XVII – The Star
“insight, devotion, hope and imagination”
symbol: the tides of life, transformation into creation
zodiac: Aquarius
ritual: self-purification, bathing, cleansing
archetype: Nut/Isis, Inanna (in an early mother not war-goddess form), Tiamat, Shakti
path of He: Chokmah – Tiphareth
The card of the Star has an archetype hidden within its symbolism, because it represents three forces. First, the initial, unseizable light and the emerging pure fluidal force which moves every aspect of our cosmos.
Secondly, the „transformer“ or great mother, who reflects the creational fluid into measurable forces like time and light. Finally, the orphic egg – our cosmos, which is herded by the mother. This egg would represent the son, who emerges from these two archetypal forces – the star and the transforming mother (compare to the father – mother – son symbolisms or the upper triad in the tree of life of the kabbalah).
“XVII – The Star” is the true force, or initial stream of an idea.
The mother would be the active modulator of the stream, but passive pregnant with the force, which transforms light into matter or ideas into being.
Whenever we fish in cloudy, but deep waters the great giving and bearing mother can become the mother of pain, destruction, and misery. (compare to the Shakti – Kali narrative)
That applies for ideas which are born without basic knowledge, decisions without proper preparation or even spiritualism without a firm physical base. It is almost impossible to avoid this happening during our lives, it’s part of the process of learning.
In this case, the stream of destructive forces would drain us and often our closer surroundings as well – (in literature traditionally of blood or any other life force)
This can be a painful, chaotic, or destructive time, but a fantastic opportunity to rethink and re-feel our life-choices and get the initial reaction started, which primarily makes a star shine.
The serpent and the toad in the middle part of the card are positioned right between water and aether. They illustrate the fertilization with different „transponder“ currents – symbolism itself is such a current. Our symbols help us to understand the world around us, and translate cosmic into physical laws. However, they cloud the aspects of truth or awareness with illusion and veils to guard, but also to deceive. This Yesod attributed forces make it difficult to get an idea of the initial stream, like it really is. However, they make it possible to experience an insight into the cosmos in a way a human can comprehend and transcribe – truly a double-edged sword.
The toad is a symbolic animal, representing the dark mother, the jumper between worlds and the angler. The serpent gives wisdom, is a seducer and a provider of opportunities. To be aligned with those two, like the woman in the center of the card is the goal of this card. It gives her the opportunity to become a focused lens for her own inner light and be a light bearer (= active star) herself, not only it’s passive medium.
