According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, the The Star is described as the following:
A great, radiant star of eight rays, surrounded by seven lesser stars--also of eight rays. The female figure in the foreground is entirely naked. Her left knee is on the land and her right foot upon the water. She pours Water of Life from two great ewers, irrigating sea and land. Behind her is rising ground and on the right a shrub or tree, whereon a bird alights. The figure expresses eternal youth and beauty. The star is l'étoile flamboyante, which appears in Masonic symbolism, but has been confused therein. That which the figure communicates to the living scene is the substance of the heavens and the elements. It has been said truly that the mottoes of this card are "Waters of Life freely" and "Gifts of the Spirit."
The summary of several tawdry explanations says that it is a card of hope. On other planes it has been certified as immortality and interior light. For the majority of prepared minds, the figure will appear as the type of Truth unveiled, glorious in undying beauty, pouring on the waters of the soul some part and measure of her priceless possession. But she is in reality the Great Mother in the Kabalistic Sephira Binah, which is supernal Understanding, who communicates to the Sephiroth that are below in the measure that they can receive her influx.
This radiant card shows us an unclothed woman pouring water onto the ground and into a pool. Stars twinkle above her head and all around, with one central, golden star taking precedence.
The water that the figure is pouring represents the “Water of Life”. What is interesting about the figure herself is her nakedness, symbolizing innocence. She has come to pour an incredible, renewing gift into the earth and the ocean, but she is not the wise old woman we might expect would deliver such an important gift. Instead, she is an innocent youth.
We might underestimate the gifts an innocent can offer us. Today, let us consider how even the most innocent or unproven source can offer great change and value.
Cord Blood and the Gifts of the Innocent
Who is more innocent than an infant? Directly after being born, a newborn can do little but cry in order to ask for an adult’s help in taking care of it. A baby’s entry into the world may bring emotional, situational, and familial changes, but that baby is not capable of actually doing much on its own.
We certainly wouldn’t think that something as helpless as a baby could do anything for us or give us anything tangible that we could use to make a difference in the world. What, then, do we make of cord blood?
Cord blood is like a life-giving elixir. We can think of cord blood as a baby’s own version of the “Water of Life”. It is the gift that a baby pours into the world when they enter it, just like the naked woman on the Star card who offers the renewing waters to the earth and the ocean.
Cord blood is a particularly valuable form of blood because of what it is made of. Inside cord blood, there are special cells that help us treat blood disorders and blood cancers. This means that cord blood can make a huge, life-saving difference to the life of someone afflicted with a blood condition.
It’s amazing to think that a baby can bring such an incredibly precious gift with them into the world. What else might be offered by someone who we don’t expect will be able to bring much?
The Star reminds us that important gifts can come from unassuming sources. This source could be anything—an innocent youth, an unexpected comrade, an unproven ally, or any sort of underdog. As you go about your day today, something remarkable may indeed come from someone who has not yet proven their worth, or from something that has not yet proven its value.
Keep an Eye Out for the Underdog
When you practice mindfulness today, focus on checking your brain’s assumptions before they are fully formed. It is human nature to form judgments about our world and the people and things in it, but we are evolved enough that we can assess these judgments and choose not to act on them.
Instead of judging, we can keep an open mind about what various people may bring to the table. There might be precious gifts to be found if we widen our perspectives about who they can come from.
The people that we might consider underdogs could be the answer to any challenges that arise today. Maybe they will offer us valuable advice or thought-provoking truth or, like the figure on the Star card, provide us with some kind of gift that will help us through the day. So, remember to avoid underestimating them; you never know what they are capable of providing the world.
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