The Spirit of Stars:

On Intuition, Curiosity and Cultivating an Open Mind

THE TRIPPING MORPHO shows a beautiful, glistening blue butterfly resting with its wings spread on the tip of a cannibis leaf, the air around her swirling and dancing. Stars hold the power of connections and spiritualities, while the Spirits of each power often act as messengers, muses and students of those powers. The Spirits are not knights, goddesses or gods — they are children playing, hopeful and carefree and naive. They are the why of each suit. The Spirit of Stars is a sign that the creative spirit is flowing through you and that you’re open and listening to what your Creator is telling you. You are seeing the signs and the messages and hearing all the whispers: the transformation of the clouds, the shape of a butterfly’s flightpath, the highlights of the sun’s rays. These things aren’t hallucinations; they are your spirit and Creator talking to you. Observe. Converse. Share that conversation with the world through what you make, create and express. You’ve got so many ideas flowing through you right now that you’re giving them away for free. There’s no rabbit hole you don’t want to go down, no dream you’d dismiss as impossible, nothing you don’t want to try right now. But the nature of time is that you’ve got to pick and choose. Follow those signs and what your intuition is telling you.

If you’re feeling blocked

You might be overwhelmed with new ideas or the opportunities coming your way right now, having a hard time focusing on only one. You could feel like your mind is all over the place, being pulled in 100 different directions. It could be that a major surprise or event has you feeling uprooted and completely entangled. Or you might be fighting your intuition, gripped by something that has you wandering away from your true path and purpose. How do you choose which idea to move forward with, which sign to pay attention to, which path is yours?

The Nine of Stars serves as a reminder to trust yourself first and foremost. Intuition is powerful because, deep down, you know more than you think you know. Your intuition is always looking out for you. Intuition can help guide you through your fears, insecurities, and failures, and lead you to your courage, confidence and success. Trusting your intuition isn’t always easy; it can be hard to hear over your louder and more destructive and demanding ego. The two are not the same. Intuition quietly guides you through your fears, whereas your ego creates your fears. Your ego is focused on the material, outer world. Your intuition is concerned with your inner world. Your ego is judgmental and daring; your intuition is forgiving and careful.

Creativity exercises:

Create a dialogue between two characters: Ego and Intuition. Have Ego be the present moment, and Intuition be the lifelong Self. What is the central disagreement between the two?

Get inspired by the last time you listened to your gut. What was it telling you to do? Create something that symbolizes the message you heard and honors the fact that you were listening.

Paint a cloudy sky that transforms from one thing into another as you paint it.

Do a mix and match: write down twelve different kinds of animals on separate sheets of paper and put them in a hat. Draw out 4 of the sheets: the first for the head, the second is for the body, the third is for any extremities, and the fourth is for coloration. Use them as inspiration for creating an entirely new creature.