← Encyclopedia of Tarot · lesson 18/121
The Star
The Star is the card of hope. It comes after the upheaval of the Tower, and is often read as the calm that follows: healing, renewed trust, inspiration and a sense that the future can be faced openly. It is gentle rather than dramatic — a light to steer by rather than a blaze.
The image
A naked woman kneels by a pool under a night sky, one knee on the ground and one foot in the water. She pours water from two jugs, one into the pool and one onto the land, where it runs off in several streams. Above her shines a great eight-pointed star with seven smaller stars around it, and a bird perches in a tree behind. Her nakedness is usually taken as openness and having nothing to hide, the two jugs as renewal given both to feeling and to everyday life, and the stars as guidance.
Upright
Hope, healing, inspiration, serenity and generosity. Waite, after a list of losses, notes that another reading gives "hope and bright prospects", and that is how most readers now take it. In everyday life it can point to recovering after difficulty, a renewed sense of purpose, creative inspiration, or trust that things will work out given time. It tends to favour honesty and openness.
Reversed
Waite gives arrogance and haughtiness. Modern readers often see hope temporarily dimmed: discouragement, self-doubt, feeling disconnected from what inspires, or expecting too much too soon. Some readers do not use reversals at all.
Correspondences
Major Arcana card XVII. In the Golden Dawn system, which most English-language decks follow, it is the Hebrew letter Tzaddi (the fish-hook), the 28th path on the Tree of Life, and the sign of Aquarius; its element is air. French (Papus) tradition attributes some Majors differently.
In a reading
In the past, it can describe a time of recovery whose good effects remain. As an obstacle, it may point to losing faith or to idealism without action. As advice, it invites trust and openness; as an outcome, it is one of the most hopeful cards in the deck. After the Tower it is often read as healing following a shake-up.
In astrology
The Golden Dawn's correspondences, which most English-language decks follow (French, Marseille-based tradition differs for some Major Arcana).
Sign: Aquarius
Element: Air — the element of Gemini, Libra and Aquarius
Mode: Fixed — Aquarius is a fixed sign