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The Star is the 18th Card in the Major
Arcana of the Tarot.
(It is card No.17 because the 1st Card, "The
Fool" is
called Card No.0.)
The Star reminds us that we are literally
the "star" (main character) of our own life. It is also a spiritual
card that conveys the concept of understanding through intuition.
That is, there are various ways in which people
can "understand" things:
For example, in a school or college environment "understanding"
is often used to mean being able to give (logical)
reasons for something, to justify it, or to cite certain associated
facts. This is very different from, for example, "understanding"
a person - which is normally taken to mean being able to empathize
with him/her by imagining what it must be like to experience
his/her circumstances from his/her point of view. The
Star Tarot Card is more concerned
with the latter meaning of "understanding", but not restricted
to application to people. It may concern intuitive understanding
of a particular situation, relationship, job, direction, or
idea.
In the cases of the Rider-Waite and Robin
Wood Decks "The Star" Tarot
Card depicts a nude figure of a young woman on one bended
knee with the other foot in a stream or pool. In both cases,
there is much symbolism in "The Star"
card. The nudity of the figure indicates that she has "nothing
to hide", the eight-pointed star above her represents infinity,
the water she is pouring onto the land beside the stream/pool
divides into 5 small trickles representing the five senses.
Some specific terms associated with "The Star" Tarot
card include:
Bright Prospects, Hope and Faith, Need
for Cleansing, Occult Arts, Need
for Inner Clarity, Self-Confidence (present,
or needed), Self-Trust (present, or needed).
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The cards of the Major Arcana are widely considered to be the
most powerful cards in the Tarot Deck. The 22 cards of the Major
Arcana tell a complete story when arranged in upright and numerical
order (beginning with The
Fool). This is a story of of development and enlightenment
and is sometimes referred to as "The Fool's Journey".
Some texts also include meanings for "reversed
cards". These
are for the situation in which the cards are shuffled in both
order and orientation. The theoretical advantage to this is that
it effectively doubles the number of possible "cards" in
the deck from 78 to 156. (However, in terms of the calculation
of obtaining results according to chance alone, it is not a simple
mathematical doubling because once a card
has been
drawn
it
cannot be drawn
again in the opposite orientation in the same reading.) |
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