The Sun And The Moon Tarot: This Combination Represents Toxic Positivity

Photo from Unsplash.com/ Nathan Dumlao

You are having a difficult time because you lost your job or didn't get the job you wanted.?Although you are understandably upset about the situation, instead of getting support, you are told, "get over feeling that way because others have it worse." You may be told that "if you overthink about that negative situation, then you will never get the job you want," and so on. These are examples of a problem in today's society, and you can see a lot of this in the New Age community. This is toxic positivity.

Toxic Positivity: What Is It?

When someone is grieving, disappointed, anxious, or down, toxic positivity throws out statements promoting positivity. Positive encouragement is not harmful, and there is nothing wrong with seeking to boost someone's spirits. However, that’s a problem when you try to dismiss someone's feelings of sadness or despair with platitudes about being positive. This is what toxic positivity is all about, and it can be pretty damaging.

In the first paragraph, I gave an example of toxic positivity. This statement invalidates the difficult feelings and struggles that someone experiences regardless of the circumstances. No matter what you face, you need to think positively and ditch negative thinking - which causes so much damage because you need to feel and express your emotions. Suppressing negative feelings will only lead to further damage in the long run. Toxic positive statements include:

• There is no negativity here
• All things happen for a reason.
• You just have to keep smiling
• You need to move on
• Some people have it so much worse than others.
• Don't forget to count your blessings
• Things aren't so bad for you.
• There are worse things that could happen.
• Failure is never an option.
• Put an end to your negativity.
• You have to take the pain.
• Be like your friend, who handled it so easily.
• Be positive.
• Think positive thoughts.
• You should forgive those who have hurt you.
• Keeping so much anger inside will never allow you to evolve.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Here's the thing. There is no need to stay in a negative frame of mind because something has gone wrong in your life. As long as you are free to express all of your emotions, you won't.

You will want to get better once you feel validated by others and have processed the difficult emotions. Toxic positivity disregards the fact that you have to process all of your feelings. Come to terms with what you face.

Listen to the individual instead of using toxic positivity and support them. Then, you can gently suggest solutions to their problems when the time is right. New Age communities are notorious for their use of toxic positivity, as I said.

No matter how often I share my experiences of living with mental illness, I am always told to stop being so negative. Well, I was honest about my struggles and my reality. If you fail to do any of those things, you are doing a spiritual disservice to yourself. They said that no matter what you are going through, you must keep a positive attitude, forgive those who hurt you, regardless of whether they apologize. This individual proved my point because he used toxic positivity in that manner.

Once I responded, they never responded. No surprise there. This is why I chose today's tarot card combination as the Sun and Moon.

How Does the Sun and Moon Tarot Card Combination Translate into Toxic Positivity?

A variety of interpretations can be given to the Sun and Moon tarot cards. Take a look at the Sun tarot card since it is all about positivity, success, and everything lovely. Despite being an excellent card, it sometimes can mask genuinely wrong things based on the surrounding cards. The Moon card next to the Sun card means trouble. Nevertheless, this isn't always the case, as it is also dependent on other cards in the deck. Sometimes the Moon can represent intuition, and the Sun can indicate that if you have a good feeling about something, then it is true.

Usually, the High Priestess and the Sun indicate this. Moons, however, symbolize delusion, illusion, concealment, and being fake, often meaning something is not what it appears to be. Why then do we see this "positivity"? We all know it's bogus. We've seen toxic positivity, and it's harmful.

A second reason why the Sun and Moon combination represents toxic positivity is the purpose of hiding and masking your negative feelings. The Moon represents anything hidden, and the Sun represents anything above what the Moon hides.

Here's something to consider. I am returning to the example of Person A who lost their job or did not get the job they wanted. Thus, Person A is understandably upset over this and cannot hide how upset they are. In other words, Person B tosses positivity (the Sun) at Person A, telling them to hide their negative feelings over it (the Moon) and only to pretend positivity (the Sun again). There you have it.

You can interpret this tarot card combination in many ways! So let’s discuss that now.

Besides the Sun and Moon, what else can Sun and Moon Symbolize?

The Moon concealed the truth behind a facade of positivity, which is represented by the Sun. Consider someone who says they are acceptable or puts up a happy front when they are depressed or not OK for another reason.

The problem is that the world embraces positivity but ignores reality, which society deems to be negative. As a result, raw emotions that are not positive are considered taboo. Therefore, whatever is taboo remains hidden behind a fake front of love, light, and positivity. Unfortunately, toxic positivity also feeds into this. When you force someone to be positive when they are facing some raw feelings, that is toxic.

This combination may also be a representation of the wellness industry as a whole. However, the reality is that some practitioners, especially those who believe in dangerous, science-denying conspiracy theories, are pretty dark. It is a sign that they aren’t really “love and light” like the Sun represents. This is related to toxic positivity as well.