The Unknown
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.
—Donald Rumsfeld. Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing. (From "The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld.")
When I teach the Tarot, I always introduce The Moon card with this spontaneous "poem" from former Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld.
The Moon card has everything to do with what unconscious poet Rumsfeld calls the "unknown unknowns," with the parts of ourselves that we do not understand -- our hidden instincts, desires, and dreams. The Moon also rules the oldest things in the world, the simple ancient creatures of the sea that skitter back and forth along the ocean floor with the movement of the tides.
Rumsfeld's war is definitely a "Moon" war, one begun for muddy, unclear reasons, fought against a people we barely understand. Baghdad itself is also ruled by The Moon -- the Islamic crescent is an obvious example -- but the venerable city almost predates civilization itself. Writing was first invented near Baghdad, no doubt imprinting new consciousness on a human mind that will always be, to some degree, pre-verbal.
It is significant that Baghdad's museums were looted almost immediately when the war began. The unconscious mind is so ancient itself that it is unimpressed by any artifacts of antiquity.
I will have to come back to this topic, because I'm currently writing it in a cafe next to an old man who is rambling loudly and thoughtlessly about everything from cell phones (bad) to church (good) to the price of bologna at Market Basket (variable, but much worse than it used to be). He's distracting me from conscious thought, so I cede the floor to this living avatar of Moon energy:
"I eat a lot of turnips...But after a while I need to have some meat...Now, this meat was nice and brown. No red. And tender! You could go through five slices like that..."
