The star tarot card offers a stark contrast to the bleak scenery of the previous arcanum (the Tower). The first in a succession of three major arcana named after celestial bodies, the Star heralds the first steps in the final path leading to enlightenment, where all the lessons of the previous major arcana start to fuse together to make sense of the world.
Upright keywords: Hope, inspiration, vision, purpose, and guidance
Reversed keywords: Self-doubts, confusion, ambiguity, hypocrisy, and despair
Astrologically, the Star card is associated with the planet Uranus and the sign of Aquarius.
Taken out of context from the rest of the tarot reading, the meaning of the Star card is usually connected to your inner faith, and to the purest form of hope. Indeed, when you feel lost and blind in the night of your life, the bright light of the stars that pierces the darkness in the night sky can often fill you up with renewed hope and dissuade you from giving up right away.
The Star card can also be a reference to the Querent’s secret dreams and desires, wishes that are not necessarily spoken out loud but that provide them with a goal in life.
Finally, in the context of more complex reading, the Star card also acts as an enhancer, stressing, and amplifying the positive aspects to be found in other cards in the drawing.
The Star card is profound for energy around relationships because it encourages you to pursue your vision for a great relationship. You need to seek your highest ideal; see it in your mind so it has a chance to manifest in your life. “Hope springs eternal” is the motto of this card.
If you are single, this card encourages you to believe that there is the right person for you and you will find him or her. Think of each failed date as an assurance that you still on the right path to finding a successful union. Do not waiver in your conviction to meet the person best suited for you. If you settle, you will only find disappointment. The Star card reminds you that you deserve your best relationship, no matter how long it takes to find.
If you are in a relationship, this card encourages you to think about the next goal you want to achieve as a couple. What vision is guiding you now? What visions guided you in the past? It is important to have a mutual goal that deepens and matures your love. You do not want to become stagnant and the appearance of the Star card reminds you to keep striving together.
Career encompasses school and education if that is your current stage; work that is necessary, but not what you would consider a career path; and your actual career path. Regardless of your current stage of development, The Star represents your visionary goal for your academic pursuits, your work, and your career.
If you are a student and this is your card, then you need to consider what you plan to do with your education after you graduate. With each class, how are you building or fulfilling your academic dreams? If you are lost or without direction regarding your studies, then you might need to leave school for work and see if you can fulfill your dreams elsewhere and through different means.
If you are working, but not doing something you would consider a career, then this card will ask you if the work is allowing you to pursue your dream as a means to an end. While it would be nice if work could be a vision, which would be a career, it is not always the case. For work to matter, you need to have a dream elsewhere that work helps make sure you can pursue and attain.
If you are in a career path, then this card reminds you to stay focused on your vision of what you want your career to be. Having a guiding Star can keep your career dynamic and satisfying. If you attain your vision, look for another Star to guide you. Never settle.
The reversed Star card can twist its meaning around and focus on the negative aspects of the card. It can be a sign of extreme loneliness, a feeling of being left out and excluded from your friends and family.
At worst, it can be a setback to the fulfillment of your hopes and dreams as the reversed Star card entices you to doubt your dreams eventual fulfillment, and this doubt can lead you on a dark path pushing you further and further away from your own goals. The best way to avoid this problem is to take a step back from your own situation and recognize all the positive aspects that can still be found within, as well as all the wonderful steps you have made so far.
Reversed, this card suggests you may “have lost that loving feeling”. The vision of your relationship is no longer what you hoped for; maybe your partner has told you that he or she no longer feels the same way you do. It may be time to look for a new relationship or to change your vision about the current relationship if you are both still in love, but not attaining what you hoped you would together.
When this card appears reversed in a question about work or career, then you likely need to realize that your vision for work and career is no longer the same. Perhaps a circumstance, like the birth of a child, has fundamentally changed your goals, forcing you to “re”-vision what you want out of your work and career.
The Fool now gets to enjoy some sweet respite after the turbulence of the previous lesson. The star tarot card is arguably the most positive one in the entire deck, and as such, this is also a very positive and important lesson to be learned on the Fool’s journey.
After the tempestuous elements breaking down the tower, the Fool gets to enjoy peaceful serenity. The human character that can often be seen depicted on the Star card is usually naked, teaching the Fool that their walls crumbling down has left them naked too, figuratively speaking, free from prejudice and misconceptions, free to start over again, and hopeful that everything will turn out for the best. When everything that was superfluous is gone, it is easier to see the light of hope, shining like a beacon within their mind and soul. Shining like a star.
Like a star shining bright like a beacon in the night sky, the meaning of the Star card is extremely positive and bears a message of hope, an urging to put your trust into the stars above and let them guide you back out of despair and into joy. If this card is drawn as the outcome or result card of a drawing, this is a very encouraging sign that tends to imply that whatever was the subject of the reading will come to an extremely positive conclusion.
The Mythic Tarot (1986)
The Haindl Tarot (1990)
Osho Zen Tarot (1995)
Law of Attraction Tarot (2011)
Spellcaster Tarot (2016)
OStara Tarot (2017)
When you feel lost or think that you have lost sight of your hopes and dreams, the Star tarot card is the best meditation focus to find your way back into these dreams and try to make them come true. The goal of such a meditation session is to lift your spirits up, so it works even better if you set up a comfortable space.
You can meditate in the darkness of your own room, with a few candles spread around the room like a constellation of flames. Think about the things that make you happy, and if you think of anything that used to be positive for you but that faded away, try to understand why, and see whether you can flip that sentiment around.
