The Star as the Tarot’s Omphalos

(Based on the representations found on the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.)

If you haven’t had your fill of astrological correspondences yet, brace yourself for this post. And, if you haven’t had your fill of me waxing on about the Delphic Oracle, then you’re in for a treat!

The imagery on The Star card is unequivocally astrological: a combination of Aquarian water-bearer and seven brightly shining stars. But is that really Ganymede? Personally, I maintain that the card depicts the seven wandering stars — the orbs that we now know as the planets — and that the figure, despite its water-pouring jugs, is not the mythological Greek water-bearer, but rather, Gaia, or another maternal guardian of the life-giving waters.

Whenever I pull this card, I think of deeply centred, cosmic potentiality; of the intersection between timing and destiny; of celestially aligned hopes and dreams; and where we search for the meaning of omphalos in our lives. Pulling this card suggests a readiness to descend into the depths of our psyche, purge and purify what haunted us in the Tower, and emerge reborn on the path to fulfilling the promises in our natal charts.

Over the years, several correspondences I’ve seen equate the seven stars with the seven chakras. In these and other interpretations, many posit that this card urges grounding and recalibration after the tumult that the Tower brought. Ultimately, The Star is a positive card — the calm after the storm, a period of renewal and rebirth, and a sign of new…