As unappetizing as it is to modern minds, we must recognize that throughout most of western history, the female principle was regarded as negative and inferior to the male principle. The Moon is outranked by the Sun, and furthermore presides over the uncomfortable, possibly frightening, world of the night. Many of these associations (deceit, ill omen, confusion, indecision) still cling to the Moon card in divinatory traditions. The original tarot designers, though certainly steeped in the patriarchal culture of old Europe, may have valued the feminine principle more than these cliches would suggest. Certainly the queens, Papess, and Empress are presented just as positively in the old decks as their male counterparts. Perhaps the original designers of the tarot were informed by a philosophy that regarded the feminine principle as essential (if nevertheless alien to the social norms of the time), and so they elevated the Moon above the Stars to (near) parity with the Sun, so that both male and female principles become indispensible templates for the entire created cosmos.