[ » Hermetic Library « ]

[ » TAROT DIVINATION « ] [ » TAROT CORRESPONDENCES « ]

The Star is a card of discovery of hope, wisdom, and deeper relationships. It shows that we are designing or launching dogs that go far into the future and whose positive development can be rightly hoped for. At this early stage, we are often not yet aware of the far-reaching effects of our actions. It is only by looking back at the events that it becomes clear to us how decisive the change of direction the Star was at that time. As the greening of sowing, the recognition of the results of this action also takes time. The traditional interpretation considers Star as one of the three protective cards, which promises joyful success.

XVII. THE STAR

This card is attributed to the letter He’, as has been explained elsewhere. It refers to the Zodiacal sign of Aquarius, the water- bearer. The picture represents Nuith, our Lady of the Stars. For the full meaning of this sentence it is necessary to understand the first chapter of the Book of the Law.

The figure of the goddess is shown in manifestation, that is, not as the surrounding space of heaven, shown in Atu XX, where she is the pure philosophical idea continuous and omniform. In this card she is definitely personified as a human-seeming figure; she is represented as bearing two cups, one golden, held high above her head, from which she pours water upon it.

(These cups resemble breasts, as it is written: “the milk of the stars from her paps; yea, the milk of the stars from her paps”.)

The Universe is here resolved into its ultimate elements. (One is tempted to quote from the Vision of the Lake Pasquaney, “Nothingness with twinkles. . . but what twinkles!”) Behind the figure of the goddess is the celestial globe. Most prominent among its features is the seven-pointed Star of Venus, as if declaring the principal characteristic of her nature to be Love. (See again the description in Chapter I of the Book of the Law). From the golden cup she pours this ethereal water, which is also milk and oil and blood, upon her own head, indicating the eternal renewal of the categories, the inexhaustible possibilities of existence.

The left hand, lowered, holds a silver cup, from which also she pours the immortal liquor of her life. (This liquor is the Amrita of the Indian philosophers, the Nepenthe and Ambrosia of the Greeks, the Alkahest and Universal Medicine of the Alchemists, the Blood of the Grail; or, rather, the nectar which is the mother of that blood. She pours it upon the junction of land and water. This water is the water of the great Sea of Binah; in the manifestation of Nuith on a lower plane, she is the Great Mother. For the Great Sea is upon the shore of the fertile earth, as represented by the roses in the right hand corner of the picture. But between sea and land is the “Abyss”, and this is hidden by the clouds, which whirl as a development of her hair: “my hair the trees of Eternity”. (AL. I, 59).

In the left-hand corner of the picture is the star of Babalon; the Sigil of the Brotherhood of the A∴A∴ For Babalon is yet a further materialization of the original idea of Nuith; she is the Scarlet Woman, the sacred Harlot who is the lady of Atu XI. From this star, behind the celestial sphere itself, issue the curled rays of spiritual light. Heaven itself is no more than a veil before the face of the immortal goddess.

It will be seen that every form of energy in this picture is spiral. Zoroaster says, “God is he, having the head of a hawk; having a spiral force”. It is interesting to notice that this oracle appears to anticipate the present Aeon, that of the hawk-headed Lord, and also of the mathematical conception of the shape of the Universe as calculated by Einstein and his school. It is only in the lower cup that the forms of energy issuing forth show rectilinear characteristics. In this may be discovered the doctrine which asserts that the blindness of humanity to all the beauty and wonder of the Universe is due to this illusion of straightness. It is significant that Riemann, Bolyai and Lobatchewsky seem to have been the mathematical prophets of the New Revelation.

For the Euclidian geometry depends upon the conception of straight lines, and it was only because the Parallel Postulate was found to be incapable of proof that mathematicians began to conceive that the straight line had no true correspondence with reality. [The straight line is no more than the limit of any curve. For instance, it is an ellipse whose foci are an “infinite” distance apart. In fact, such use of the Calculus is the one certain way of ensuring “straightness”.]

In the first chapter of the Book of the Law, the conclusion is of practical importance.

It gives the definite formula for the attainment of truth.

“I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.”

“But to love me is better than all things: if under the night-stars in the desert thou presently burnest mine incense before me, invoking me with a pure heart, and the Serpent flame therein, thou shalt come a little to lie in my bosom. For one kiss wilt thou then be willing to give all; but whoso gives one particle of dust shall lose all in that hour. Ye shall gather goods and store of women and spices; ye shall wear rich jewels; ye shall exceed the nations of the earth in splendour & pride; but always in the love of me, and so shall ye come to my joy. I charge you earnestly to come before me in a single robe, and covered with a rich headdress. I love you! I yearn to you! Pale or purple, veiled or voluptuous, I who am all pleasure and purple, and drunkenness of the innermost sense, desire you. Put on the wings, and arouse the coiled splendour within you: come unto me! 
“At all my meetings with you shall the priestess say-and her eyes shall burn with desire as she stands bare and rejoicing in my secret temple-To me! To me! calling forth the flame of the hearts of all in her love-chant. 
“Sing the rapturous love-song unto me! Burn to me perfumes! Wear to me jewels! 
Drink to me, for I love you! I love you! 
“I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset; I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky. 
“To me! To me! 
“The Manifestation of Nuit is at an end.”

XVII. THE STAR

Jupiter in Aquarius as a symbol for long-sightedness and confidence; or Venus in Pisces standing for the desire for the inscrutable Zodiac: Aquarius Tree of life: From Chokmah to Tiphareth Element: Air Number: 17 as the number of hope, expansion of the 7, cross sum is 8

The Star is the trump of hope and trust, for the sensitive understanding of cosmic coherence, the intuition that everything is in balance and harmony. It is related to the Adjustment (the cross sum of 17 is 8), but while the Adjustment keeps the balance deliberately, the Star keeps it with feeling. 

The Star is also called the 'Guiding Light', and is taken as a symbol of the deep realization that the chosen way is the right one, that the end of this way will be a good one, and that there is perfect harmony between the psychical feeling and the physical doing.. 

In a negative position the Star can tell when there is a mistake in the code, some error in our feeling, that the way we feel so sure about isn't quite right. This is what makes this trump so kind - even in its most negative aspect it just gives us a gentle warning.

Drive: The guiding light, living the moment, confidence in nature and life 

Light: Creative hopes, optimism, trust 

Shadow: Destructive hopes, illusions

XVII. THE STAR - Jupiter 11th House - Faith

Keywords: Aquarius, stimulation, crystallization, self-knowledge, radiance, clairvoyance, self-confidence, relation to universal intelligence

Advice: Let your star rise and stay in touch with the earth. Trust your environment and try to find ways to share it with others. It will be a test of what you achieve and will be recognized.

Question: Is your current activity completely satisfactory?

Suggestion: Make sure you do your best to bring your ideas to fruition.

Revelation: The creative power of my imagination and my connection to the all-encompassing consciousness show me how to realize my thoughts.

Analogies:

Ji-Ching: 61. Chung Fu (The Inner Truth)

Mythology: The God of Knowledge (Saturn ♄, Binah, Sophia, Isis)

Keywords: trust, hope, vision, seeing deeper relationships

The beauty of the whole sky lies in the details.

XVII. THE STAR

General Meaning

The Star Tarot card is about reconnecting one's soul with the divine — the transcending of personality, family, community, and reputation. It has to do ultimately with the freedom to be one's self. The soul is responding to celestial influences — forces that can provide the personality with a stronger sense of purpose. The Star card helps us to remember our exalted origins and our attraction to a higher union.

This card could also be called The Celestial Mandate — that which refers us back to our reason for being, our mission in this lifetime. The Star reminds us that, in a sense, we are agents of divine will in our day-to-day lives. If we let go of the idea that we are supposed to be in control, we can more easily notice and appreciate the synchronicities that are nudging us along. In this way, we become more conscious of the invisible helping hand, and we better understand our place within — and value to — the larger cosmos.

In the Reversed Position

The Star card reversed suggests that you are temporarily alienated from your brilliance and usefulness. You may feel clumsy, unskilled, at odds within your true nature.

Perhaps you are forgetting your soul's purpose in this lifetime. Focus on your unique gifts and talents — their source is divine. It's your job to learn how to apply them in any situation your life offers you.

In the Advice Positon

The Star card advises that you rededicate yourself to your higher values, increase your spiritual cultivation and meditation practice, and surrender to the greater good. Connect to your higher self — a being of a larger realm traveling on an evolutionary course that started long ago and runs indefinitely into the future. This is the part you wish to contact and communicate with.

Now is a period for quiet contemplation. Listen for the voice within. Anything that would interfere with this communion may not be serving your best interests right now.

Read more:

• » The Book of Thoth - A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians by Aleister Crowley.
• » Liber LXXVIII - On the Tarot - A complete treatise on the Tarot giving the correct designs of the cards with their attributions and symbolic meanings on all planes. - A description of the Cards of the Tarot, with their attributions, including a method of divination by their use.
• » Manuscript N - The Tarot - A Golden Dawn Manuscript - A Theoricus Adeptus Minor Paper.