Aquarius in the DruidCraft Major Arcana – The Star

Ganymede (juzzodiac.tumbler.com)

Let’s continue our exploration of Aquarius in the DruidCraft Tarot with the Major Arcana. 

We already know that it combines the element of air with fixed energy, making it a very ‘in your head’ sign.   It’s associated with ideology and reform, humanitarianism and working with community and groups.  In Greek mythology, Ganymede was the cup-bearer to the gods, serving them with the nectar or ambrosia which gave them immortality – and was placed in the heavens as the constellation Aquarius as his reward.  The contents of that cup were life-sustaining – and what is it that sustains us, more often than not? Hope. And what card in the Major Arcana could we connect with hope? The Star!

The Star (detail): DruidCraft Tarot

The DruidCraft Tarot follows Rider-Waite-Smith tradition in its depiction of The Star with the young, naked woman with two pitchers of water – an Aquarian water carrier.  Her youth is said to symbolize renewal, while her nakedness represents truth for all to see.  She has one foot on land (past) and the other in water (the future), linking the two - and perhaps also linking the conscious and unconscious.   

The foot in water also links us to the Pool of Memory, allowing us to remember events which give us hope.  Her two water jugs sustain both the land and the pool.  See how the water falling onto the rock on her left separates into five streams before returning to the pool? This symbolizes our five senses.  Aquarius may be detached but it can certainly feed us, providing us with hope and optimism – the promise of a new day (dawn). 

The card carries the number 17, 1 + 7: in the sky we see the seven stars of the ‘Little Dipper’, the tail of Ursa Minor or the Little Bear.  Polaris, at the end of the dipper’s handle, is shown as brightest of all – the star that gives us direction and hope when we’re lost.  Sailors used to, perhaps still do, navigate by the stars at night. Polaris is one of the (apparently) ‘fixed’ star in the sky, making it particularly useful in celestial navigation – and therefore a symbol of hope in its own right.  

 

No surprise that Imbolc occurs during our sojourn in Aquarius – first signs of spring bringing forth hope. ..and only a few days away – watch this space!

Druidcraft Tarot created by Philip Carr-Gomm and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, illustrated by Will Worthington, published by Connections 2004