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The Night Teacher

The sight of her captivates me. Her brightness puts me in a state of awe. We know her because of the presence of a greater light who illuminates her from time to time, and more or less. Of course, there is a dark side to the moon. There is a dark side to most of us, too. It can show up when we bully people and use hurtful words to manipulate them. The moon teaches us to be ruthlessly honest about this aspect of ourselves. She reminds us to recognize the distinction in the moment, a most important time to know if you are on the side of light or the side of darkness. It is also imperative to recognize when you can walk the middle way between the two, avoid being conflicted, and move forward in your life.


The moon cannot emit light. Her dynamic ability is to mimic the Sun. She achieves this by way of reflection off her rocky surface. In this sense, "light" acts like a verb or as a symbol for consciousness and awareness. Similarly, we cannot see the back of our heads, our dark spot, without the reflection from mirrors. The people we surround ourselves with can be mirrors too, Metaphorically, they represent our dark and light sides. As we grow within ourselves we may grow out of these folks and like an old shirt or dress, it’s time get new clothes and new friends.


At times the moon seems to slowly disappear, swallowed up by the dark. However, it is only for awhile. The apparent vacillation from there to not there is a teaching too. The moon shows us that darkness is not the absence of light but a thing of its own. Unique to the moon is that she keeps a totally dark side of herself hidden from our view here on planet earth. People cannot physically or psychologically hide in the same way. The darkness in us shows up in our body language and can seep out in different forms, such as the tone of our voice, the cutting words we use, or by malicious acts and bodily harm we do to others.


Many cultures view the moon as feminine and identified her with the non-logical mind. ie luna or moon in latin is related to the English word 'lunatic", a pejorative or slag term for an insane or mentally ill person. In this sense the moon is the antithesis of rational thinking and reasonable behavior, which is often recognized as masculine attributes. At worst, the moon-mind is inclined to delusional thinking. Ie howling at the moon by an unraveled person, or psycho-bitches-from-hell who might have a dark, kinky side some men find attractive. Frankly, I think they give most other women a bad name.


If I just sounded judgmental keep in mind Kabbalist find the feminine side of God responsible for rendering judgements and meting out punishments to those who violate the spiritual laws of the Ten Commandments, plus another 603 of them. Does the notion of delusion attach only to women? The answer is no. I can emphatically state that criminals may logically plot out their crime ahead of time, however, it is always accompanied by the irrational belief they are above the law and will never get caught. This applies to men and women. Particularly delusional are your modern day bank robbers. I’ve handled a number of armed bank robbers on appeal. Their district court record will often show FBI photos of them surrounded by the banks’ moneybags covered in hard to remove colored stains, usually red. These ink packets exploded when the bags were opened, which covered the bank robbers and the money rendering the currency useless. The photos can be direct evidence of a federal crime, and of stupidity running deep amongst thieves.


Let’s look a bit deeper into this notion of the feminine as representative of justice. We see it symbolically in the blind woman holding the scales of justice. They represent mercy in punishment and fairness in the law applied to all of us. A man could have been the standard bearer for these principles, such as the biblical King Solomon who is known for his wisdom. The Statute of Liberty is a woman who represents a beacon of hope against injustice.


I am no psychiatrist. However, I was a federal criminal appeals attorney for almost 14-years and seriously trained in martial arts for almost a decade. From these experiences, I do know something about the art of self-deception. This is when people delude themselves into believing fabricated facts and outcomes wished for but never achieved. One thing in common about a martial artist and criminal appeals is that you cannot lie or fake it when doing either of them. However, in many other aspects of life to lie and deceive yourself and others is standard operating procedure for some folks.


I’m reminded of the tarot card, The Moon. As a tarot reader for many decades, I understand it teaches us to avoid overconfidence on the one side and self-deceptive thinking on the other. Generally, its depicted with two pillars and the moon in the background. Most importantly, we learn to walk the middle way between the two. In a traditional tarot deck numbered 0-21, the Moon is the 18th card in the Suit of Trump. However, I prefer the cards’ association to the Hebrew alphabet, which goes from 1-22. Interestingly, the 19th letter is Qof and its symbolic meaning is the back of the head! To learn more, check out the Street Smarts page on this website.


With all this talk of females, you might be wondering about the “Man in the Moon”. We are suppose to see his face in the night sky. With some degree of certainty, I can say he is just a figment of our collective imagination at play with shadows. Perhaps, it is deliberate delusional thinking or sexual innuendo, as t’were. Whatever the reason, few can escape the tendency to look up and search for him when the moon is in her fullness. I’m guilty of doing it. Are you?

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