Many different animals have been associated with our planet’s celestial satellite; wolves would have been the easy cliche, but I decided to go with a more obscure lunar creature, the toad. Both the Chinese and the Salish saw a toad in the dark markings on the moon’s face, reproduced in a stylized manner on this assemblage. The common Indian toad skull brings that sky-amphibian back to earth, so that they mirror each other in the warm summer night.

The toad is a particularly apt symbol for the Moon card. Amphibians were the first vertebrates to bridge the water and land on a full-time basis, which reflects how we have one foot in the waking world, and one in the land of dreams and visions. Our sometimes revulsion for toads is similar to our fear of the weirdness of the dreamscape, yet we respect the ecological sensitivity of the creatures–and of our own minds. In this, the toad embodies the ambivalence of the Moon, and the ability to balance mixed feelings and experiences.

I am SO CLOSE to being done–I have just five assemblages left including the Happy Squirrel. Onward crazy artist!