When you were a baby, no one batted an eye whenever you cried out of anger or frustration or if you were throwing a tantrum.

Newborns only cry when cold, hungry, tired, uncomfortable, or for another physiological reason.

However, as infants gain more awareness and mature, they express more emotions. Any emotion they express, whether “positive” or “negative,” is acceptable.

That is because how can a baby know any better?

However, as soon as the baby grows into toddlerhood, parents and preschool teachers tell them what to express and what not to express.

A toddler will throw tantrums, have emotional outbursts, and say hurtful things out of anger.

Now, it is appropriate for toddlers to learn not to hurt anyone, so they learn early that what they can say to others can cause harm (they won’t get it because their emotional empathy is not developed, but they can still learn early).

But when parents and teachers or other adults and even older children tell them not to express any “negative emotion” at all, that is where problems begin.

They are told the following if they express any “negative emotion”:

Never be angry. Anger is bad.

Don’t be sad. It is bad for you to be sad. Always be happy.

Don’t be jealous of him because I am playing with him.

You get the idea. When kids at a very young age are told not to feel any negative emotion (which are human emotions) that sticks to them.

And as they grow and mature, they hide it. They will come into situations such as heartbreak, trauma, disappointment, and so on that will bring out those very human emotions.

Therefore, whenever they begin to feel anger, resentment, frustration, envy, rage, shame, guilt, or anything else that is not “positive,” they will not show it. That is because that human side has become their shadow.

They learned from a young age that expressing those emotions is inappropriate, and all that does is fester and can cause a lot of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual harm to their health.

The Moon Tarot Card Represents The Shadow Side

The Moon represents anything hidden and will illuminate it. Your shadow side is one example of the Moon tarot card.

Therefore, if you are feeling those “negative” feelings because you endured some trauma, you had a bad breakup, you lost your job, you are grieving, or you just broke up with your fiance while your friend invited you to their wedding - or whatever the reason…

You will feel shameful for having those feelings and will keep them hidden. It may come out as passive aggression, but you will put yourself through more distress as you keep your shadow side hidden.

The Moon tarot card tells you to start looking at your shadow side so you can acknowledge it, embrace it, and integrate it.

In other words, stop denying it is there. Forget what you were taught young about not expressing those human feelings.

You must express those feelings! But the way to express them is the key. It is healthy if you keep it constructive and do not ruin anything in the process, including relationships.

Journaling and advocating are great ways to utilize anger and other “negative” emotions. Setting boundaries is also necessary. Those shadow emotions are teaching you something. They are there because of an imbalance!

Here is more information on this!

The Moon Tarot Card Will Illuminate The Shadows That You Hide

Here are some other articles from Tarot Talk on Medium that I have written over the week:

Just Like The Hermit Tarot Card, I Am A Loner, And Would Not Change It

Contrary To What You Believe, The Queen of Swords Is Not A Bitch

The Moon And The Tower Sums Up The Second Half of 2019