Mythic Tarot Study Group: The Star

goddessof1967

Healing

This is a lovely Star card. I know the Star card nearly always is but I love all the images here. It represents many aspects of a positive state of mind.

To me this card is about hope, wishing and healing.

What does a Pandoras box represent? It represents a closed and locked collection of everything bad, scary and dangerous. However, Pandora's courage has enabled her to open it despite being in a damaged state. Now traditionally a star is something that we wish upon so with the courageous opening of the dreaded box, among other things, a glowing star has been released. Pandora is awestruck as she realises that with release of all she thought was bad, has found that she is now free to wish again.

Then, when I think of the release of the 'nasty' bugs I get a real feeling of healing. Pandora has opened a box of tricks (her unconcious) knowing that it will probably contain a whole bunch of trouble but ends up realising that it allows a purging of potentially fatal feelings and thoughts thereby healing begins.

And, to me, angels are all about healing as well as hope and rainbows are about wishing and hoping.
 

rwcarter

Pandora kneels before an open chest. A swarm of insects escapes from the chest, but her eyes are focused on a bright star, within which a female figure can be seen.

Woman
  • the feminine side of human nature (feeling, instinct, imagination, intuition, etc.) that must probe for truth despite the consequences
  • the instinctual powers
  • emotion, the unconscious
Nudity/Nakedness
  • vulnerability, innocence
  • represents a time when humankind was in harmony with nature and clothes weren’t needed
  • Metaphors/Proverbs:
    • “to see something with the naked eye” is to see for oneself
    • “the naked truth” is the facts
Insects/Bugs
  • creatures with whom man cannot communicate, yet which sting and goad us
  • parts of oneself or others that crawl, creep up on one, gnaw, irritate, get under the skin or devour
  • that which is biting one or is a real pest
  • Metaphors/Proverbs
    • “an insect” is an insignificant, often irritating person
    • “to bug someone” is to bother or irritate someone or to eavesdrop on them
Chest
  • that which is forbidden yet is impossible to resist
  • contains knowledge of the human condition, causing the end of naïveté, and also the most precious aspect of the human spirit
Pandora
  • created on Zeus’ orders by Hephaistos the smith-god to punish man for having received fire from Prometheus
  • was given special gifts by all the gods - Hermes put treachery in her heart and lies in her mouth, and Hephaistos made her as foolish, mischievous and idle as she was beautiful
  • Was sent with a great chest to Epimetheus, Prometheus’ brother. Prometheus had warned his brother to accept no gifts from Zeus and had also warned him not to touch the chest
  • although threatened by her husband not to open the chest, she still did, releasing a slew of afflictions over the earth
  • Hope, which had somehow gotten locked in the chest with the Spites, did not fly away
  • symbolizes that part of one that can hold onto a sense of meaning and a vision of the future that grows out of the unhappiness of the past despite disappointment, depression and loss
Hope
  • represents a time of waiting
  • is a fragile light that glimmers and guides but cannot completely dispel the darkness
  • shown as a female figure because it’s the irrational side (intuition) that sees the Star in the swarm of Spites
  • offers faith in the form of a vague, irrational, inexplicable sense that a new day will come
  • appears to transcend anything that life offers in the way of catastrophe
  • Metaphors/Proverbs:
    • “he that lives in hope dances to an ill tune” means that it’s unwise to let one’s future happiness or well-being depend on expectations that may not be realized
    • “he that lives on hope will die fasting” means that one shouldn’t pin all of one’s hopes on something one may not attain because one could end up with nothing
    • “hope and have” means that if a person wants something badly enough, he or she is likely to achieve it
    • “hope deferred makes the heart sick” means that delay in getting what one desires, or in learning whether or not one’s hopes are to be realized, is a cause of great anxiety and distress
    • “hope for the best and prepare for the worst” means that one should remain optimistic, but make sure that one is mentally or physically prepared to cope with failure or disaster
    • “hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper” means that there’s no harm in being optimistic at the beginning of something, but beware of being left with nothing but unrealized expectations at the end
    • “hope springs eternal in the human breast” means that it’s human nature to remain optimistic, even after a setback or despite evidence to the contrary
    • “if it were not for hope, the heart would break” means that one must cling to hope when one has nothing else, because the alternative is despair
    • “while there’s life, there’s hope” means that one should not give up hope while there is the slightest possibility of survival, improvement or success

Written in my workbook on 14 Aug 91:
Pandora is the immaturity within us which causes us to act without thinking about the consequences. The box to which she is drawn is fear. Hate, greed, despair, fear, lies, rage and envy are all released from the box. So is Hope, which is reflected in the pool of serenity. Sadness permeates the scene.

My key color was Copen (a shade of blue - indecision, hope).

Rodney