Manga Tarot: The Star

Alan Ross

Seasonal Glyph: Spring

The Star (in this deck, The Stars) is one of my favorite cards and it's one of the first cards I look for in a new deck. However, in this deck the naked tattooed guy doesn't quite do it for me. He's shown striding purposefully along a narrow path and the LWB mentions that "Each journey begins with a single step."

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. Perhaps what's being suggested is that hope can be found in impossible situations by dealing with them one small step at a time. There may also be an allusion here to following one's inspiration or muse.

What's missing here is the sense of peace and spiritual repose that I usually associate with this card. Also lacking is any significance of healing, the washing away of spiritual or psychological anxieties and injuries. I'm also mystified by the tattoos. Do they have any particular significance? I can make out a dragon tattooed on his chest and what looks like a dog or a wolf on one side of his abdomen, but I can't quite make out the rest of the tattoos. Maybe someone with better eyes than mine can shed some light on this.

Alan

Mellifluous

I don't know why this one was changed so much either. I suppose, at least for those of us who are nocturnal and like nature, the outdoors at night under the stars is a calm, peaceful and healing setting. The figure looks so aggressively powerful that it's disconcerting. Reminds me of the $6 million (bionic) man, actually. lol It doesn't really show any sort of vulnerability, but maybe being naked is meant to symbolize that?

Pondering this card right now though, there are some meanings for the Star that can be associated to this picture. (Sort of backwards, instead of looking at the picture and intuiting meanings.)

One is that the Star card is often one you'd meditate on if you wanted to improve your health or fitness/appearance (along with Strength). He certainly looks the picture of health.

Another is the idea of being the star of your own life, of your own story. He's got that incredibly bright star shining directly above his head, like he's The One. Implies a connection with the divine, and also looks a bit like a spotlight.

Re: the tattoos

I'll have to take this card outdoors sometime to try to get a better look at it in direct sunlight, but reading your post I remembered the 8 of coins in this deck shows a woman painting or tattooing a man's body. I believe the booklet says something about creativity for that card. So, the tattoos might simply be representing creativity here - which is appropriate for a Star card.

I'm wondering if the figure being so powerful - coupled with the bright starlight almost seeming to come from his forehead instead of just above and behind his head - is meant to represent inspiration. That's a meaning I connect with the Star, not in terms of creative inspiration (though that would work, too), but with respect to inspiring others. When you've survived bad things or difficult things and been depleted, and you are gentle with yourself and fill your reserves up again, it allows you to help others - both directly/actively and simply by being a living proof that it can be done.

I don't care for the booklet meaning for this one. It would have been more appropriate for the Fool, IMO. However, what you wrote in your post about it makes sense. Healing journeys can be so very long, so the baby steps are important.

Also thought I should add here again (for posterity, lol) that I saw the Temperance card in this deck as having more of the traditional Star imagery, and conveying a healing message because of it.

What else? It seems to be lacking the gentleness conveyed by most star cards, unless you're really focusing on the setting moreso than the figure. He's not even really smiling, is he? I'm used to seeing a small, gentle smile on Star cards. It definitely does convey a feeling a freedom though. All Star cards should now that I'm thinking about various images depicted on them, yet I've never thought of freedom before when looking at one. Not until just now, typing this. Pretty cool, actually. Becoming free of whatever it is you've just been through - illness, bad situations, the bad memories. Hmm. I like that a lot.

I guess the bottom line might be that they made this card an ideal sort of image of when the healing is completed. Maybe thinking that would inspire or encourage people using the deck, and therefore it gives the booklet meaning more sense? Because you'd look at this muscle man walking naked through the night all powerful and inspired and stuff, and think, 'Yeah, I am nothing like that at this moment'. lol Then the booklet says the journey starts with a single step? :joke:

Best I can come up with right now.

Alan Ross

Mellifluous said:
I don't know why this one was changed so much either. I suppose, at least for those of us who are nocturnal and like nature, the outdoors at night under the stars is a calm, peaceful and healing setting. The figure looks so aggressively powerful that it's disconcerting. Reminds me of the $6 million (bionic) man, actually.

lol. Yes, the bionic man certainly fits. The aggressive energy he exudes is exactly the opposite of the gentle spirit I'm used to feeling from The Star. And he has such a grim and determined look on his face. Now that I think of it, the Terminator might actually fit him even better.

Pondering this card right now though, there are some meanings for the Star that can be associated to this picture. (Sort of backwards, instead of looking at the picture and intuiting meanings.) One is that the Star card is often one you'd meditate on if you wanted to improve your health or fitness/appearance (along with Strength). He certainly looks the picture of health.

I wish I had six-pack abs like him. Maybe they should have renamed this card "The Gym." I suppose it's useful to have a card that signifies taking care of your physical health and fitness, but I usually associate the star more with the sort of healing and health that arises from spiritual sources. I don't typically associate The Star with Ab Loungers or Nautilus fitness machines.

Another is the idea of being the star of your own life, of your own story. He's got that incredibly bright star shining directly above his head, like he's The One. Implies a connection with the divine, and also looks a bit like a spotlight.

The bright star on his forehead is the one thing I like in this card. It reminds me of Aleister Crowley's third law of Thelema: "every man and every woman is a star." I also like the idea of the star lighting the way ahead of him, like, as you say, a spotlight.

I don't care for the booklet meaning for this one. It would have been more appropriate for the Fool, IMO.

It's funny you should mention that. About a year ago, tarotreader2007 posted the following in the thread for The Fool: "Here's a challenge, does anybody think there is a card in the deck that does fit the "typical" fool mantra? The 8 of cups perhaps???" In my response, I had replied "The Star in this deck is closer to what I would expect The Fool to be. Certainly the quote fits: 'Each journey begins with a single step.'"

...reading your post I remembered the 8 of coins in this deck shows a woman painting or tattooing a man's body. I believe the booklet says something about creativity for that card. So, the tattoos might simply be representing creativity here.

I can see tattooing someone symbolizing creativity. Maybe this tattooed guy is also a tattoo artist. Although he looks like he spends too much time in the gym to be a serious artist.

Also thought I should add here again (for posterity, lol) that I saw the Temperance card in this deck as having more of the traditional Star imagery, and conveying a healing message because of it.

I would agree that Temperance in this deck more closely resembles the traditional image for The Star. And I get a stronger impression of gentleness and spiritual harmony in Temperance, important qualities for spiritual healing.

It [The Star] definitely does convey a feeling a freedom though. All Star cards should now that I'm thinking about various images depicted on them, yet I've never thought of freedom before when looking at one. Not until just now, typing this. Pretty cool, actually. Becoming free of whatever it is you've just been through - illness, bad situations, the bad memories. Hmm. I like that a lot.

The card does successfully convey the idea of being free to pursue one's own destiny and follow one's own inspiration. I tried to think of other cards that give the same impression of freedom or becoming free from something undesirable, and what I came up with is the other "journey" cards in this deck: The Fool, The Hermit, and the Eight of Cups.

I guess the bottom line might be that they made this card an ideal sort of image of when the healing is completed. Maybe thinking that would inspire or encourage people using the deck, and therefore it gives the booklet meaning more sense? Because you'd look at this muscle man walking naked through the night all powerful and inspired and stuff, and think, 'Yeah, I am nothing like that at this moment'. lol Then the booklet says the journey starts with a single step? Best I can come up with right now.

Maybe some people would look at this strong, determined, and buffed tattoo guy and be inpired by him, like watching one of those fitness infomercials on late night TV, but when I look at my paunchy fifty-year-old body that is well past its prime, I'm not exactly filled with hope. I definitely prefer more traditional depictions of this card.

Alan

Mellifluous

Alan Ross said:
lol. Yes, the bionic man certainly fits. The aggressive energy he exudes is exactly the opposite of the gentle spirit I'm used to feeling from The Star. And he has such a grim and determined look on his face. Now that I think of it, the Terminator might actually fit him even better.

So true! I've lost count of how many times this one seemed more like a Strength card to me than a Star.

Alan Ross said:
I wish I had six-pack abs like him. Maybe they should have renamed this card "The Gym." I suppose it's useful to have a card that signifies taking care of your physical health and fitness, but I usually associate the star more with the sort of healing and health that arises from spiritual sources. I don't typically associate The Star with Ab Loungers or Nautilus fitness machines.

LOL! That reminds me of one of the cards in the Gay Tarot... it literally does show a few guys working out in the gym and I still haven't worked out how it's supposed to relate to the card's meaning. Ah, yes. (I went and got the deck so I could find it.) It's the Youth (Page) of Coins and the main guy looks like he's been in that gym all day, every day since birth...

I also usually associate the Star with spiritual, mental and emotional healing, however, I think it is good for both since the spiritual/inner life and the body affect each other.

Alan Ross said:
The bright star on his forehead is the one thing I like in this card. It reminds me of Aleister Crowley's third law of Thelema: "every man and every woman is a star." I also like the idea of the star lighting the way ahead of him, like, as you say, a spotlight.

I'd not heard that before but it's quite fitting. I like the starlight on this card, too.

Alan Ross said:
I can see tattooing someone symbolizing creativity. Maybe this tattooed guy is also a tattoo artist. Although he looks like he spends too much time in the gym to be a serious artist.

Hmm. I suppose there must be a very buff artist out there somewhere taking umbrage.

Know what you mean though, for sure...

It may not seem like it, from one angle, but I think it's also creative people who tend to get tattoos - even though they aren't the ones inking themselves. Goes along with other forms of personal adornment and even fashion. One may buy clothes instead of making them, but the individual's choices are still a means of personal expression. Moreso with tattoos since (I think) they are still considered a bit unconventional and nonconformist even though more people have them now; and usually, the individual chooses the image, its placement, and whether or not (and when) to keep it covered or reveal it (and to whom).

Oh! Just occurred to me that maybe that's got something to do with it. His tattoos are all out in the open here since he is not wearing clothes - representing very open self expression and creativity. (lol I'm really making quite the effort to get sense out of this card, aren't I?) However, with other Star cards I've not seen that as an important part of it really. It's more important that you have your personal creative outlet, for yourself, than that you go showing your art to everyone.

Then again, there's no one else in this picture.

Alan Ross said:
The card does successfully convey the idea of being free to pursue one's own destiny and follow one's own inspiration. I tried to think of other cards that give the same impression of freedom or becoming free from something undesirable, and what I came up with is the other "journey" cards in this deck: The Fool, The Hermit, and the Eight of Cups.

Interesting. I think of the Fool as adventure and risk taking, and both the Fool and the Hermit as nonconformists. I've never gotten the same sense of freedom from them though. Possibly because I think of the Fool as going towards something specific, and the Hermit's freedom is very much within his own head, to me. (I don't see the Hermit as a journey card. It's more about relationships for me.)

Maybe it is that powerful (intimidating) stride through the night air depicted in the image. It just conveys a very different feeling to me... like he's free to go anywhere, whenever he likes, for whatever purpose or no purpose at all, and no one's going to be able to stop him. It's not confined to this particular journey.

Unfortunately, eight of cups journeys seem to be so difficult, painful and sad it doesn't even seem like a freedom. Too much of a sense of rejection or exclusion there, combined with a weariness. (Although that card's meaning is a bit different, too, in this deck's booklet. lol Will leave that off for its own thread, should there ever be one.)

Alan Ross said:
Maybe some people would look at this strong, determined, and buffed tattoo guy and be inpired by him, like watching one of those fitness infomercials on late night TV, but when I look at my paunchy fifty-year-old body that is well past its prime, I'm not exactly filled with hope. I definitely prefer more traditional depictions of this card.

Yeah. I was just trying to think of some logical, plausible theory behind the design of this card. If that's what the creators were thinking, this is definitely the downside - comparing one's self negatively to the card, or having a distaste for overly muscled people in general, is going to produce the opposite effect to what a Star card should have on the sitter. I still can't get over the facial expression either.

The card's definitely not a complete wash. I also prefer a more traditional image though.

Alan Ross

Mellifluous said:
Hmm. I suppose there must be a very buff artist out there somewhere taking umbrage.

You have a point. I want to take a moment here to profusely apologize to any seriously buff tattoo artists who may be reading this. Especially to any seriously buff tattoo artists who I might encounter if I should accidentally find myself wandering into a gym (the only way I'm likely to find myself in a gym) or a tattoo parlor (ditto). That encounter would certainly go very badly for me

.

Oh! Just occurred to me that maybe that's got something to do with it. His tattoos are all out in the open here since he is not wearing clothes - representing very open self expression and creativity. (lol I'm really making quite the effort to get sense out of this card, aren't I?)

I'd say you're doing an excellent job. For an artist, this aspect could be particularly meaningful: the Star as an artist's source of creative inspiration.

I think of the Fool as adventure and risk taking, and both the Fool and the Hermit as nonconformists. I've never gotten the same sense of freedom from them though. Possibly because I think of the Fool as going towards something specific, and the Hermit's freedom is very much within his own head, to me. (I don't see the Hermit as a journey card. It's more about relationships for me.)

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I'm intrigued by the comparison between The Star in this deck and the three cards I previously mentioned: The Fool, The Hermit, and the Eight of Cups. (Warning! Long ramble ahead.) I don't see The Fool as traveling with a specific goal or destination in mind. She is embarking on a journey not to get anywhere specific, but to open herself to life's experiences, to whatever is likely to happen from one moment to the next.

In this deck, The Fool is a young woman who is walking with her eyes covered. To me, this signifies that she isn't paying any particular attention to where she's going. As capricious and spontaneous as the Fool is, she can decide on a whim at any moment to veer one way or the next. Looking at The Star, on the other hand, tattoo guy looks very determined to get to a specific destination. This connects well with The Star's primary significance of "hope," which is specifically mentioned in the LWB. Hope is always associated with a specific goal. It's not present moment oriented, like The Fool, but rather oriented toward some specific outcome in the future.

This goal directed orientation also distinguishes the Star from The Hermit and the Eight of Cup. The Hermit is, among other things, a card of seclusion and introspection. In his search for mental clarity or spiritual illumination, the Hermit ventures away from the distractions of daily life, rather than to a specific destination. The Eight of Cups is also about walking away from your current situation, although it often specifically involves walking away from a painful or hopeless situation.

As far as "freedom" goes, I don't really feel that tattoo guy is particularly free. He's pretty determined to get where he's going, and that constrains him just as surely as if he were on a leash. I get the sense that if there was a beautiful flower growing by the side of his path, that he would just march right on past it, perhaps not even noticing it. On the other hand, the Fool would could very well turn off the path to smell the beautiful flower, and might frolic through the meadow in search of other beautiful flowers, assuming her attention isn't caught by a fluttering butterfly instead.

Tattoo guy's determined march along his chosen path does bring to my mind a potential downside to hope. When we become too bound up in specific hopes and expections, it can blind us to other possibilities and opportunities tht might arise from unexpected directions.

Alan

Mellifluous

Just popping back in here to say that I've looked at this card in various types of lighting and still can get anything more distinct out of the tattoos. The one on his thigh looks like an unfinished cat face/head to me. lol

I never did notice before that he's really covered head to toe with them though. Also, since we've discussed him here, he looks a bit less harsh to me. Go figure. :joke:

Even his facial expression seems a bit softer than I previously thought, though he definitely still isn't smiling.