Legend: The Star: The Firedrake

Lyones

Some of the riders have dismounted to water their horses. The water of the lake is calm, and there's a feeling of solidity with the hills in the background and rocks in the foreground. Suddenly the sky is lit by four small shooting stars and the "dragon of comets". The Keeper of Words says that the small stars are aspirations and the message of the comet encourages us to reach for them.

I'm sure that all the horsemen were aware of the prophesies of the Pendragon lineage, and to see such a beautiful representation in the sky, must have given them much hope and built up their faith in the future of the kingdom, surely a sign sent from the gods.

The blue of the sky reminds me of the Temperance card's cauldron, and gives almost the same sense of serenity, but I feel there is a flutter of excitement with The Star.

The men have had a chance to rest, and with the sighting of the omen still fresh in their minds, they can happily continue their journey into a bright future.

I also like this from the Keeper of Words: "The winds blow cobwebs from the mind, clearing it of complicated details and deadwood." It gives such a tremendous clarity to seeing the way forward, and the fireflies in the foreground gives a sense of magic to the splendour - a feeling that all is well.
 

Sophie-David

I'm thinking that while it would have filled the travellers with great hope, they would have been so excited by the apparation that they would have found it difficult to sleep.

But this scene of the stars and comet reminds me of the affect the night sky has on so many people, that feeling of calmness and oneness with the cosmos. For tired travellers everywhere it beckons them to pause and look up, to find themselves centred, right where they are. And then perhaps to bed down for the night, looking up at the stars as there bodies relax into sleep. This card is a wonderfully evocative Star, more tangible and earthy than many of the star maidens we see in other decks.

As usual there is a strong sense of the ethereal, this time in that misty lake, silver with starlight and perhaps the moon. The explosive energy of the Firedrake recalls the energy of The Tower; the calm moonlit lake draws us forward to The Moon. But for a time we remain serenely balanced between the two...
 

WalesWoman

I passed this card over last night, when I was choosing which one to do a study on...must of been I "knew" you were. NOT!

I've never noticed that lake, I thought it was ground fog, that the way ahead wasn't clear, so they were waiting before proceeding and were lucky enough to see the comet and falling stars. I would imagine if a comet that large and close passing near the earth, they've been watching it for a long time...unless it's like here...you are lucky if the clouds clear enough to ever see anything cool happening in the night sky. So it could happen as a complete surprise, the clouds part and Whoa Nellie, look at that! Now if they were waiting for a prophecy, this would sure to arouse some interest and excitement.

Oh, maybe I'll do a search on what comets were pretty close to Earth at that time. Most of them have been recorded and usually there is other sorts of phenomena happening too, like the crop failures and weather pattern changes such as the one that sent Briton into it's funk...blame it on losing the Holy Grail and break up of the Round Table, but often times comets passing too close to Earth have been known to throw everything out of balance, more earth quakes, storms and such. With all that happening, you definately would want something to hope for, something to have faith in, that something good would happen and begin to turn things around.

And falling stars are the ones to wish upon...can you hear Jimminy Cricket in the background?
 

RedMaple

I had the good fortune to see a meteor when I was in my teens. It was broad daylight, we were hanging out in front of the "spa" -- our local term for a corner grocery with a soda fountain -- and suddenly this fiery star went through the sky. I seem to remember it making noise like a distant train, but that could be my imagination. It looked really close and low, but apparently it landed in New Jersey -- we were in Massachusetts, so it went another several hundred miles before crashing. (And wasn't very big when it did -- but it looked huge in the sky.)

We were by the side of a lake also, though it was daytime. And it was truly awesome, in the real sense of the word. We didn't know what we were seeing -- UFO, meteor, plane on fire -- but it was in all the papers the next morning.

At night, it would have been unbelievable. So this star, the Firedrake, whether comet or meteor, would have been very important, very portentous. If the very heavens are coming down to earth, or there is a heavenly dragon who visits -- I'm thinking the excitement level must have been very high. Surely some great happening has caused this...

It is also reminiscent of the Star of Bethlehem, of course. The savior of the people marked by a sign in the sky. There must be other examples of this in other myth cycles. Does anyone know?

In any case, this card is powerful for me, relates to my own experience in a special way.
 

Lyones

Originally posted by WalesWoman
I passed this card over last night, when I was choosing which one to do a study on...must of been I "knew" you were. NOT!

That must've been it! :D I had all the Majors we haven't done out on the table and put them back in the bag one by one, seriously considered Strength and Justice and then chose the Star.

Originally posted by RedMaple
In any case, this card is powerful for me, relates to my own experience in a special way.

I think it's wonderful when we can draw from experience, to feel the excitement and wonder of cards like this ... an experience you will remember for the rest of your life and be able to tell people about ... that is very special.

Originally posted by Sophie-David
This card is a wonderfully evocative Star, more tangible and earthy than many of the star maidens we see in other decks.

I just love that so many of the Legends cards are different from other decks, and yet the pictures give us a very real sense of the meaning in such a beautifully aesthetic way.
 

Sophie-David

WalesWoman said:
Haven't had much luck tracking down any comet for this time period, but I did find a few things of interest.
http://home.swbell.net/a1star1/ COMET IMPACT: THE ORIGIN OF DRAGON MYTHS?
For me, I think the reason for the universality of dragons is that they archetypal, they emerge from the collective unconscious. Then the archetype is ascribed to comets or other convenient objects in one's conscious reality.
 

WalesWoman

Lyones said:
That must've been it! :D I had all the Majors we haven't done out on the table and put them back in the bag one by one, seriously considered Strength and Justice and then chose the Star.
QUOTE]
Oh that is really too much, because I was looking at those same three cards and picked on Strength.

Comets are really something, especially when you can actually see one. There's been one that was near Cassiopia a week or so a go and should be visible until March, but the night weather just hasn't been cooperating at all to find it or even see anything.

Even with today's scientific explainations and abilities to study them, they are still magical and stir the mind and emotion. I'm not sure what it is about them...they fill one with such a sense of wonder and awe.

I got to see Halley's Comet for about one night...streaking across the tops of the mountains. When was Halle-Bopp, 1996, 1997? It was incredibly bright even under streetlights...I was in Colorado then, so stargazing was no problem at all. We had a telescope, not a great one, but wow, up close and personal!!! Imagine the tail was 100,000 miles long!!! Just trying to contemplate how huge that is, is incomprehensible. Dirty icecube of frozen debris & gases or a celestial dragon streaking it's way across the night sky, they are truly a wonder to behold.

Samuel Clements (aka Mark Twain) was born and died under the same comet...don't remember which one tho.