The Star: The Source

The view from earth:

Universal Waite Tarot

When we carefully examine The Star card of Tarot, important questions and messages emerge. (See my original blog on The Star January 20, 2012) It would seem this traditional card designed by Pamela Coleman Smith under the direction of Arthur E. Waite for the Rider-Waite Deck in 1910, has been imagined in the context of early religious traditions, both pagan and biblical.  First, you may want to know who the young woman is, shown pouring water from two vases - one into the water of a pond, and one poured onto the land. What is the significance of the water and land? What about the star itself and its relationship to the woman? What does the star mean? The key to understanding this card is the enormity of water. We know that without water, there would be no life. Without water, living creatures, plants, animal, human, and most living forms could not exist, and our verdant planet would look like the barren landscape of Mars.

If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.

Loren Eisley, The Immense Journey, Time, Inc. 1962

The woman:

The woman represents raw nature. She is characteristic of the earth goddess of old, immanent in nature, who pours forth the essence of life symbolized as flowing water. She is the nurturing Mother Earth. For early peoples, the earth was considered sacred, and rocks, springs, rivers, and caves, were sacred places to contact higher powers and the spirits of nature. Waite refers to her as the Mother Principle of the Universe. (Arthur E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot) In early religious practices, and in mythical belief, several ancient primordial goddesses were associated with stars, particularly in ancient Middle Eastern religious observances and mythology. Merlin Stone discusses the reverence for nature goddesses in her book Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood (Beacon press, 1979). She writes: “The connection of a goddess with a star is also to be observed in the Semitic account from Canaan.” In their stories, the goddess (most likely known as Ishtar, as recorded in ancient texts) was imagined as a falling star, which landed in a lake in Lebanon. The lake was venerated as sacred and an altar was set up in reverence for the goddess.  A little tree may have been placed there as well. She concludes that, “Worship of the goddess continued until 330 A.D.” What about the star goddess of ancient Egypt? Stone continues and says that their goddess was Isis: “Isis was worshipped as the great divine mother of all nature.” In Ugaritic literature, she was called “Lady Asherah of the Sea; a title that may signify ‘She who treads on the Sea’” (Harper Bible Dictionary). In Tarot symbolism, this card is usually interpreted as a cleansing or renewal time – getting in touch with the flowing cosmic source of our life energy. It represents, grace, beauty, and the hope for a better future when we can see ourselves as we really are.

In a darker context, the goddess Ashtoreth (a.k.a. Ishtar) is mentioned many times in biblical stories as being problematic, an abomination to be gotten rid of, as patriarchal beliefs had deposed the goddess in certain Mesopotamian countries before the Christian era. In biblical, and other mythological texts, such as Ras-Shamra, from Assyria, (13^th century B.C.)  the goddess is mentioned many times as either Asherah, Astarte, Ishtar, or Ashtoreth. In biblical literature,

BOTA Tarot

 (I Kings 18:19) she was associated with the evil Phoenician Princess, Jezebel, and her statues were destroyed in the priesthood’s prohibition against idol worship. Particular vessels, sacred to Asherah were deposited in the Jerusalem Temple, much to the consternation of the Priests. (II Kings 23:4) In ancient Grecian mythology, Astraea, daughter of Zeus and Themis, was a star-maiden who lived on earth and blessed mortals. In Northern Europe, she was Esther or Ostara, who appeared in the blooming of spring where, over time, her veneration was transformed into Easter celebrations by the Church. Easter eggs, such as Pysanky eggs were originally decorated with goddess symbols from the pre-Christian era but were repurposed by the Church with symbols of crosses. Then of course, in Christianity, there was the famous Star of the East, symbol of divine guidance leading the Magi to Bethlehem where Mary gave birth to the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12).

Through this and other mythic images one can trace the ancient goddess

who ruled the stars when they were thought to be the blessed souls in heaven –

heroes, gods, martyrs, deceased sacred kings and saviors…”

Barbara Walker, The secrets of the Tarot, (HarperCollins, 1984)

The Star Tarot of Cosmic Consciousness

Sources: Larousse World Mythology (Chartwell Books,1965)

               The White Goddess, Robert Graves (Vintage Books, 1948)

               Harper’s Bible Dictionary, (HarperCollins, 1985)

            Universal Waite Tarot (US Games Systems, 1990)

Water:  How do we think about water in our time: What is the status of water on earth today?

In the book, Meditations on the Tarot, (Tharcher/Putnam 2002) the anonymous author writes:

“It is necessary to postulate the existence of an active agent which affects the passage from the state of that which is only potential to one of reality….an acorn becomes an oak, or a fertilized egg becomes a mature man, or a primordial cosmic mist becomes a planetary system…” water!

In examining the full spectrum of Nature’s principle of growth, from the beginnings of cell-division to fully developed live beings, this process is happening because of water, the flow of which carries the source of our life’s blood and nutrients. We can’t express enough, the importance of clean available water for drinking and agricultural use, especially referring to the amount of pesticides and other poisonous substances seeping into groundwater. Scientists are investigating the question of an adequate flow of water in our rivers as glaciers that feed these rivers continue to disappear.

“Waters create an alive pulsating world…That steady beat of your heart,

that pulse of life is 100% dependent on the pulse of water”

Betsy Damon, (Keepers of the Waters Newsletter, 2019)

Recently, “Surge,” an art exhibition at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Connor, Washington (10/06/2018 - 01/07/2019), displayed an important visual dialogue between artists and scientists from the Skagit Climate Consortium, regarding the scope and health of the Skagit River in the upper Puget Sound area. Their collaboration focused on issues concerning the current status of the glaciers, rivers, wetlands and estuaries, and the tidal marshes of Washington State. Of utmost concern were the scientist’s data on the receding glaciers on peaks and volcanoes that feed the Skagit River; one of the largest watershed drainage systems in the US. The scientist’s candid truth is, that since 1900, the glaciers have receded 50%. The Skagit River and several other rivers are fed by the drainage from the surrounding peaks of the North Cascades Mountain Range, the Picket Mountain Range of British Columbia, Canada, and the receding glaciers on the ten thousand foot majestic volcanoes - Mt Baker and Glacier Peak. The Skagit River Basin covers 3,100 square miles and includes 394 glaciers, most in the North Cascades National Park. Scientists, artists, local farmers, and representatives of the Swinomish tribe also held discussions open to the public in the museum on climate change and its effects on the health of the Skagit River, the local people, farms, and wildlife. 

The Artists: A group of 25 artists and several top climate scientists coordinated their efforts, which resulted in this extraordinary art exhibition showing the effects of global warming on the Northwest Coast. The museum provided a, “…forum for artists together with environmental researchers and educators to present the public with new perspectives such as flooding, sea level rise and storm surge” (Surge Events Flyer, Oct. 2018). The artists brought visible form to the scientist’s findings through maps, paintings, sculptures, installations, and poetry, which greatly enhanced my perspective.

Alice Dubiel: Lay Of the Land    Photo: C.B. Bell 

Alice Dubiel’s colorful installation, “The Lay of the Land: Glacial Biocenosis” consisted of seven paintings of large topographical maps from 1959, which showed the positions of the surrounding glaciers on Glacier Peak, Mt. Challenger, and Mt Baker at that time. In small, delicate acrylic paintings, she depicted threatened wildlife, king salmon, birds, insects, and other life forms, including organisms that live within the glaciated areas. Her scientist collaborator was Jon Riedel, geologist from North Cascades National Park. On her website, she mentions several websites of scientific studies on the Skagit River and glaciers, well worth studying:  https://www.planetart.space/

 Mary Ashton’s slowly rotating paper pulp and painted images of the receding South Cascade Glacier (Loss), and woodblock prints (Glacier Regression, 1929, 1960, 2004, 2016) were inspired by geologist Jon Riedel’s studies. She showed its shape in 1929 and slow disappearance to its present size today in four time frames, making clear its considerable loss.

https://maryashtonstudio.com/gallery/

Phillip Govedare’s four large landscape paintings presented an aerial perspective on the lay of the rivers, streams, and imprint of roads, canals, mining and agriculture on a broad scale in the Skagit area. He collaborated with Professor Phil Levin from the University of Washington on work for the Nature Conservancy on the Fischer Slough tidal marsh restoration on the South Fork Skagit Delta.  http://www.phillipgovedare.com/

Three Canadian artists, Erica Grim, Tracie Stewart and Sheinagh Anderson, collaborated on Salt Water Skin Boats, “six evocative forms [that] take the shape of coracles: ancient vessels used to traverse global waterways…” combining sound, branches, twigs, animal skins and bathymetric maps in “…fleshy boat-like objects [that] float overhead…” Anderson’s Ocean Constellation soundscapes were recordings of water, wind, creatures, sonar, ship and plane, creating eerie undertones within the museum.  “Salt Water Skin Boats,” (Catalogue, The Reach Gallery Museum, Abbotsford, BC, Canada)

Mary Coss’s cold, dystopian landscape installation, Silent Salinity, explored the effects of saltwater intrusion in local estuaries of Puget Sound showing how salt water changes the plant and animal life in those tidal areas. In her dramatic and powerful message, her white (salt bound) installation piece, with grasses, bulrushes, pools of standing water and dead creatures and mollusks, appear to be frozen in place. She says in her statement accompanying Silent Salinity: “Where there was once fresh water, it is now saline. Silent Salinity is my homage to this fragile ecological balance.” She worked in collaboration with Roger Fuller, Spatial Ecologist from Western Washington University. She says, “Barnacles appear here on the bulrush like canaries in a coal mine signaling danger to the ecosystem.” Her website: https://marycoss.com/portfolio/silent-salinity/

Sources:

The many scientists and artists involved in this collaboration are included on the website of the Museum of Northwest Art: https://www.monamuseum.org/

Other Resources:

Betsy Damon, and her organization, Keepers of the Waters, have been working on implementing the importance of centering society around water, such as her Living Water Garden in Chengdu, China: https://keepersofthewaters.org

Yes! Magazine “China’s Living Water Garden,” by Anne H. Mavor, October 29, 1999

Goskagit.com article: Study Shows North Cascades glaciers have shrunk dramatically since

1950’s, by Kimberly Cauvel, (November 20, 2016)

The Nature Conservancy: http://www.washington.nature.org/fieldnotes

Easily accessible articles:

Discover Magazine, “Meltdown,” by Eric Betz, June 2017

National Geographic, “Water,” November, 1993; “Water,” April 2010

National Geographic, “Into Thin Ice,” (Arctic Melt) January 2016

Side note: Since 1979, the Arctic has lost more than one half its volume of ice. Scientists believe this is the result of man-made greenhouse gases. For more information, refer to the article in National Geographic Magazine, January 2016, about the Norwegian research vessel “Lance” and the scientist’s study.

The Tower card

The Tower: Path to Heaven or destruction?

Visconti, The Tower

Why is The Tower included in the Tarot? What does it symbolize? It is struck by a lightning bolt and people are falling from it. Who is falling out of it? What does the lightning bolt mean? These are questions often asked about the inclusion of The Tower card in most tarot decks, although some early Tarot decks created as playing cards in the 15^th century did not have a Tower card because of its negative connotations.  As the biblical “Tower of Babel,” a ziggurat, was a probable source of inspiration for The Tower card, we should consider that these ancient Mesopotamian religious structures had some impact on early biblical writers.  In the Old Testament, it’s the story of the downfall and failure of the attempt to build a tower to heaven in Babylon.

Zzzzzsst! Wham! A lightning bolt strikes the top of the tower knocking off a crown and people fall off headlong toward the ground. Over time, especially in the 15^th century, several artists painted their version of the “Tower of Babel.” Pieter Bruegel’s (1525-1569) famous painting illustrates the story of the Tower of Babel embellished with details of 15^th century construction methods (Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna). Because of the notoriety of the allegory of the Tower of Babel, let’s first analyze its meaning from a biblical perspective. In Genesis 11:1–9, the story is about Divine Judgement of Nimrod and other countrymen for their materialistic and presumptuous plan to build their way to Heaven in a tower, where they said, “…with its top in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves.” Divine punishment was the loss of a common language and, because the builders and workers could no longer communicate with each other, or work together, they babbled and scattered, and the project disintegrated. Some Tarot decks interpret the concept of falling from the tower as a metaphor for the deconstruction of those who have created an overblown portrayal of themselves. Today, the general meaning of the Tower card implies that falling from the Tower signals the collapse of an egoistic build-up of grandiose and materialistic ideas about oneself.

Aesop Fable: The Frog and the Ox

Father frog was going to show little frog how he could be as big as the ox. He took deep breaths and kept enlarging himself.  He blew and blew and got bigger and bigger until… OOPS! He exploded!

(Self-conceit may lead to self-destruction.)

 Artists who designed early 15^th century Tarot decks, depicted the tower based on possible biblical overtones prevalent in the medieval church in their time. Their interpretations were infused with the meaning of the Tower of Babel in Genesis. We find an insightful commentary on Genesis and The Tower in the book, Meditations on the Tarot, by Anonymous. He states that after the “Fall” of Adam and Eve, which is the story of their disobedience in “falling” for the opportunity of making gods of themselves (Gen. 3:1-19), that there were three more stages in the story of “The Fall.” These allegories may clarify why most Tarot interpretations of the people falling from the Tower are about the collapse of an inflated self-image.

*Note: Early classic Greek sculptures of their gods in 400 BC, were carved as human forms and may have had some impact on this story.

Stages in the early biblical stories of humankind

1.     The first stage was “murder.” Adam and Eve’s son Abel was killed by his brother Cain (a morality issue over offerings made to God). “…the seed of all subsequent wars, revolutions and revolts in the history of the human race.” (In Genesis’ second record of creation, after eating of “The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,” comes the fratricide of squabbling brothers. “Your offering is no better than mine.” Cain was banished to the Land of Nod—nothingness! (Gen. 4:1-16)

2.     Second, was the “generation of giants:” This was the curious tale of Divine Beings who mated with the daughters of man. Their offspring were warrior giants with superhuman powers - Nephilim. (See Num.13:33) The “…primordial seed of all subsequent pretensions … to play a domineering role as divine sovereigns and thus all pretensions of being ‘supermen.’” Some early Kings and Caesars with ambitious beliefs were trying to make a name for themselves as they reigned like egomaniacs with absolute monarchical power and aristocratic privileges (Gen.6:1-4).  We have seen some past European leaders, even in modern times, inflated with grandiose ideas of the will to power, such as the likes of Napoleon, Mussolini and Hitler – generating war, chaos and disaster in most of Europe.

Ziggurat ruins

        The third stage was “building” the Tower of Babel: The “… primordial phenomenon containing in seed form … of the conquest of heaven by means of forces acquired and developed on earth.” This was manifest in the building and construction of early city-states; then in materialistic empire building, invariably followed by the hubris of greed and money, which has continued over the centuries in the form of the industrial revolution; development of contemporary technology; and finally, chronic wars and the atomic bomb, the ultimate destroyer of cities. This was, “… possession and substitution of the fabricated for the revealed.” Ancient Babylonians were going to make a name for themselves through materialistic means by building a tower to heaven, but instead, as history shows, mankind over the centuries has gone down into the abyss of world-wide warfare, culminating in WWII, in bombing European cites to rubble, and the complete annihilation of two large Japanese cities with the atom bomb. All of this is the total opposite of a spiritual path to heaven (See Gen. 11:1-9).

This also brings up questions of the biblical story of The Fall. The fall from what? What does this have to do with the Tarot Tower card?

What is meant by “The Fall”?

This was the moment in Genesis (the second record of creation, Gen. 3:13-19), when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. After the scheming serpent told Eve that if they ate from the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,” they would be as gods, God evicted them from the “Garden of Eden.” Their audacity and individual self-will caused them to “fall out of favor.” Eve shamefully admitted that the serpent had tricked her and that their lives would never be the same. They “saw” themselves—evidence of the separation from the oneness with God, the creative principle of the universe. In the first record of creation, God had created man in “His own image…male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27). They were once one with God and the Universe. But now they were on their own.

(Leon Kass emphasizes in his book, The Beginning of wisdom, that, “He [God] apparently does not approve of the prospect of unrestrained human powers exercised in support of unlimited imaginings and desires.”)

Who or what were the Giants? (Gen.6:1-4)

 “Giants in the earth,” imply beings with superhuman strength and/or the use of magical powers to overcome others. In Meditations on the Tarot, by Anonymous, he states that the builders of the tower were creating a superstructure symbolizing, “…the pretension to be a superman.”  In the historical past, so-called superheroes have overstated themselves in the roles of powerful leaders. Some were villains, some were saviors. Early Kings were called Divine Sovereigns and, “… Caesars [who] … arrogated divine honour and authority to themselves” [without justification]. “Fascist Führers,” and dictators have been part of this model. Slavery and enslavement has always followed. Mankind’s history over the centuries shows that there was always someone trying to be superior to someone else, usually with disastrous results. The fall from the tower represents an inflated ego’s failure, and termination of “the will to power.”

German philosopher, Frederich Nietzsche, (1844-1900) wrote about “Superman,” and “the will to power” in his book, Thus Spake Zarathustra. Unfortunately, his work was misunderstood by the arrogant Nazi’s in their publicity campaign of “Aryan supremacy,” and pretentious plans were set in motion for seeing themselves as a superior race who could control Europe. Their oppression of so-called inferior people in warlike domination resulted in vilifying and murdering mass groups of people (Jews in the Holocaust) during WWII, which was finally ended by the ultimate destroyer – the atomic bomb, dropped on Japan by the USA in 1945.  Nietzsche’s “ubermensch” (Superman) meant a person rising above the limitations of ordinary morality and, by the will to power, could experience self-realization and self-affirmation; “… the forerunner of existentialism, not Nazism” (Encyclopedia Britannica). In today’s world, there is something about a modern fictional superhero hidden in the meaning of the Tower card that applies to our entertainment culture. In the 20^th century, “DC Comics” promoted fictional characters like Superman, Superwoman, and Batman; and also, Spiderman and Ironman of “Marvel Comics;” all who are depicted as savior types - rescuing and saving mankind from various wrongdoers, evil beings, and corrupt practices. Most of us have seen or read about them in illustrated comic books and popular movie versions with lavish special effects.

Tower of Babel and The Tower Card

Bruegel, close-up of workers

What happened to the people building their way to heaven on the Tower of Babel? What does The Tower card mean for you in a reading? The people building the tower was a metaphor for those who have ignored or forgotten their divine source. They were living in a fantasy-world of self-will rather than divine will. In Tarot art, people are knocked off the tower by a lightning bolt from Heaven, along with a crown in most decks. In the biblical story, the builders imagined they could get to heaven through material means rather than spiritual means. In close-up scenes of Bruegel’s painting of The Tower of Babel, workmen of that era – stone cutters, masons and brick-layers, are using building tools, derricks, crude cranes and horses to haul and lift building materials, in great detail. There were several towers (ziggurats) in ancient Mesopotamia, and historians surmise that the ziggurat Etemenanki of Babylon may be associated with the Tower of Babel (Mesopotamia, Michael Roaf, Andromeda Oxford Ltd, 2000). In art, there have been renditions of the Tower of Babel and other towers, such as the tower where St. Barbara was kept by her pagan Father. When she became a Christian she put in a third window to represent the Trinity and was then murdered by her Father.  He was immediately struck down and killed by a lightning bolt on the spot. This could also have some bearing on the design of The Tower card. In an illuminated manuscript - The Ducal Book of Hours-two angels are pounding the top of the tower with large hammers and the workers fall off. (The World's Last Mysteries, Readers Digest Assoc. 1976)

What does The Tower card mean in a reading?

In the Vertigo Tarot deck, from Doom Patrol, Rachel Pollack writes:

“…the tower usually symbolizes some painful or frightening experience that ultimately liberates us from a repressive situation (DC Comics, 1995).

Tower from the Ducal Book of Hours 

Ask your yourself, “How much longer can I put up with the usurpation of my own spiritual power”? It’s important to not “fall” for those who have fabricated a pompous image of themselves that is blown out of proportion in their ego-centered conduct. Here is where “pride goeth before a fall.” Be true to yourself.  Be watchful to not fall victim to someone thinking they are better than you, and likewise, don’t put someone else in the position of thinking you are better than they are. Humility supersedes pride. Resolve what seems like catastrophic situations of confusion, divisiveness, hatred and revenge at home and work, with patience, kindness, and hopefulness. Don’t be fooled, look for the truth. Be aware of the consequences of your actions and take responsibility rather than blame someone else. Recognize and deal with difficult underhanded situations. 

People with bloated egos will fall of their own weight, and then, “this too shall pass,” as Solomon says in E. Fitzgerald’s poem, “Solomon’s Seal.”

Force without wisdom falls of its own weight. 

Horace, 65 BCE