The Star as a Negative

Autumnaleqinox

Hi all, I was hoping some of y'all could weigh in on a recent reading I did. The question asked was basically "Why do I feel like I'm drowning and panicking?" and in my reading, the Star showed up in a position that basically meant "What's the root cause of your problem/what's dragging you down?". The best interpretation I was able to come up with is that perhaps the querent had been focusing all their hopes and goals on this single point, and now that they were reaching this point, they were beginning to worry that they had pinned too much and didn't know where to go once they were actually there. I've included an image of the card itself in the link below, it's from the Slow Holler deck.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/w...IAhZfVlg7NBCrEuK53IYIjXlDzlCgFqK=w479-h638-no
 

Aset

I would probably take it one of two ways.

The first is that they have unrealistic hopes or expectations that aren't actually attainable, and the person is driving themself mad trying to do something that is ultimately futile.

The second is that they have nothing they are looking forward to, no hopes or goals, and that's tied into depression.

Which interpretation I'd use depends on the rest of the spread.
 

IndigoWaves

I could see your own interpretation applying, especially with that Star card/imagery...

My initial thought, though, is that these feelings may stem from a buried suspicion that whatever's being chased is either completely unreachable or will be unsustainable in practical terms... Something that can't really be brought down to earth by the querent and/or "kept". Or, there may be a hunch that reaching this goal will prove less satisfying than it's been built up to in imagination; an unreachable dream in terms of over-elevated expectations.

Sensing that one of these scenarios will have to be dealt with at some point could probably induce panic/emotional upset.
 

KnightOfTheCosmos

Hi! I don't know if this will help, but The Star is one of my least favorite cards. I usually get it to mean that something I want is out of my reach. However, even though it may be out of my reach, I can keep the hope alive. Sometimes, however, hoping doesn't do much of anything and we need to be more active. For that reason, I see The Star as an impractical card.

For "What's the root cause of your problem/what's dragging you down?", it could mean that the root cause is that the querent is aiming too high with regards to their goals, and that is causing them to become anxious. Sometimes it is unrealistic to aim too high, and we have to come back down to earth a little bit. Aiming too high can also make a person very anxious if they see their goals are not being met.

I don't know if this made sense but this is what came to my mind at first. I hope this helped somewhat. :)

OH I posted before I saw IndigoWaves' response! I'm glad we came to similar conclusions. :D
 

EmpyreanKnight

I agree that desperation caused by the Star might be linked to somehow feeling that the dream you are aiming for may be too high, that deep inside you know that it can never be brought to fruition. However, I've read other interpretations that the claustrophobic feeling brought about by the Star can also be caused when you feel that in the end, even if you know you can reach that specific dream when you put your mind to it, you still won't give it your all because in your heart of hearts you do not believe that all the effort is worth the pay off. It might not be what you truly desire, but you think that since you've started it and put so much effort and energy into it, you might as well end it. It's the sunk cost fallacy, and it might be worth exploring if it really is the case.
 

Farzon

The Star card can also show that the querent is all about hopes and dreams but not doing anything to bring this dream into reality. So they basically are always procrastinating and never get started in the first place.
 

Ace

The star is healing. Maybe your expectations were that you would be PERFECT, all fine, once you got back into equilibrium. And you aren't. Perfect that is, you never will be. So you are caught in a loop of I am healed, but I am not perfect so I must not be healed, but I should be healed, so something is wrong and I am not healed but I am healed.....

Stop overthinking it. Just relax a bit and be in the moment and maybe it will ease.


barb
 

Autumnaleqinox

Wow, thanks everyone for the replies!

I would probably take it one of two ways.

The first is that they have unrealistic hopes or expectations that aren't actually attainable, and the person is driving themself mad trying to do something that is ultimately futile.

The second is that they have nothing they are looking forward to, no hopes or goals, and that's tied into depression.

Which interpretation I'd use depends on the rest of the spread.

I definitely think your first approach could be a strong interpretation. The other cards in the spread gave a general message of trying to be more grounded and not getting caught up in their mind, so I could see the idea of the root cause being unattainable expectations making a lot of sense.
 

Autumnaleqinox

I could see your own interpretation applying, especially with that Star card/imagery...

My initial thought, though, is that these feelings may stem from a buried suspicion that whatever's being chased is either completely unreachable or will be unsustainable in practical terms... Something that can't really be brought down to earth by the querent and/or "kept". Or, there may be a hunch that reaching this goal will prove less satisfying than it's been built up to in imagination; an unreachable dream in terms of over-elevated expectations.

Sensing that one of these scenarios will have to be dealt with at some point could probably induce panic/emotional upset.

I think both of those ideas could work in this scenario! The querent definitely holds high expectations of themselves and their future, and if they feel like things can't live up to the ideal in their mind, that would definitely cause this distress. I think the "less satisfying than in their imagination" applies especially well, as the rest of the reading did have a "get out of your own head" vibe to it.
 

Autumnaleqinox

Hi! I don't know if this will help, but The Star is one of my least favorite cards. I usually get it to mean that something I want is out of my reach. However, even though it may be out of my reach, I can keep the hope alive. Sometimes, however, hoping doesn't do much of anything and we need to be more active. For that reason, I see The Star as an impractical card.

For "What's the root cause of your problem/what's dragging you down?", it could mean that the root cause is that the querent is aiming too high with regards to their goals, and that is causing them to become anxious. Sometimes it is unrealistic to aim too high, and we have to come back down to earth a little bit. Aiming too high can also make a person very anxious if they see their goals are not being met.

I don't know if this made sense but this is what came to my mind at first. I hope this helped somewhat. :)

OH I posted before I saw IndigoWaves' response! I'm glad we came to similar conclusions. :D

That's super interesting that the Star is one of your least favorites! It's one of my favorites, which is why it threw me a little to see it in such a negative position. But I can definitely see the "aiming too high" aspect. I also think the idea of this hope needing to be backed up by action makes a lot of sense as well, because if you're just relying on hope that the universe will fall into place, that could definitely be anxiety inducing!