing the eclipse of the moon in your dream means that your feminine side is being overshadowed. It also foretells of illness of someone near you. Seeing the crescent moon in your dream indicates cyclic changes, renewal, and movement. You are progressing smoothly toward your life path.

The Moon is an interesting symbol that signifies feminine energy; it is associated with the irrational and the intuitive. The Moon affects the ocean tides, and it has been linked to madness. As a dream symbol is can represent all of these things and more. As always, pay attention to the details in the dream before making conclusions. The moon could represent romance and our earthly impulses and passions. It could reveal things about the nature of soul and the unconscious. The Moon can also reflect inner peace and feelings of serenity and security.

Often associated with the destination or repository for souls after death. The gods adn goddesses of the underworld, the realm of the dead, are often lunar deities. The association of the moon with death and rebirth is due to it's waxing and waning: every 28 days, teh moon "dies" and is "re-born". The ancient Greeks believed the moon to be a midway point for souls traveling from Earth to Heaven or visa versa. The souls of the newly dead first went to the moon where their astral bodies were cleansed before continuing on to Heaven. According to the Upanishads, the sacred Hindu texts, the souls of unenlightened people go to the moon after death where they await reincarnation. Enlightened souls who have been liberated from reincarnation go to the Sun.

Astrological Sign: Pisces.
Positive associations with this tarot card:
imagination, unexpected possibilities, illumination.
Negative associations with this tarot card:
fear, confusion, highly charged emotions, bewilderment, lies, deceit.
When The Moon appears you can be sure it will be a time of highly charged emotions and confusion .
Despite any fear you may have, the wan light of The Moon will illuminate the way, and even if the path you are on is tough, all will turn out right in the end.
Upright and in a favourable position in a reading this card is a good omen if you are involved in a clandestine affair, otherwise it may signify that your secret may be exposed.
The Moon can lead to artistic expression through art, writing or music, which may lead to unexpected opportunities.
Negatively this card stands for lack of progress because of deep rooted fears and anxieties. It tells of failure of nerve, it also warns of lies and deceit - perhaps this is the cause of your worries.

To dream that you are scared, indicates that you are experiencing feelings of self-doubt, incompetence, and lack of control in your waking life. Perhaps you are having second thoughts about a decision you have made. Anger often masquerades as fear, so also consider issues about which you are angry about in your waking life.

Dreaming that you are scared indicates that you are experiencing self-doubt and feelings of incompetence. You may be feeling a lack of control. Anger often masquerades as fear, so also consider issues about which you are angry about in your waking life.

To see the front of something in your dream, indicates that you expressing a desire to keep your distance. The dream may also be a pun on "fronting". Are you being someone that you are not? Are you overly concerned about how you come across to others and how they see you?

To dream that you are late, signifies your fear of change and your ambivalence about seizing an opportunity. You may feel unready, unworthy, or unsupported in your current circumstances. Additionally, you may be overwhelmed or conflicted with decisions about your future. Time is running out and you no longer have time to accomplish all the things you want. Alternatively, being late in your dream could be telling you that it is better late than never.

Dreaming that you are late indicates your fear of change and your ambivalence about seizing an opportunity. You may feel unready, unworthy, or unsupported in your current circumstances. Additionally, you may be overwhelmed or conflicted with decisions about your future.

If you are arriving late, your unconscious may be telling you to be more perceptive and to use more foresight when making plans. Lateness suggests that the dreamer may be feeling unprepared and distracted in a particular situation in daily life or in regard to long-term goals.

If you dream that a payment is late, you could be feeling unsatisfied with something in your waking life.

To dream of seeing only the side of any object, denotes that some person is going to treat your honest proposals with indifference.

To dream that your side pains you, there will be vexations in your affairs that will gall your endurance.

To dream that you have a fleshy, healthy side, you will be successful in courtship and business.