On the New Moon in Aquarius

The first new moon of the year, takes place on 1/21 at 1:53 PM (MT), at 1 degree of Aquarius. This decan of Aquarius, under the Chaldean rulership system, is ruled by Venus. The tarot car that corresponds to the sign of Aquarius is the Star. The imagery of the Star evokes the mythology of several ancient Mesopotamian goddesses that are related to Venus. The myth most commonly associated with The Star card is that of the Sumerian Love Goddess and Queen of Heaven Inanna’s trip through the underworld, to visit her older sister and rival Ereshkigal. At every gate of the underworld, Inanna is required to surrender a piece of her clothing to the gatekeeper, until she finally arrives to her sister’s throne naked. (MM Meleen wryly calls this, “the earliest striptease”).

In the Rider Waite Smith (RWS) depiction of The Star the nude, female figure is depicted pouring water from two jugs — this connects her to the sign of the water barer Aquarius. She pours one stream on to the land she kneels upon, and the other into the pond she stands upon. Overhead is a yellow eight pointed star and seven white eight-pointed stars.

Depending on the tradition, The Star is associated with two different Hebrew letters. According to one tradition The Star is associated with the letter צ tzaddi which means “fish hook.” Aquarius precedes the sign of Pisces — the fishes. One of The Star’s hermetic titles is “The Dweller Between the Waters.” T In her legendary Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom, Rachel Pollack states:

One way to describe the streams of water is as the archetypes of myth, the images through which the unconscious expresses itself. The unconscious is a whole, without shape or division, but it emerges into awareness through the separate streams of mythology. With the Star we have gone beyond myth to its source as formless energy; as light coming of darkness. The transformation of darkness into light is the unconscious, the hidden vastness within us, changed into the ecstatic awareness of super-conscious

In Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris’ Thoth Tarot, The Star is connected to the more feminine hē (ה‎) which means “window” (switched with the hyper-masculine figure of The Emperor, which he connects with quasi-phallic fish hook tzaddi). The Star’s other hermetic titles is “The Daughter of the Firmament.” The concept of the firmament is related to the medieval conception of the geocentric structure of the heavens. The firmament was the realm of the stars beyond the spheres occupied by the moon, sun and the classical planets. The firmament is the final level of heaven occupied by the fixed stars. The firmament is a window that allows us to see “the infinite canopy of the night sky” according to Meleen.

Hē is part of the tetragrammaton (the name of God / Yahweh), or YHVH in the English transliteration. Crowley associates Hē primal with The Great Mother, his goddess Nuit, and the Queens in Tarot. Hē final is associated with the Daughter, or the Princesses (Pages in RWS) of Tarot.

The Star aligns with Venus in her form as Venus Urania — which refers to one of myths surrounding her origin. In his bid to over throw his father Saturn severed Uranus’ genitals and fell into the sea. From the dismembered body part sprung Venus. As Uranus was the titan of the sky, this makes Venus Urania her heavenly form. (Whereas Venus Pandemos, in which her parents are Zeus and the water nymph titaness Dione, is her earthly form). I find that the Star being Venus Urania especially poetic, considering Aquarius is said to be ruled by Saturn in classical astrology and Uranus in modern astrology.

Venus (the planet) is known as the “morning” or “evening star” depending on whether the planet it visible at sunrise or sunset and where she is on her synodic cycle which when traced through the zodiac forms a five pointed star pattern.

The Star follows The Tower in the Major Arcana. The Tower is widely regarded as the most overtly negative card of the Major Arcana. The fall of the Tower is akin to Inanna’s striptease, we are left naked and with nothing. Nothing, but Hope. The Star represents the Hope it takes to move on after great tragedy or humiliation.

When The Star’s number 17 is reduced,1+7 = 8, we are reminded of card 8 in the Major Arcana — Strength — associated with the sign opposing Aquarius, Leo. This connection is emphasized by the eight eight-pointed star in the RWS depiction. Therefore Star can be seen as a higher form of Strength, which depicts a maiden wrestling with a lion. It takes a lot of strength to have hope, but it is often the only choice when we feel like we have nothing left.

It is a common magical tradition to set intentions for the month at the New Moon, with the idea that they manifest as the moon grows larger. As this is the first new moon of 2023, you could also set your longer team intentions for the year. What intentions might you set with The Star in mind? Perhaps to drop the mask and be a more authentic version of yourself, or make your hopes, wildest dreams, or your hearts’ desire. The Star is also the card of goals, and we are moving into the year of the Rabbit, said to be the luckiest of the all of the zodiac signs in the Animal Zodiac. Happy Lunar New Year!