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Originally Posted by Sulis
The Star is also a card of healing.
Here we see a young woman or maybe she's a Goddess, pouring liquid onto a barren and cold looking rock. The liquid is sprouting leaves, it seems impossible but it's true.
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I had not noticed this, that the liquid turns green as it hits the rock. WOW! That actually says quite a lot to me, in what is otherwise quite a barren card in terms of what she stands on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sulis
So any ideas about those eight stars?
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I knew I read about all these different stars somewhere!

It was in a really useful book called "Pictures of the Heart: A Tarot Dictionary" by Sandra A. Thomson. I picked up this little treasure very cheaply, best $10 I ever spent, it's so handy!
According to the LWB the 7 stars represent the 7 sisters or as they are otherwise known, the Pleiades. Sometimes the 7 stars represent the 7 planets but as the LWB mentioned the 7 sisters, probably best to concentrate on that.
The Pleiades are the 7 daughters of Atlas and Pleione, and were the companions of Artemis. According to the myth, these sisters were pursued by Orion, from which they prayed for rescue. To rescue them the Gods turned them into stars, which make up part of the constellation of Taurus.
Thanks to Encyclopedia Mythica on the net.
Now I found that interesting because the cups she holds look to be adorned with emeralds. Do they look like Emeralds to anyone else? I just found this little bit fascinating as Emerald is the gemstone attributed to Taurus, and the ruling planet of Taurus is Venus. Which bare with me, gets more interesting!
The 8th central star, according to the LWB, represents this woman as a Goddess figure. According to "Pictures of the Heart..." this 8th star is sometimes linked to the planet Venus, as it is the first star to come out at night and the last to disappear from view in the morning. The LWB, refers to the nudity linking the woman to Venus or Aphrodite. So in this 8th star, we have Venus as planet and Venus as Goddess. Great huh?
You'd think it would end there! But I had no idea that the number of points on a star had some greater symbolic significance.

The 8th star is also 8 pointed, which links it with the Goddesses Ishtar, Innana, Demeter and Persphone and oh yes... Venus. I don't know much about the other Goddesses but it really struck me, the barreness of the rock and the fertile greeness that you mentioned Sulis and the myth of Demeter and Persphone. How when Persphone was taken to the Underworld, that Demeter mourned the loss of her daughter by creating a perpetual winter and a very barren land. When an agreement was reached that allowed Persphone to return to her mother from the Underworld for half of the year, the seasons started once again. Hence, the fertile new growth.
Apologies if I have butchered that myth, but I was trying to be brief.
The other 7 stars are 6 pointed, of which "Picture of the Hearts..." has to say about this... " it represents the harmonic rhythm of active and passive, maculine and feminine, spirit and earthly principles." All of which I can see present in the Star card, but especially the latter... spirit and earth.
She looks straight at you, which is very Goddess like, it is almost intimidating in a way. She seems very sure of herself and what she is doing. She is not kneeling as the woman often is in other Star cards. The kneeling usually makes me think of prayer and thus faith. Even though she isn't kneeling she just looks so courageous, she can stand on her own two feet and has total belief and faith in herself and the Universe that supports and surrounds her.
I love the way the 8th star rises behind her, it is almost twinkling and pulsing. It looks like it contains such energy! The card very much looks like being at the centre of your own Universe, the way the other 7 stars surround her. She is protected and she trusts in this completely but the 8th star, like the planet Venus, shines brightest and longest and this Star is you!