Episode 122: Spirals and Crooked Lines: On the Star Card in the Tarot

The Star is one of the most iconic of the major trumps of the traditional tarot deck. It is also one of the most ambiguous. A woman is shown emptying two urns of water onto the parched ground. She is flanked by nascent plant life. Shining above her are those nocturnal luminaries whose "eternal silence" so frightened the philosopher Blaise Pascal at the dawn of modernity. Are the stars pointing the way to a brighter future, or are they stars of ill omen, warning us of what lies ahead? And what does that little bird in the background signify? In this episode, Phil and JF try to get to the bottom of the starry heavens, only to find out that starry heavens have no bottom. Click here to purchase tickets to the Weird Studies beer launch at Illuminated Brew Works in Chicago on May 23. Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack Support us on Patreon Find us on Discord Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop REFERENCES Our Known Friend (Valentin Tomberg), Meditations on the Tarot Alejandro Jodorowsky, The Way of the Tarot Pink Floyd, “Astronomy Domine” Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth Aleister Crowley, The Book of the Law Heimarmene, Greek goddess of fate Weird Studies, Episode 121 on Mandy Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea Samuel Delaney, Dahlgren J R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Juan Eduardo Cirlot, A Dictionary of Symbols Weird Studies, Episode 103 on the Tower Weird Studies, [Episode 114 on the Wheel of Fortune] Joni Mitchell, “Ladies of the Canyon”