The Star is the eighteenth card in the Major Arcana. A naked woman kneels beside a pool with one foot on the land, showing that she is grounded in the real world, and one foot in the water indicating her connection with the universe and her own intuition. She is pouring water from one jug into the pool and from another jug onto the land where it creates five rivulets symbolizing the five senses. Behind her the bird of inspiration sits on a tree representing the mind. Above her a large star is surrounded by seven smaller stars. The star recurs in many ancient stories as the beacon of hope and of inspiration, telling us to take heart and find peace in the knowledge we can achieve our full potential.
The Star depicts a time of realization that we are worthwhile, valued and that we have all the resources within us to achieve our dreams.
After turbulent times – in the months or years leading up to divorce or separation; long illness followed by bereavement; difficult financial situations or conflicts at work, in business, with family or friends – there is often a period of inner turmoil as we adjust to the new situation. We may feel a sense of loss and perhaps we even wonder what it was all for.
When my friend Laura’s husband died she sat at her kitchen table, day after day, staring out of the window at the view that she had always enjoyed so much. Now she was blind to the wild flowers and the changing skies. Her head was full of thoughts of the pointlessness of her life now that she had no-one to care for, no-one to share her happy times, her cooking or conversation about the small events of the day. She realized that she had never lived alone and now, for the first time in her life, she only had herself to think of. Far from seeing this as liberating, she felt useless now that she had no-one to care or to take an interest in the did from day to day. Laura was not lonely. She has grown-up children, young grandchildren, many friends and interests in life but she could not shake off the feeling that she had outlived her usefulness, was redundant and somehow ‘unnecessary’.
It took some time, but after a while Laura began to realize that she still has masses to give and that she has her own unique place in the world amongst her family and friends who need her in their lives. She is loved for who she is, not just for the many thoughtful gifts of kindness for which she is renowned but for her humour, her individuality and just for being herself.
This is the message of The Star: we all have a special place in the world; we all have something to give that is unique to us. Optimism is at the heart of this card. Be inspired to believe in yourself and the qualities that only you can bring to your friendships, your loving relationships, your work and the universe around you.
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Fun Fact of the Week
How many stars are there in the universe?
Earth’s nearest star is the Sun which measures approximately 1,392,684 km (865,374 miles) in diameter, about 109 times greater than the diameter of Earth. Most stars that we see in the night sky are glowing balls of plasma the same size as our sun and will continue to burn for millions, sometimes billions of years. Stars are gathered together into vast groups known as galaxies. The Sun belongs to a galaxy called the Milky Way. Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way alone. Outside that, there are millions upon millions of other galaxies. So how many stars are there in the universe?
Well, actually, no-one really knows but astronomers like those at NASA have made what they think is a reasonable guess. They reckon thatthere are something like 1011 to 1012 stars in our Galaxy, and there are perhaps something like 1011 or 1012 galaxies.
With this simple calculation you get something like 1022 to 1024 stars in the Universe. That is approximately the number of grains of sand on Earth – apparently.
This short video is a lovely description of the birth and death of a star.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=birth+and+death+of+a+star+NASA
Miranda Smith
For more about the Tarot and other musings, go to www.mistletoemoon.com
The Tarot is a deck of 78 picture cards dating back to 15thCentury Italy. In the past it was used for divination although most modern practitioners see it as a tool for self-discovery rather than fortune-telling.I always use the Rider-Waite deck because these traditional images reflect my own Jungian view of the way in which we relate to the cards.
Like many other people, I use the Tarot as a focus for meditation – which is just a fancy way of saying that the cards give me the basis for a daily practice of just a few minutes of peaceful time to contemplate an aspect of my life. It is not as self-absorbed or navel-gazing as it might seem. It provides a foundation for my thoughts about something or somebody else in my life.
Why not give it a try?
