XVII The Star

Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might....

Well, you know the rest. Stars are special for us. Not as potent a force as the moon or sun in our everynight lives, their appearance in the sky is always, somehow, a special gift. If it's even a little cloudy, if you live in a city or even a well-lit small town, sometimes they're just not there...and when they are they bring the gift not only of being especially lovely, but of linking us, by the names that have been given to the constellations and by the fact that we know - and often feel - that countless generations have stood and stared with equal wonder at these light bodies shimmering in the cobalt sky and that we are a part of a vast humanity that has been just as humbled as we are by this little portion we are privileged to glimpse of the even more vast universe of which we are such a very small part. And then, of course, there's the North Star with its constancy, providing directions for travelers throughout the centuries.

It is no wonder we wish upon stars for they are, like our wishes, at once substantial - we know they are there, intellectually, for sometimes we see them - and yet sometimes they seem not to be and it can be difficult to hold onto your dreams when the clear vision of them somehow slips away. And no wonder we refer to those among us who light up our lives as stars, for they too may be bright one night and seem to be gone the next.

If you have ever been privileged to be in an area where darkness really is darkness and the ambient light of some far city has not paled the indigo of the far horizon and gods and goddesses alike have smiled on you blessing you with a crystal night sky, then you have seen, perhaps, the overwhelming spectacle that is the endless panoply of countless quadrillions of stars just hinting at the seemingly endless bounty that lies beyond them and you have, even if you didn't know it, exposed yourself to a neutrino shower from those same light bodies that can leave you lighter and brighter and  with just a bit of a star hangover in the morning. Really.

So what does this card, XVII, carry with it? All those things. Dreams coming true, wonder and delight, healing and achievement...and the reminder that, like the stars, you may not, on some days, have access to the thrills, but the thrills are there, all the same.