Whenever I hear the word "star" I always think of Gloria Swanson's Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard. "Stars are ageless!" "No one ever leaves a star. That's what makes one a star."
It's ironic, I suppose, because that's exactly the opposite of what The Star is in Tarot. To dear, sweet Norma - being a star is everything. You have the admiration, the wealth, the influence... the antidote to all the ails of humankind. But in reality, she was lost, alone, and living in her self-made delusion (well, with the help of well-meaning butler/former producer Max) that spiraled into a creepy, cougar-fueled fever dream.
While Norma may have been into astrology, perhaps she should have consulted Tarot to help her understand the true nature of The Star: humble, hopeful, and open to Divine guidance.
This, of course, is a natural continuation of our journey into intuition. So far this week, we've seen the introduction of the theme with The High Priestess, and yesterday with the III of Wands. Without the attitude of The Star, intuition is a fool's errand that will only end in frustration, confusion, and disillusionment.
The Star playlist is available on Spotify.
Message of the Day: Cards in the Major Arcana (like The Star) represent themes in life that all humans can relate to regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or culture. The Star, in the procession of the Major Arcana, sits right after The Tower, a scary card that often represents substantial structural collapse (ie, divorce, loss of job, illness, etc.). It shows a few people jumping from the tower as it's engulfed in flames, falling to who knows where. The figure presented in The Star is one of those individuals, burnt and naked, having landed in this lovely little glade.
The theme of the star is basically getting absolutely wrecked by life and being brought back down, about having to be reminded of your place. It's not nice or fun, and is often chock full of embarrassment, sadness, anger, disappointment, frustration, disbelief, and depression. That's exactly why this little lady is sitting with her feet in the water - a representation of "getting her feet wet" with her subconscious, something she most likely hasn't had to deal with in quite a while.
This, to me, is being reduced, being humbled, so that you can be in tune with your inner self, your intuition, and allow it to help you find peace and calm after such a messy ordeal. Sometimes you have to reacquaint yourself with what that feels like, and it can be really difficult (or impossible) if you continue to let the debris from the falling tower distract you from your growth as it splashes in the waters of your subconscious.
Being reminded to be humble sucks. It's like a slap in the face. Being confident is one thing; being overbearing in your knowledge and approach is another. And there are situations in our lives - like being a parent - where it can sometimes be a fine, fine line. As a parent, we are expected to guide our kids to be successful adults who can be contributing members of society, who can hold a steady job and earn a living wage, and have successful relationships. But we all know people who think too highly of themselves... the whole concept of "Karen" is just that... and you just want to punch them in the throat. Playing the role of high-and-mighty, especially with our kids, not only teaches them to act the same way with others but allows them to put you on a false pedestal; and any pedestal-bound human knows the only way off that pedestal is down.
Then there is also the idea of being humble with ourselves. How we view ourselves in relation to others, how we view our skills and talents... our views have the potential to harden us and make us almost unrelatable. Anyone who's participated in therapy knows that being closed off with an untouchable attitude prevents the healing that comes with therapy. Being unwilling to change your biases and the shitty prejudices you learned in your childhood doesn't make you superior; it just makes you an asshole. Humility is necessary, if not mandatory.
So for today, The Star invites you to look inward and think about where you may benefit from some humility. How do you outwardly show humility? How do you teach humility to your kids? How can you use humility to fine-tune your intuition? How do you refrain from punching a bitch in the throat when they so clearly need to be brought down a notch? The world would be such a different place if humble pie was part of our balanced diet.
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