No. 20

Tarot 20

La Stella, The Star: Some decks depict astrologers viewing a large star. Other decks depict the Morning Star, Venus. Venus is the brightest natural object in the night sky, except for the Moon.

In the Milanese deck from the 1400s - in the Cary Collection - a nude is in the foreground. She pours liquid, and perhaps it is water. As for the intention of putting a bird into the picture, very little is known for certain, if anything. [Huson]

During the Renaissance, the period that saw the development of the tarot playing cards, many awakened to classic heritage of Greeks and Romans, and sought to incorporate parts of it too. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite of love-attraction is called Star of the Sea, among other things. In Roman mythology, which borrowed much from Greeks, she is named Venus, and presented as the Morning and Evening Star. [Alexander]

Above her are unreasonably large stars. The largest of them is directly above her head. [Hollander]

Possible Alignment

In the present arrangement of tarot trumps from 1 through 22, in the spiralling order shown in the introduction, The Star shares the eighth life field (area) with The Chariot. Any connection between them may not seem obvious, as little is known of what the Star was taken to mean originally. A true victory leads to a loving partner. But once you've got that, the need to keep the loving relationship may be felt as heavy - or too heavy, which divorce statistics indicate well enough. A need to take care is there.