XVII ◆ THE STAR
Rider–Waite–Smith (1909)Key themes
Hope · Renewal · Vulnerability · Loss and recovery
Card meaning
The Star places openness and replenishment beside the experience of having little protection. Hope can return through a willingness to receive and to contribute without forcing a result.
The historical meanings are divided: one strand concerns loss and abandonment, another favourable prospects. The card can hold both exposure and possibility, without making either one an inevitable outcome.
Key themes
Arrogance · Pride · Ineffectiveness · Difficult receptivity
Card meaning
Reversed, the Star suggests that pride or an insistence on self-sufficiency is obstructing a useful exchange. A vision can remain attractive while the capacity to put it into practice feels limited.
There may be a gap between an elevated self-image and what can presently be offered or received. A modest, truthful starting point can be more useful than demanding immediate inspiration.
Image description
A nude woman kneels beside a pool with one knee on land and one foot on the water. She pours from two pitchers, one into the pool and one onto the ground, where the water divides into streams. A large eight-pointed star and seven smaller stars shine above. A bird sits in a tree behind her.
Symbolism
- Large star
- — A guiding light within an open landscape.
- Seven smaller stars
- — A surrounding pattern that extends beyond the central light.
- Two pitchers
- — Replenishment offered to both water and land.
- Unclothed figure
- — Openness and vulnerability without the protection of rank.
- Bird in the tree
- — Life continuing in the landscape beyond the central action.
Card advice
Support hope with a small act of care, and allow yourself to receive help without needing to appear invulnerable.
Based on A. E. Waite’s The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910). Modern English adaptation — At Madame Shirley’s Table. Illustrations: Pamela Colman Smith (1909). Scan restoration: Steve P.