Card of the Day: XVII The Star

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Spolia Tarot [/caption]

I love Spolia Tarot’s Little White Book on this card (the very best LWB I’ve ever had the pleasure to read, to accompany a truly exquisite deck): “The Star is orientation….In order to orient yourself...you have to take all that you have learned so far, stripped of all self-protection or social conformity, and stand in the world as exactly who you are.”

From my Al-Anon lit this morning: “Never in my wildest dreams could I have known that my insanity came from my lost relationship with myself and with [my Higher Power].” Feeling the truth of this deeply in my bones and cells this morning. To me, the Star leads me home to myself, and this is only possible when I let myself be held by the Goddess, the Great Mother—containers so large and loving that they can hold all of me. Including my insanity.

My insanity takes particular recognizable forms these days. Codependency is one. And that one word contains a whole world—of shame, anxiety, worthlessness, fear that I might be a truly “bad” person, and all the behaviors I engage in to ward off these awful feelings. Another form of my insanity is my socialization as a white woman in a country where white women continue to play a uniquely lethal role in terroristic violence against Black people. When these two forms of insanity intersect, I get a good look at what it means to be a white person in this culture—my dehumanization, my estrangement from deep feeling and empathy.

The Star holds out hope for deep healing—of self and the collective. To rest and recharge in this place of limitlessness, anchored and oriented in myself—who I am today, in this moment, with all of my learning and yearning living in my beating heart—gives me the strength to take actions aligned with my deepest values and desires. This card isn’t about hiding in a peaceful Garden of Eden. It’s about drinking from a well of pure nourishment, so that I have the strength and wisdom to live a life committed to justice, love and liberation.

What nourishes you to take actions every day that align with your deepest values?