The Star (tarot card)

Some of this article's listed sources may not be reliable. Please help improve this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged and removed. (October 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Star (XVII) is the 17th ranking or Major Arcana card in most traditional tarot decks.^[1] It is used in game playing as well as in divination.

A naked woman kneels by the water; one foot is in the water and one foot is on the land.^[2] Above her head is one large star, representing her core essences, and seven smaller stars, representing the chakras.^[3] The star is typically eight-pointed, but some late 15th-century depictions depict a six-pointed star instead.^[4] In each hand she holds a jug. From one jug she pours a liquid into the water. From the other jug she pours a liquid onto the land.^[5] The five senses are represented by the five unique lines formed by water spilled on the ground. Temperance, the 14th Major Arcana card, also has a foot on both land and water while pouring water, but is depicted as standing and rigid.^[6] It is the first out of three cards in the Major Arcana to depict celestial imagery. Sometimes three men, representing the three Magi are depicted below the Star.^[4]

According to A.E. Waite's 1910 book The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, the Star card carries several divinatory associations:^[7]

17.THE STAR.--Loss, theft, privation, abandonment; another reading says-Hope and bright prospects, Reversed: arrogance, haughtiness, impotence.

In astrology, the Star card is associated with the planet Uranus and Aquarius zodiac sign.^[8]

In the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, tarot cards are used to name some of the characters' powers, named 'Stands'. The protagonist of Stardust Crusaders, Jotaro Kujo, has a Stand named Star Platinum, named after the Star card.^[9]

In the Adventure Time franchise, powerful vampires are named after tarot cards. In the spin-off series Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, Marceline the Vampire Queen (voiced by Olivia Olson) is named after the Star.^[10]

• Place, Robert (2005). The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination. New York: Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4406-4975-2.
• Pollack, Rachel (2009) [1980]. Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Book of Tarot. Weiser Books. ISBN 978-1-57863-408-8.
• Waite, A. E. (1979) [1910]. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. New York: Samuel Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-218-8.

• Wood, Juliette (1998). "The Celtic Tarot and the Secret Tradition: A Study in Modern Legend Making". Folklore. 109: 15–24.

• Media related to Star (Major Arcana) at Wikimedia Commons