Card of the Week: The Moon

There is a French expression “entre chien et loup” (literally “between dog and wolf”) that evokes the uncertainty over whether something new and mysterious will turn out to be friendly or hostile.

The Moon has long been a source of mystery, presenting only one face and hiding its far side, its phases influencing the moods of animals and humans alike.  Fear of the unknown is deeply ingrained in our instincts, but it is important to look deeper to determine if those fears are justified, or if they are clouding your view of a new situation that could ultimately prove to be quite beneficial.

Inverted, this card suggests new fluidity in a previously stable situation you thought you already knew.  Seek ways to reveal these shifts, to enable you to swim with the flow without overreacting.

In “The Menagerie” the Enterprise is hijacked by Spock to take a crippled Captain Pike to Talos IV, the only planet banned by Federation law.  Commodore Mendez pursues in a shuttle, and on reaching the Enterprise, puts Spock on trial.  In his defense, Spock plays long-classified records from the Enterprise’s initial encounter with Talos IV.  Its mysterious alien inhabitants had kidnapped Pike and evaluated him with a series of realistic illusions, including the reenactment of a battle he had once fought in a Kaylar Fortress on Rigel VII.  After his return, the Federation had viewed the Talosian mental powers as dangerous and classified Talos IV as permanently quarantined.  When Mendez himself turns out to be a Talosian illusion and Spock’s trial is mooted, Kirk allows Pike to remain on Talos IV to live out the rest of his life in the illusion of health.