17. The Star
i. The Nutshell
Upright
The Star symbolises healing after difficult times. It’s the relief following pain, reminding you that you can still find hope. This card doesn’t provide instant fixes but encourages you to embrace renewal and understanding after challenges. You’re not starting over but exploring new possibilities. The Star represents a restored faith in yourself and the world, helping you feel less cynical. It invites you to connect with yourself free from societal expectations. Healing means moving forward without being weighed down by the past, and The Star guides you back to your authentic self.
In some cases, themes of forgiveness may appear and one of the best ways I embody this concept is to look at the word ‘forgive’. Break it down into ‘for’ and ‘give’. Then, ‘give’ yourself back what you had be-‘for’-e the challenges. This re-frames forgiveness as a self-restoring act that reclaims the parts of yourself lost to pain. Forgiveness isn’t about excusing others; it’s about giving yourself back what was yours before the hurt.
Keywords: Renewal, hope, spiritual clarity, inner alignment, healing, forgiveness as self-restorative
Translation: You’ve been through it. Now here comes the brightness of not being in bedlam
Reversed
The Star in reverse feels like trying to navigate with a flickering candle in a blackout - the light of hope is there but it’s unreliable and every step feels like guessing in the dark. You're not lost exactly, but you're definitely not moving with confidence. It signals disconnection from purpose, peace and inner compass or North Node. You may feel like hope is a currency you can’t afford, or that the well is empty no matter how many affirmations you pour into it.
This reversal might be asking you if you’re looking for your light in the wrong place. Likely in an Instagram reel or in someone else’s opinion. The Star reversed invites a quiet recalibration. Leave the hunt for epiphanies until later, and instead tend to the small, daily reconnections now. Clean your space. Drink even more water. Go outside and remember you’re on a spinning rock in space and you’ve a soul contract in place.
Alternatively, it might signal a recovery that’s already begun - be that as subtle as it may. The phoenix is having a slow rise, transforming old wounds into wisdom and knows that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Trust in that.
Keywords: Discouragement, disconnection, inner doubt, slow healing
Translation: You haven’t lost the light, it’s just behind a cloud. Stay with it.
ii. Illus-traits
A quick symbolic breakdown of The Star in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. Think of it as your post-apocalyptic spa treatment, or devine rehydration that follows ego collapse. This card hums with subtlety and luminosity.
Seven White Stars and One Big One – High definition alignment radiating spiritual insight and a nod to the chakras.
Naked Figure – Unfiltered. Nothing to hide. Authenticity.
Two Jugs of Water – Replenishment in Stereo. One jug feeds the earth for practical healing whilst the other returns water to the pool symbolising emotional integration.
One Foot in the Water, One on Land – Balanced Downloading. Grounded in reality but still tuned into the divine frequency.
The Greenery – Hope Has Roots. There’s a discreet little bush with a bird perched on it, sometimes seen as the ibis of Thoth, god of wisdom. This tiny flourish reminds us that life returns quietly, first as thought, then as choice, then as growth.
The Blue Sky – Peace Without Fireworks. The calm after the Tower-storm, this is what healing sounds like: silence, stars and your own breath returning.
iii. Influences
Planetary
The Star is influenced by Aquarius, a sign known for independence and a focus on the future, and its modern ruler, Uranus, brings unexpected changes. If The Tower is the lightning strike, The Star is the moment you realise it cleared space for your solar panels, meanwhile Uranus is downloading paradigm shifts. Under this influence, hope is visionary. Where are you being asked to trust the behind-the-scenes foundations before you can see the structure?
Natal House(s)
The Star resonates with the Eleventh House of collective vision, networks and the Big Picture. Alongside it is the Twelfth House of healing, dreams and transcendence. This means you’re contributing to a wider mosaic and this card is acting as a magnet to your people, purpose and/or perspective that remind you there’s more to life than the current pandemonium.
Astrological Sign(s)
Aquarius is the zodiac’s architect of the future and sometimes mistaken for aloofness when it's really playing 5D chess with The Celestial Order. The Star channels Aquarius’ cool clarity and refusal to settle for small thinking. What would hope, faith and recovery look like if it was designed with your whole future in mind, i.e. your soul path?
Numerologically
Card 17 reduces to 8, the number of mastery, regeneration and cyclical strength. Think resilience that grows from being knocked down seven times and rising the eighth with a clearer heart. The 17 points to divine guidance and inspiration, while 8 reminds you to ground it. Think how unstoppable you’d become if you trusted both your scars and your potential?
Element
As an Air card, The Star works through insight, vision and communication. This is the intellectual healing that arrives with space, silence and an improved awareness. It clears the fog of sentimentality with truth, so where can you invite in a breath of fresh perspective, even if it’s not what you wanted to hear?
iv. A Day in the Life of The Star
Well That Escalated Quickly
You're staring into nothing, wondering if the universe has abandoned you after a disaster. The Tower has crushed everything, and now The Star appears, offering hope when all you want is a way out. You’re not having any big realisations, just struggling to get by. You’re holding yourself together with parcel tape and sleepless nights, watching your past life burn away. The Star seems like a bad joke - too little too late. You're tired of the thought of healing, and hope feels like a betrayal. You don’t feel rescued, and optimism is bland.
Adjusting the Knobs
The sirens have stopped. The smoke’s thinned to a manageable smog. You’re sitting in the quiet surrounded by pieces of a life you’re no longer trying to glue back together because you’re feeling open to the possibility you don’t need the same shape you had before. The panic attacks have downgraded to philosophical sighs. You can hear the faint hum of your inner guidance system powering back online although there’s still some glitching but you’re trusting the flickers. Something is stabilising. You realise you’re the sign you’ve been looking for.
Unsubscribed from Self-Sabotage
You’re gently swiping left on your old habits like last season’s fashion choices and inviting in updates that suit your new self. You’re still questioning what you’re doing but you’re building a life that feels intuitive now, and far less exhausting. You know rest is not a moral failure and are listening to your needs before they start screaming.
Writing the TED Talk
You’re perched on the edge of a quiet sunrise, coming back to life bit by bit, smiling with compassionate triumph at the imperfect beauty of your transformation. You’re still tender, but thriving like a cat who’s knocked over every plant and somehow earned more admiration. The old you thought peace was boring because you didn’t know trauma caused your nervous system to become wired for disorder; making peace feel unfamiliar or unsafe. You now know that without constant tension, your mind doesn’t interpret calm as dull, or mistake the absence of crisis for emptiness. The new you knows peace is a radical act of self-kindness. You’re crafting a new story, woven with feelings you’re in touch with and shaped by a resilience and reality that’s entirely your own and no one else’s business.
v. Working with these Energies
Living The Star with Bare Feet
The Star brings a gentle feeling of ease and calm, reminding you that it's okay to feel good for no reason. This archetype acts as a support system for the soul, replacing false hope with real guidance to follow what truly matters.
Filter the Static
– What have you been calling healing that’s actually high-functioning avoidance?
– Where are you still chasing outcomes instead of listening inwardly?
– What truths have emerged now that the distractions are gone?Rehydrate your Soul
– What parts of you feel drained from trying too hard to be strong?
– What would real nourishment look like, not just for your body, but your beliefs?
– Where do you need a safer environment to thrive?Rest the Armor
– What are you finally safe enough to feel?
– Where can observation replace vigilance?
– If survival is no longer the goal, what’s the new mission?Align with the Long View
– What does emotional, energetic and existential sustainability now look like for you?
– What future are you committing to, even if you don’t know all the steps?
– What would your life look like if it was designed with your nervous system in mind?Keep the Channel Open
– What signs, synchronicities, or inner knowings are guiding you now?
– How can you stay in dialogue with your intuition instead of outsourcing direction?
– What small practice, act or intention would help you stay aligned when doubt creeps in?
vi. Building Skills
Somatic Exercise: The Hardest Thing
The Star offers light after the wreckage by illuminating what’s been hiding in it. This is the universe patting the seat and asking you to sit down for a chat with the parts of yourself that feel unlovable, unwelcome or ‘too much’.
Step 1: Set the Stage
Find a quiet space where you can sit or lie down without distraction. Light a candle or turn off the overhead lighting.
Place one hand over your heart, and the other over your stomach. Close your eyes. Breathe slowly through the nose, and exhale longer than your inhale. Do this until your nervous system registers some degree of safe presence.
Step 2: Ask the Question
Silently or aloud, ask yourself: ‘What is the hardest thing for me to accept about myself right now?’
Don’t go digging. Wait. Let the answer emerge from sensation alone. It might feel like a weight, a tension, a heat, or a drop in the gut. Stay with it.
Step 3: Locate It
Notice where in your body this truth lives. Simply name it: ‘It’s in my chest / jaw / stomach / shoulders.’
Put both hands on that spot and breathe into it. Be there for two minutes with awareness and allowance; letting your body understand that discomfort is a message and its allowed to be seen and heard.
Step 4: Anchor in Light
When the wave begins to settle, shift one hand back to your heart and allow it to be part of you, not all of you, and it’s got permission to stay until it no longer needs to.
Let the moment close as slowly as it opened. Re-enter the day moment by moment. Drink still water. Put your feet on the ground. The Star heals by creating conditions where truth can coexist with self compassion.
vii. Embodiment
The Light Returns When You Stop Looking for a Shortcut
What shattered wasn’t meant to last. But you? You’re still here albeit it dusty and dented. The Star guides you to trust yourself in the silence and hear your truth through your body and senses.
Smell:
What does restoration smell like? Maybe it’s rain on dry ground. Old stone after a storm. Lavender crushed between fingers. Breathe it in slowly - this is what it smells like to keep going, even with the hairline cracks.
Body:
Where is the ache relenting? Your spine a little less curved? Your jaw not as clenched? Rest your hand on the place that hurts and allow your nervous system to recalibrate by hearing and supporting it instead of fighting it.
Soundtrack:
Pick the track that doesn’t rush your process. The one that sounds like 3am and your own heartbeat. Let it highlight the moment and sit beside you with the volume just loud enough to feel like a companion.
Action:
What’s one small move you can do that honours your regeneration? Can you get comfortable with saying no? Tend to yourself.
Nature cue:
Go and find water, anything; the ocean, a stream, a puddle, a sink. Touch it. Let it remind you that healing isn’t linear; it meanders, reflects, evaporates, and returns like you; still flowing, and still part of the larger cycle.
Notice what’s quietly enduring:
The Star doesn’t rebuild the tower. It asks you what still shimmers underneath the collapse. What’s survived intact? A belief, a boundary, a part of yourself that feels more integral now? That’s where your next chapter starts.
viii. Your Impressions
Where The Tower was an alarm bell with no snooze button, The Star are the dawn birds you can hear outside the window, or the cool hand on your forehead. This card is the certainty that you’re facing in the right direction.
Start by looking at the card. Where does your focus settle? The distant stars? The woman pouring water? The bare vulnerability of her stance? Nothing's collapsing or shouting - so you’re allowed to rest now.
Notice what stirs in you. Is it discomfort with the stillness? A flicker of hope that almost feels suspicious? Maybe even grief for the time you spent wandering without this kind of understanding. Let it come to be supported. The Star waits.
Now check your body. Are your shoulders starting to lower? Is your breath a little deeper, even if you didn’t try? Perhaps there's a subtle pain, like the tension in your body is finally easing.
ix. Intuitive Meaning
This card marks the moment something shifts, and this time, you stay shifted. Consider what you're telling yourself now about who you are, who they were, what life is and what it might still be, and reflect on this:
When in the past did life fall apart, and somehow, hope crept back in when you weren’t looking?
Where are you mistaking numbness for stability, instead of opening to what could soothe you?
What is one honest truth about yourself that you're ready to carry into the future, even if it stings a little?
Applied insight with a three-card reading using The Star as your anchor:
What part of me is quietly trying to heal?
What do I need to trust even if I can’t prove it yet?
What new story is ready to be written in the space I’ve cleared?
Pull or shuffle-fling your cards and note your feelings. Take your time and let the answers unfold. Write three ‘you’ words that relate to your current experience:
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x. Closing Reflection: Track Your Evolving Lens
Your relationship with each card will grow over time because it’s meant to shaped by your life. Consider the prompts below to revisit and reflect.
What I thought this card meant when I first pulled it: —————————————————
A recent experience that changed how I see it: —————————————————
How I feel about it now, in my body or life: —————————————————
What surprised me as this card kept showing up: —————————————————
One way this card is living in my life right now: —————————————————
If this card visited me today as a guide, what would it want me to remember? —————————————————
Revisit these after a week, a moon phase, or a meaningful moment. Let the card evolve as you do.
If you feel a quiet sense of recognition, curiosity and want to explore it, browse the sessions page for what feels right.