Today's Draw: The Star from the Nigel Jackson Tarot. Are you going through something difficult right now? Could you use some hope or encouragement? What do you suppose you're learning through your experience?
The Star is one of those cards you want to see in every reading you get. The card's meaning is hope. In the tarot, it comes right after the Tower card...a card of destruction...a change that shakes you to the core. The Tower destroys so it can rebuild on a more solid foundation. But Tower moments can leave you unsure, jittery. So the Star comes along to let you know things are going to be ok.
The Star presents a good opportunity to give you a deeper understanding of the mechanics behind tarot cards. The Nigel Jackson version has most of the elements of a traditional Star tarot card, so it's a good example for us. Before I begin, however, I will say that different sources will offer different reasons for the symbols on the cards. It's really just a matter of interpretation. What follows comes from my own interpretation of this particular card, based on what I've learned over time.
First of all, the nekkid woman. She's naked to show her purity and vulnerability. The star itself suggests guidance. So her unclothed nature symbolizes the openness and purity with which she approaches the receipt of that guidance. The circle of stars above her head is like a crown, telling us that this guidance is her crowning glory and it is innate within her...the divine guidance we all have within. The second ring of stars tells me that this inner wisdom radiates out, but also radiates in from the heavens. The big star over her head is positioned above the crown
chakra...the chakra through which divine wisdom and inner wisdom text message each other.
Birds are symbols of communication, suggesting the communication exchange between us and the heavens. But they're also carriers of the soul, lifting us higher. This particular bird seems to be a phoenix, rising from the ashes of the Tower moment. He seems to sit on the tree, often symbolic of knowledge in the tarot, receiving the divine light and guidance.
Although usually pictured differently, the Star card also shows the woman with one foot on earth and one in water. This is symbolic of the interplay between that part of us that is grounded and that part of us that is led by our emotions. It can also be symbolic of that part of us that is earth bound and that part of us that is spirit. This particular Star card show a tree (usually the tree of life or tree of knowledge), as well as a mountain and the gentle flowers budding in the foreground. That says to me the card speaks of that which is seasonal as well as that which is enduring.
And her pitchers, holding the waters of her love and her spiritual gifts (as water is symbolized in the tarot) shows how generously she gives of herself, fueling new growth and replenishing the well from whence those gifts originally came. She gives from both hands—the conscious side of the brain and the unconscious—speaking of how the breadth of our intentions are put out into the universe and reflected back at us. And the generosity and almost transcendent ease with which she pours, symbolizes the never-ending cycles of growth and abundance available to us all and the energetic connection we have to the "all that is".
So that's just a taste of what a tarotist sees when looking at this card. And all you saw was a nekkid woman on a starry night pouring out water. *eye roll* *superior sigh*
So, anyway, we wrap that all up with the keyword "hope", when it's all really a message of how divine you are and always have been. When we're having difficult times like Tower moments, it's hard to see that. But that's precisely what our difficult moments are there to teach us....that there is something beyond our suffering and the peace, hope, abundance and divinity we seek is always available to us. It is in trusting that the star is within us that we learn resilience and peace in the midst of crisis.
Like Glenda the Good Witch tells Dorothy when she asks for help getting "home", she says "you always had the power, Dorothy". To which the Tinman says, "why didn't you tell her that before?" And Glenda replies, "because she wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself."
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