Key 17 – The Star

Here we’re at the bottom card of the third column of the Tarot Tableau. The two Keys situated above the Star on the Tarot Tableau are the Empress, the principle shown on the first row, and the Wheel of Fortune, which is the agency on the second row through which the Empress will find her full expression in the Star card, on the third row.

These three cards together were called Revelation, the Third Stage of Spiritual Unfoldment, by Paul Foster Case. The Empress taught us how the Laws of Nature work. Her crown, her authority are the 12 stars above her head. The 12 stars signify the zodiac, the 12 personalities of the Cosmos. They are 6-pointed to show her attainment in using the laws of the macrocosm.

On the Star Key we have the lovely Isis-Urania. This heavenly earth-mother Isis was also known as Hathor, the ancient Egyptian goddess for Mother Nature. She gives birth to the earth, the stars and the whole cosmos. Isis is the manifestation of both the Empress and the High Priestess, and she’s the one who tames the lion in Key 8. She is most extraordinary and powerful. Isis is the epitome of all of the amazing attributes of the sub-conscious mind.

One of the functions of this Tarot card is revelation, and here we have a beautiful woman revealing herself to you. And that woman represents the 12 personalities of the Cosmos, her attainment in the use of the laws of the macrocosm, and Mother Nature. All to be revealed to you by her! Wow! Its other function is meditation. This lovely water-bearer represents Truth, and as we will find, the practice of meditation reveals Truth to us without disguise.

Revelation also implies unveiling, disclosure, and discovery. Here the unveiling is made to the seeker by Isis. Contrary to what you think may be happening here, you don’t lift the veil, Isis removes it herself. Key 17 pictures something that operates from above the level of human personal consciousness. The disclosures made at this stage are not perceived by the physical senses. They are not arrived at by the reasoning mind, engaged in external observation. You’re not figuring something out here. Quite the contrary. They come when the reasoning mind is completely stilled and the senses sealed. Therein lies her supreme power.

In the previous Key 16 The Tower we had two people falling upside-down from a tower. The two states of mind that they embodied were completely upended. Here on Key 17 we have them now represented by the two pitchers of water held by Isis. The symbol for Spirit is drawn as  ellipses on the sides of each vase . We can only see two of them, but there are really two on each vase. The sum of the four ellipsis implies that they stand for the four elements: fire, air, earth and water.

She fills the two vases from the pool and then  pours the water back, one onto the land and one back into the pool. From the vase in the woman’s right hand falls a stream that sets up a wavy motion in the pool. Note that this wavy motion is in the form of concentric rings, reminding us of the circles on Key 10, the Wheel of Fortune. There we had the Law of Rotation, which dealt with the manifest world with all its limitations and mysterious laws. Here all of the manifest world is being revealed through Isis. And once revealed, we may then know it. And to know it is to become one with it.

This wavy motion in the pool is the activity that is set up in our sub-conscious mind by meditating. So the water being poured back into the pool is direct modification of the cosmic mind-stuff apart from sensory experience.

In her left hand she’s pouring the stream of water onto the ground, where it divides into five parts, and then flows across the green grass. The five parts are the five senses. The ground is green, the color of Venus and love. Here is expressed that meditation also modifies sensation, and so unfolds higher and subtler types of sense experience. Here we have the purification and perfection of the senses by means of right meditation, supported by love.

The weight of Isis’s body is supported through her left knee, resting on the green earth. Earth on this card represents physical, earthly existence. Green signifies growth and increase, reminding us of the Empress. Green is alchemical copper, which is a nerve center located in the throat. The Western alchemical metals are the same as the Hindu chakras. The throat nerve center, the thyroid, regulates and modifies all the systems in the physical body, including our heart rate and breathing. So here we have an expression of a system of support for our physical body.

She balances herself with her right leg by resting her right foot upon the surface of the pool. We see that the earth supports her weight, but here we find that she gains her balance on the water. Her act of meditating has transformed the unstable, liquid water into something as solid as the physical earth. Water is the mind-stuff of consciousness. All the water in the Tarot, like a stream of consciousness flowing through the cards, begins from the gown of the High Priestess. So here is a combination of physical support balanced by direct communication with the sub-conscious mind. Truly there is no separation between the spiritual and the material worlds.

Use your will to decide to meditate. Meditation then uses the powers of deduction and imagination to direct our sub-conscious mind. In Strength Isis tames the lion, the animal forces in the human personality, with ease and poise. The knowledge we acquire in meditation is gathered from the all encompassing memory of Mother Nature.

Note the symbols in the lower light hand corner of the card. The Hebrew letter assigned to Key 17 is Tzaddi, which means fish-hook.  It even looks something like a fish-hook. A fish-hook is used for angling for fish. It is a quest that is a sort of feeling one’s way, such as “fishing.” Here the fish-hook is used to symbolize an agency which we can use to investigate the unseen and the unknown.

Tzaddi’s function is meditation. Patanjali, in his Yoga Aphorisms, defines it as “an unbroken flow of knowledge in a particular object.” It is a “fishing” for Truth in the depths of the sub-conscious mind. The Hebrew word means “conception”, a germination of ideas. Meditation is deep reflection. It is a continual dwelling on one idea, and all that is associated with it, in order for that idea to reveal itself to you.

First we get a stream of ideas relating to a particular object or question. As we become more and more identified with this object or question, we begin to see it’s inner nature, or essence. We see the spiritual source, Isis, behind the object, vibrating through it to you. It’s an uplifting experience and consumes you. You are physically changed by it, too. As a fisherman, we would use a certain type of bait so that a particular fish might bite. So when meditating, we must have a specific thought in mind before we start. Imagine you’re a fisherman sitting quietly in your boat on a calm stream. Your bait is set. Soon enough the fish will bite. Just roll with it.

Silencing the mind was discussed at length on the Magician card. The practice of concentration is required before you can let go and meditate. Attention is the means that allows you to concentrate units of mental energy. You end up being able to concentrate this energy, which then gives you the ability to direct it usefully. This is a real force. Normal sunlight on your face gives you just a slight feeling of warmth. If you use a convex lens and shine the sun through it, it will burn you.

To develop this skill, and then be able to meditate, you may wish to use the Orange Concentration Exercise listed on this web site. I used it almost every day during the first year after it was shown to me.  I still find it to be very helpful from time to time. It may take you a few weeks, or even months to finally complete the exercise as described. Once that’s accomplished, use it on a regular basis, it will be well worth your efforts! It’s amazing how much more you’ll see and notice.

Interesting to note at this point is that meditating is not just a mental exercise. You’re also using physical energy. Meditation is the safest method to regenerate your body. It draws energy up from the base of your spine through your chakras without fixing your attention on any particular one. This is a good, safe way to heal and restore your body. Specific long attention on any chakra center is not recommended. You will throw yourself, and your nervous system, out of balance.

In the Tarot the Hebrew letter Nun, meaning fish, is the letter of the Transition Key.  The ruling sign of that Key is Scorpio. The Hebrew letter Vav, meaning hook, is the letter of Key 5 the Teacher. It’s ruled by the zodiacal sign Taurus. Scorpio and Taurus are opposites, but complements in the zodiac. The centers corresponding to them in the human body are also opposite and complementary.

While meditating, the force which is expressed through the Scorpio center of the human body located at the base of the spine is raised, and then expresses itself through the Taurus center in the brain, which is hearing. The result is that you become aware of the Inner Voice, you hear It.  This Voice is the Teacher, Who is also the Revealer. And in Key 17 we have a symbol of the Revelation.

Aquarius rules this Key. Aquarius is the Water-bearer, an airy, fixed sign. Its astrological symbol is shown on the Wheel of Fortune, two wavy lines, one above the other. This is an alchemical symbol for dissolution. In other words, dissolving something is the action used in order to start over. After our rude awakening on the previous Key 16, here on Key 17 all our past errors are being dissolved by the Water-bearer Isis. The veil of darkness is removed by her cleansing us in the waters of Light. Aquarius is also a symbol of the axiom, “That which is above is as that which is below.”  That axiom is internalized by us through the activity of this card.

The numerical value of Tzaddi is 90. The legs of Isis are each at a 90 degree angle. The Suspended Man also holds his right leg at a 90 degree angle. One of the functions of the Suspended Man is silence. We practice silence in order to quiet our mind, which allows it to enter the realm of meditation. Practicing silence includes being on silence for set periods of time, even around other people. You do not speak. You could even make a small sign and pin it to your shirt, “I am on Silence.” Thoughts appear, come and go, but you let them slip away. The same with outer noises, while we’re sitting in meditation. They are just there. Let them be. In Yoga this suspension is called Samadhi.

The mountains in the background of Key 17 are the same as in the Fool, the Lovers and Strength cards. Violet is associated with the planet Jupiter. And Jupiter always means spiritual power and truth. It’s the highest visible color vibration. So having them in the background means you’re on the right path through this card in order to reach them.

The tree in the middle distance refers to the brain and the nervous system. The bird perched on the upper part of the tree, refers to the frontal lobe of the brain where the personality resides. The tree trunk is the spinal cord and the sympathetic nerves and ganglia.

Our little red bird is an ibis, a fishing bird regarded by the Egyptians as being sacred to Thoth. Its long bill is a natural fish-hook. Thoth was the Egyptian god of writing, magic, wisdom, and the moon. Thoth is identified by the Greeks with Hermes, and by the Romans with Mercury. Hermes and Mercury were the gods of translators and interpreters.

The Ibis’s red color represents the conscious plane of mental activity and indicates action.  Here the little ibis reminds us that meditation is begun by, and supervised by, the self-conscious aspect of human personality, pictured in the Tarot as the Magician. The Magician also symbolizes the act of bringing intellectual activity to rest by concentration.

The Quintessence, also called the Fifth Essence by alchemists, is this great yellow star of eight primary rays. The 8-spoked circles on the robe of the Fool, the Wheel of Fortune and now this star are all emblems of the Quintessence. In ancient and medieval philosophy the fifth essence, also called the element ether, is considered the highest element. It permeates all nature and is considered the substance that composes the celestial bodies.  The Quintessence is the essential power, Spirit, behind the energy transmitted to each of the cosmic world-systems from their individual suns. The symbolism of the eight short rays will be discussed in Key 19 The Sun.

The seven smaller stars surrounding the central star are also eight-pointed, to show that they are also manifestations of the Quintessence. They represent the seven alchemical metals, which are not the same as “regular” metals, of the Western Tradition. They are Lead, Iron, Tin, Gold, Silver, Copper and Mercury. These correspond to the seven astrological planets: Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, Sun, Moon, Venus and Mercury. The symbols for the planets are drawn on each of the stars. In the Eastern tradition these seven are called chakras, or interior stars. This is where the One Force manifests itself in the human body.

According to Eliphas Levi:

“The number seven, or the septenary, is the sacred number of all theogonies and all symbols, because it is composed of the triad and the tetrad.

It represents magic power in its whole scope; it is the mind assisted by all elementary forces, it is the soul served by nature, it is the Holy Kingdom of the Keys of Solomon, the great biblical number, the key of the creation of Moses, and the symbol of all religion.

It is also the number of Charity, which is the crown of the spiritual edifice.

It is the number of rest and stability.

All things proceed from seven, return unto seven, explain themselves by seven.

This number was represented in the Temple of Jerusalem by the golden candlestick, which was in itself a complete and magnificent pentacle.

The septenary is the entire Qabalah.”

This picture of Isis-Urania on Key 17 shows the third stage of spiritual unfoldment called Revelation. It is the calm which follows the storm depicted by Key 16. It is a period of quest and search. The light is dim, like starlight, but these stars are distant suns. Thus, it is written: “When you have found the beginning of the way, the star of your soul will show its light.”