The Star upright
The Star comes after the House of God: it speaks of the calm after the storm. You are freed from what confined you and you are at peace. After an emotional upheaval, you first feel calm and a sense of emptiness. The card expresses hope, healing and the feeling of being whole, especially after emotional storms. It says that even after a break, life keeps nourishing you, and that what broke was not the end of the road. A hope can be reborn on a healthier base. It represents growth, continuity and direction. In short, it carries hope, unexpected help, clarity of vision, awareness of your possibilities and spiritual intuition.
This part of you is lived first on the inside. The card describes above all an inner calm, and for the moment nothing is pressing. It shows the unconscious set in motion gently. You can be completely open, express yourself honestly and hold nothing back: this is the basis of self-esteem and of trust in humanity's future. You see yourself within the order of the world, as a force of nature, in a practical way, with a strong link between heaven and earth. You can perceive the ecological or planetary stakes of a situation and devote your strength to a good cause or a long-term vision. This vision can be ahead of its time and not appreciated by others. It can take the form of environmental protection, renewal of resources, careful management of resources, meditation, ritual, science, computing, natural medicine, astrology, astronomy or the exchange of ideas, as on the Internet.
You can also be a "star" in the sense of recognition: people notice your beauty and your success, a talent comes to light. You do things with grace, ease and charisma, and you give without expecting anything back. In relationships, you may experience an idealized and very independent union.
You may feel that a greater destiny is acting through you. The poured water means a blessing, a purification or a thanksgiving, as well as renewal. As for creating, each work you produce comes from your inner inspiration and doesn't drain it as long as you stay connected to your sources. The card brings together the inner sensitivity of the High Priestess and the passion of the Empress: you joyfully live what you feel deep inside. Compared with Temperance, it is free and relaxed: you give without counting, sure that life will supply you with new strength. Your desire is no longer merely mastered as in Strength: it becomes light and joy. You are the link between the world of spirit and the material world, because you can both feel the truth and act.
Your understanding comes more from deeds done at the prompting of the heart than from methodical study, in a state of simplicity of soul and mind. Night and sleep matter: on waking, you sometimes find a decision already made or an obvious answer to the question that bothered you the evening before. The card is linked to Aquarius. It is very strong but is easily neutralized, and the physical harmony it brings lasts only briefly.
Your strengths
- You have idealism, candor, sincerity and a sense of balance between hope and effort.
- You are honest and open in what you express.
- You have a creative imagination and inspiration.
- You are generous: you give without thinking of what you will receive.
What holds you back
- On its negative side, the card gives an error of judgment, daydreaming and disappointment.
- Your vision may be ahead of your time, and others don't appreciate it.
- Your inner harmony may be fragile: it is easily neutralized and lasts only briefly.
- The calm can stay an inner state without action: nothing pushes you to start again right away.
What helps
- Living without fever and giving yourself the rest that restores your strength: sleep serves your activity, and you don't waste your time sleeping or enjoying the sweetness of life.
- Taking advantage of what is offered to you and admiring beautiful things, without abusing anything.
- Staying connected to your sources of inspiration: creating doesn't exhaust them.
- Meditating and checking that it produces something better than before.
- Devoting your strength to a cause that is meaningful to you, giving without expecting anything back.
The Star reversed
The reversed Star touches on your confidence in yourself and on what inspires you. You may let go of ideas about yourself that wrongly rested on status, appearance or possessions. You may also deny your true gifts, believe you have no talent, grace or beauty, and so fail to see yourself as someone who shines. This is most often a temporary disillusionment, coming from a short-sighted view more than from reality. You may lose touch with what inspires you. Your aspirations then seem worthless or out of reach. You lack clarity, and your decisions are scattered, vague or put off. Your efforts seem futile or overwhelming. You may experience a loss of innocence. When your self-esteem is at its lowest, you avoid being seen.
This moment may also not be meant for recognition or outward action: it may call for inner reflection, and for simply being rather than doing.
In the other direction, you can become haughty and arrogant, misuse other people's admiration and brush off their compliments and gifts. You can get caught up in false aspirations and self-deception. You may feel exhausted, or feel that your imagination has dried up. This card can signal waste in every area. It can also show difficulty balancing your concrete obligations and your spiritual work. It can further indicate that you are devoting yourself to a pointless fad, or longing for an unattainable ideal, like the perfect soulmate, who always stays out of reach.
In how you see others, you may see them as beautiful, talented, charismatic, free in their thinking, as if they had the qualities you lack. You may also think they do not appreciate their gifts as much as you would. Within yourself, you can recognize yourself as a spark of the divine: in reality you are a being who shines by your own light, whose inner energy is balanced by what you give and by the energy of those who come to you.
What holds you back
- You deny your gifts and believe you lack talent, grace or beauty.
- You lose touch with what inspires you, and your projects seem worthless.
- Your decisions are scattered, vague or put off.
- You avoid being seen when your self-esteem is low.
- You can become haughty, devalue other people's compliments and deceive yourself.
- You can chase an unattainable ideal or a pointless fad.
- You waste your energy and feel drained.
- You are reckless, frivolous, stubborn and unstable, and you lack spontaneity.
What helps
Remembering that your disillusionment is most often temporary and comes from a short-sighted view. Taking time for inner reflection rather than seeking outside recognition. Being rather than doing, when it is not the time to act.
What the card shows
The image
Her left knee rests on the ground and her right foot touches the water. She holds two vessels and pours their water out: one waters the land, the other joins the water of the pool. These vessels never empty. Behind her, the ground rises; on the right stands a shrub on which a bird perches. This bird is an ibis. In the sky shines a large eight-pointed star, surrounded by seven smaller stars, also eight-pointed.
What it means
This card comes after the Tower. After the break, the time is calmer: the light no longer has the role of breaking, but of guiding, so that growth can resume. Nothing in this image is violent. You find in it a calm that comes after the storm, and the Star and the Tower often call each other up in a reading.
The woman represents the force of growth, which works in nature as in human history. She expresses youth and beauty that do not fade. She also represents truth shown unveiled, and that is why she is nude. She combines the inner sensitivity of the High Priestess and the passion of the Empress.
The water represents a life that is passed on, shared and constantly renewed. It is given freely, like a gift of the spirit. A trickle returns to the pool: a work does not drain inspiration as long as you stay connected to your inner source. The two vessels stand for the two modes of consciousness, that of the self and that of the subconscious. The foot on the water says that meditation gives solidity to a mind that is usually unstable.
The stars are the light that illuminates this growth and gives it direction. The two blue stars placed higher stand for the Sun, tied to consciousness and reason, and the Moon, tied to intuition, feeling and imagination. The four yellow stars share the inclinations of Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The large star is Venus, the morning star. The acacia, which stays green, shows a life that refuses to go out and serves as an emblem of hope. The rose symbolizes love, beauty and delicate feelings. The ibis recalls that every creative action is born from a reserve of unformed energy.
The number 17 adds up to 8 (1 + 7), like the Strength card. What was tamed in Strength becomes light and joy here. The card is tied to the sign of Aquarius, the water bearer.
This card is not a card of action but of inner calm: no path leads back from the pool to the mountains, and the journey can wait. It expresses hope, healing and the feeling of being whole after emotional storms. It also means hope, unexpected help, clarity of sight, awareness of what is possible and spiritual lucidity. It indicates trust, waiting, idealism, sincerity and a balance between hope and effort. It can also mean that you are free, at peace, and able to show yourself fully open and express yourself honestly without holding anything back. This is the basis of self-esteem and of faith in humanity. You may feel a deep link between heaven and earth, see yourself as a force of nature, and devote yourself to a good cause or a long-term vision, for example protecting the environment or renewing resources. Meditation, ritual, science, astrology and the exchange of ideas are also tied to it. It can announce that a talent is coming to light, that you act with grace and ease, or that you give without expecting anything in return. In relationships, it can point to an idealized and very independent bond. It can also indicate a clear creative imagination and an inspiration that makes you do the right thing at the right time.
Your strengths
You are open and sincere when you express yourself. You give willingly, without expecting anything back. You have idealism and a long-term vision. You combine inner sensitivity and passion. You have creative imagination and inspiration. You know how to carry yourself with grace and ease.
What holds you back
- You may shut yourself off from calm and hope, and feel weakness, helplessness and fear.
- You may hide a deep insecurity behind arrogance.
- Your long-term vision may be ahead of your time, and others do not always appreciate it.
- Your gentleness is easily neutralized in the face of what is more brutal.
What helps
- Observe and wait calmly for things to move forward on their own, without impatience.
- Meditate: meditation gives solidity to your mind.
- Stay connected to your source of inspiration, so that each work gives you more of it.
- Rest when you need calm: the journey can wait.
