The Star
Aquarius
The Star of the Magi
Keywords: hope, love, vision, spirituality, health, insight, transcending thought, Celestial
Rider-Wait-Smith
In the RWS version, we see a naked woman pouring water from two jugs. One jug is being poured into a pool of water, and the other is being poured into the ground. The water on the ground almost seems to be defying gravity, forming an eternal loop.
In the sky are 8 stars. In the background is a bird in a tree, likely an Ibis, a symbol of Thoth and the Hermetic tradition.
The Star is generally considered a symbol of hope.
But she is also Aquarius, the water bearer.
The Aquarius spirit is characterized by intellectualism, high-mindedness, stubbornness, being a visionary, having a firm moral compass, social architecture. They are the Steve Jobs of the Zodiac: visionaries who are convinced their vision of the world is true. In terms of Myers-Briggs, they are most akin to INTJs, the “Masterminds” or “Architects” who architect the world according to an abstract vision.
And yes, an Aquarius is not devoid of emotion. Not at all. It is their passions that drive their intellectual vision. They are governed by their strong intuition. But it is not the creative, watery intuition of a Pisces. Rather, as a fixed Air sign, it is an intuition that is sharp, with angular features and a piercing quality.
Aquarius is a symbol of Reason, and yet, paradoxically, they embody the idea that Reason cannot work independently of emotion. An emotionless Aquarius is an Aquarius that is not quite whole.
Thoth
In both cards we see a naked woman pouring out two jugs of water. Both cards depict the woman pouring out onto both water and land, which represents the dichotomy between form and force. She is the Water-bearer of Aquarius.
Symbolically the Star is supposed to be a representation of feminine Binah in the Tree of Life. The Great Mother and Antecedent to her feminine manifestation on Earth, the Empress.
In the background of the Thoth we see Pyramids which evokes the same mythology as the Ibis, Thoth’s bird, who is the Scribe and Messenger of the Gods. We see this Ibis sitting in the background of the RWS as well.
In both cards we see an image of the magickal principle: as above so below. In the Thoth we see the spirals of the Star reflect the spirals of the water and the land.
The key point is reticulation. Which is about patterns and whorls being embedded in the structure, isomorphic to the structure of the heavens. This is the interplay between force and form, masculine and feminine.
In both cards, we see flowery growth from the life-giving energy of water. This represents the essential hope of the Star and the promise of the feminine.