Crescent and full moon in tarot

The moon is the sun's partner: reflected light, night, tides, dreams and the changeable. In Western art it often belongs to goddesses such as Diana and to the Virgin Mary, who is shown standing on a crescent. The High Priestess has a crescent at her feet and a horned lunar crown; the Moon card shows a face within a disc that combines sun and crescent; crescents sit on the Chariot driver's shoulders, and a thin crescent hangs over the Two of Swords. In readings the moon stands for intuition and the unconscious, but also for illusion. What is seen by moonlight is real, but not yet clear.

Cards that show crescent and full moon

The High Priestess
The High Priestess: The horned crown
Her crown is a white full moon held between two curved horns. It recalls the headdress of the Egyptian goddess Isis, and many readers see in it the moon waxing, full and waning: the whole cycle at once.
The Chariot
The Chariot: The crescent moons
Two crescent moons sit on his shoulders as part of the armour. Waite says they are supposed to be the Urim and Thummim, the oracular objects worn by the Hebrew high priest. They hint at intuition carried inside the armour of action.
The Moon
The Moon: The moon with a face
A full yellow disc with long rays, holding a crescent profile with closed eyes. Waite noted that the moon is shown increasing, 'to the right of the observer'. It shines by borrowed light, the light of reflection and imagination rather than direct sight.
Eight of Cups
Eight of Cups: The moon
A pale yellow moon hangs in the sky with a calm, sleeping face, a crescent drawn across the full disc. It suggests night, intuition and the inner tides that move the decision more than reason.
Two of Swords
Two of Swords: The crescent moon
A slim yellow crescent hangs in the upper right of the blue sky. The moon is the light of intuition and of things only half seen, an apt companion for a choice made in partial darkness.
King of Swords
King of Swords: The throne with butterflies and crescents
The tall back of his throne is carved with a butterfly between two crescent moons at the top, and more butterfly shapes below. Butterflies belong to air and to the soul, crescents to the moon and to change.