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Description
The Star
In my rendition of ‘The Star’ Tarot card, my primary source of symbolic meaning was derived through interpreting Crowley’s commentary on the representation of Nuith; ‘Our Lady of the Stars’. Fittingly, the young girl in my card is named Celeste.

Within the card itself, a subtle seven pointed Heptagram of Venus frames the young girls crown, and through its centre emanate rays of light unto the universe representing the light and love of life. It also represents the seven planets of traditional astrology. Surrounding her face and chest are ancient star-maps from around the world, whirling in a vortex to symbolize the collective thoughts and struggles of humanity to understand the cosmos. Superimposed over Celeste’s face are Egyptian hieroglyphic figures, as is to protect and remind us of the sacredness of our bodily senses and openings. Over Celeste’s heart centre is the stylized Humming-bird geo-glyph from the Nazca lines.

Her eyes are closed; as if in prayer, dreaming, or making a wish….Her closed eyes serve to remind us, that ‘travel’ does not have to be a third-dimensional endeavor. In ‘The Star’ card, we are encouraged to consider ways of thinking and feeling that challenge the construct of limitations. Here, the concept of inner-space and outer-space are reconciled as our illusion of separateness, shimmers before dissolving.

Celeste is holding her breath and on the verge of blowing the fragile seeds of the dandelion flower unto the night; each of its seeds will float into the unknown, and yet all are filled with life. ‘The Star’ card reminds us that every thought and act we do has life, and can be linked with purpose, aspiration, hope, and consciousness.
Humorously, the geometry of the dandelion flower reminded me of the newest developments in Particle Physics, and the monstrous electronic particle detecting machines that are now attempting to understand the nature of reality. It is interesting to note how much of humanities constructions unconsciously reflect Nature’s perfection…and like the dandelions fragility, how ‘our lady of the stars’ could but through one breath, blow the rigidity of our mechanistic thinking away. ‘The Star’ card reminds us of ‘erspective’, and “the eternal renewal of all categories, the inexhaustible possibilities of existence”.

I found it to be a wonderful contemplation and challenge to interpret Crowley’s description of the “doctrine which asserts that the blindness of humanity to all the beauty and wonder of the Universe is due to this illusion of straightness”. Here, I was challenged to break through my natural affinity with geometric form and explore the curve. This is illustrated through bending the subtle ‘flower-of-life’ tapestry in the night sky and reflecting the stars in the rippling of the water. Celeste’s hair also defies gravity and order and weaves in a seemingly haphazard manner. This is contrasted against the many straight threads of light that link her to the stars. Symbolically, if we relate these threads of hair to pathways of travel, we are reminded that time is relative, and the prospect of such fantastic ideas such as the bending of space and time may in fact, be possible. It may also stimulate contemplation about ‘ways of being’ that one is naturally unfamiliar with…and that life beyond our solar system may be governed by completely un-thought of elements.

The stars themselves are like slowly turning wheels: above Celeste is the southern star map, and reflected in the water below her feet is the northern star map. Framing her feet is the Hebrew letter ‘Heh’ like an oriental gateway, eluding to the possibility that our bodies are akin to doorways; and that spirit and the influence of the cosmos constantly move through us…

Directly overhead is the bright star of ‘Sirius’. As the Wiki-pedia article points out: “The heliacal rising of Sirius marked the flooding of the Nile in ancient Egypt” and the renewing of Egypt’s fertility. Written in the stars around Sirius is a geometric rendition of the name of the Egyptian goddess ‘Sopdet’. Her relationship with both renewal, fertility, and the star-system is of key importance. The African Dogon-tribe sand glyph of the Sirius system can also be seen subtly rising up to meet Sirius.

Finally, the traditional astrological association of Aquarius is rendered geometrically, and like the water she treads, ripples under ‘Our Lady of the Stars’ feet.
The Star card could go on forever with symbolic interpretations. It has been a long journey to get here. Our ‘Lady of the Stars’ is definitely a work in progress, but as for now I shall let her rest. I would like to thank the practicing magician and writer Donald Tyson for his communication with me regarding developments in this work. His knowledge and advice has been invaluable.
In the spirit of 'La Tarochi', regards, Alexander.

Description
The Star
In my rendition of ‘The Star’ Tarot card, my primary source of symbolic meaning was derived through interpreting Crowley’s commentary on the representation of Nuith; ‘Our Lady of the Stars’. Fittingly, the young girl in my card is named Celeste.

Within the card itself, a subtle seven pointed Heptagram of Venus frames the young girls crown, and through its centre emanate rays of light unto the universe representing the light and love of life. It also represents the seven planets of traditional astrology. Surrounding her face and chest are ancient star-maps from around the world, whirling in a vortex to symbolize the collective thoughts and struggles of humanity to understand the cosmos. Superimposed over Celeste’s face are Egyptian hieroglyphic figures, as is to protect and remind us of the sacredness of our bodily senses and openings. Over Celeste’s heart centre is the stylized Humming-bird geo-glyph from the Nazca lines.

Her eyes are closed; as if in prayer, dreaming, or making a wish….Her closed eyes serve to remind us, that ‘travel’ does not have to be a third-dimensional endeavor. In ‘The Star’ card, we are encouraged to consider ways of thinking and feeling that challenge the construct of limitations. Here, the concept of inner-space and outer-space are reconciled as our illusion of separateness, shimmers before dissolving.

Celeste is holding her breath and on the verge of blowing the fragile seeds of the dandelion flower unto the night; each of its seeds will float into the unknown, and yet all are filled with life. ‘The Star’ card reminds us that every thought and act we do has life, and can be linked with purpose, aspiration, hope, and consciousness.
Humorously, the geometry of the dandelion flower reminded me of the newest developments in Particle Physics, and the monstrous electronic particle detecting machines that are now attempting to understand the nature of reality. It is interesting to note how much of humanities constructions unconsciously reflect Nature’s perfection…and like the dandelions fragility, how ‘our lady of the stars’ could but through one breath, blow the rigidity of our mechanistic thinking away. ‘The Star’ card reminds us of ‘erspective’, and “the eternal renewal of all categories, the inexhaustible possibilities of existence”.

I found it to be a wonderful contemplation and challenge to interpret Crowley’s description of the “doctrine which asserts that the blindness of humanity to all the beauty and wonder of the Universe is due to this illusion of straightness”. Here, I was challenged to break through my natural affinity with geometric form and explore the curve. This is illustrated through bending the subtle ‘flower-of-life’ tapestry in the night sky and reflecting the stars in the rippling of the water. Celeste’s hair also defies gravity and order and weaves in a seemingly haphazard manner. This is contrasted against the many straight threads of light that link her to the stars. Symbolically, if we relate these threads of hair to pathways of travel, we are reminded that time is relative, and the prospect of such fantastic ideas such as the bending of space and time may in fact, be possible. It may also stimulate contemplation about ‘ways of being’ that one is naturally unfamiliar with…and that life beyond our solar system may be governed by completely un-thought of elements.

The stars themselves are like slowly turning wheels: above Celeste is the southern star map, and reflected in the water below her feet is the northern star map. Framing her feet is the Hebrew letter ‘Heh’ like an oriental gateway, eluding to the possibility that our bodies are akin to doorways; and that spirit and the influence of the cosmos constantly move through us…

Directly overhead is the bright star of ‘Sirius’. As the Wiki-pedia article points out: “The heliacal rising of Sirius marked the flooding of the Nile in ancient Egypt” and the renewing of Egypt’s fertility. Written in the stars around Sirius is a geometric rendition of the name of the Egyptian goddess ‘Sopdet’. Her relationship with both renewal, fertility, and the star-system is of key importance. The African Dogon-tribe sand glyph of the Sirius system can also be seen subtly rising up to meet Sirius.

Finally, the traditional astrological association of Aquarius is rendered geometrically, and like the water she treads, ripples under ‘Our Lady of the Stars’ feet.
The Star card could go on forever with symbolic interpretations. It has been a long journey to get here. Our ‘Lady of the Stars’ is definitely a work in progress, but as for now I shall let her rest. I would like to thank the practicing magician and writer Donald Tyson for his communication with me regarding developments in this work. His knowledge and advice has been invaluable.
In the spirit of 'La Tarochi', regards, Alexander.