Symbology
The previous card of The Tower designated an exceedingly difficult period of failure and reconstruction. Now, The Star reveals hope and inspiration for the future.
The Star brings incredibly positive energy that makes us feel more serene, as our mental health is balanced, as well as our spiritual connection is restored.
The Star reveals a new sense of purpose as if we rose from the consuming fire on The Tower, just like a purified Phoenix. The bird rising free at the left side relates to this.
From a psychological perspective we could say that The Star, by purifying the past, is also purifying the future and the world around it. While performing action, it fertilises and clarifies the landscape, earth, sand, trees, and water.
The night-time and water abundance are connected to our unconscious, which means that a renewal occurs on a deeper level, purifying our poisoned memories, changing the way they affect us in our daily lives. This regenerative process, despite its connection with Water (emotional side), is ruled by the element of Air and unveils an important intellectual awakening.
The figure on the card represents the purity under the vastness of the starry night sky. Her posture suggests a serene humility; perhaps a positive reaction to the punished hybris in The Tower.
Behind her shines the constellation of Aquarius, the mystical healer who pours water, or life, upon the land. Its astrological attributes and planetary connection to Uranus grant it a great desire of freedom to innovate through the mysterious veils and to break down the structures that were obsolete and prejudiced.
With The Tower’s fall, The Star inspires renewal with the energy and motion of its streaming waters. That renewal process can also be noted in the golden jar with an engraving of a gold and dark star on it. Deep inside, our conscious mind (the golden star) finds a balanced state with our unconscious mind (the dark star), related to the idea of memories, feelings, and other mental content.
Saying that, we can affirm that the golden jar is a metaphor for ourselves, and the pouring water may represent our flowing inspiration and imagination. The Star demonstrates how to put these energies to more creative use.
The stars in the sky usually symbolise guiding forces. Merchants in the desert and mariners across the uncharted seas used stars to find their way, while astrologers seek spiritual guidance in the starry sky. In the Bible we follow the popular story of the Star that guided the Three Wise Men to Jesus’s holy manger.
Metaphorically, a guiding Star could be someone whose ideas and advice we follow; it could also refer to an internal force that inspires us.
In the card, both lake and jar resemble the mythical Fountain of Youth that rejuvenates anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters.
The card had symbolic influences from Lucas Cranach’s painting The Fountain of Youth where we observe old and suffering people (the fallen from The Tower) coming from the left side; then they bath on the waters and leave the pool completely regenerated (the new self).
Visually speaking, the central figure shares some common characteristics with the goddess Anahita, an old Persian divinity of the Waters and consequently a major symbol of healing and physical wellness.
In different cultures around the world, Water has always had a significant role in human life.
For Hindus, water has both physical and spiritual well-being powers, enabling the achievement of purity.
Offering water in Buddhism cultivates the virtues of calmness, clarity and purity of body, mind and speech. It inspires Buddhists to practice a diligent cleansing of the spiritual defilements of attachment, aversion and delusion.
In Christian rituals, holy water is used in the sacrament of baptism as a symbol of rebirth.
Similarly, for the Islam, water is purity, renewal and wisdom.
Upright Meaning and Interpretation
Renewal, Hope, Inspiration.
The Star is a positive card that brings hope to your life. The harsh time from a recent past is washing away and you will feel regenerated and ready to start moving towards a new journey.
The healing process began, and you can notice that regarding Health and Relationships. That will allow you to reconnect yourself with your spirituality.
You will feel more positive and confident about the future.
The energy of the flowing waters brings the inspiration you need to stimulate your creativity, especially if you are an artist or a person with great imagination.
The symbolic collapse you felt made you understand and appreciate the gifts from the universe with humility, so you can already perceive your personal growth and inner power.
The selfish behaviour that orchestrated your fall is now transformed into a generous, altruistic spirit.
Reversed Meaning and Interpretation
Lack of Motivation, Hopelessness, Disconnection.
In reverse, The Star suggests that your previous fall, instead of having beneficial consequences, leads you into a feeling of prostration. The arcanum in this position means that you are losing your hope and are questioning why you are being put through this.
However, The Star sometimes works as a test of your faith: trust yourself and find the inspiration to defeat the challenges that come your way. A star is shining inside you – you just need to look a little harder and you will surely find it.
The Star in reverse also states that you are disconnected from your spiritual life, so you need to search for inspiration instead of waiting for it to find you. It advises you that the best way to reach inspiration is to incite the symbolic water to flow; that motion allows the energy to spread around and inside yourself. That way, you will be ready to embrace it. In other words, quoting Picasso: “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working”.
Speaking of art, rediscovering your creative side may give you the necessary impulse to start your process of healing.