On January 29th the new moon arrives (exact at 7:36 am ET, time zone converter) to remind us that renewal is possible. This new moon also ushers in the two-week period of the Lunar New Year which is celebrated by a quarter of the earth’s population, especially throughout Asia. This is the year of the Snake, which in Chinese mythology is generally an auspicious creature that symbolizes transformation and rebirth.
So it is fitting that at this time of year, we are invited to walk the soul shaping path of The Star (due to the astro-Tarot correspondences of Aquarius to the Tarot’s Star card).

From The Next World Tarot by Cristy C. Road
Path of the Moonth: The Star
The Star exists alongside Death, the Devil, and the Tower, the fearsome three of the Tarot pantheon, through which we die to our old lives, confront the shadows we can no longer hide from, and experience the structures we counted on crumble. Through this process, we are stripped down to our essential self, find ourselves as open as the Star figure. We may feel alone, but the Star reminds us that we are held within a vast and beautiful Cosmos, which constantly pours its gifts upon us.
Passage and Practice To Help Us Move Through: 5 of Swords and Connecting to Groups
This year The Star’s path takes us through the passage of the Five of Swords.
In the iconic Rider Waite Smith Tarot’s Five of Swords, a large, orange-haired figure in the foreground stands confidently holding three swords while two empty-handed figures in the background walk away. The furthest figure appears to be holding their face in their hands, their shoulders are slumped. A third figure stands between and seems to be looking at the one holding their face. Jagged clouds in the background whip along above the rippling ocean.

a 1909 card scanned by Holly Voley and retrieved from Sacred Texts. Deck available from US Games
The foregrounded figure seems to have won the battle, which could give this card a meaning of victory, vindication, or success. But a traditional name for this card is the Lord of Defeat. This name shifts our orientation to those who have lost their swords and seemingly their fight.
Placing these figures at the center of the card’s story calls us to contemplate not victory but themes such as harm experienced and inflicted, being wronged, being a bystander to harm, and abuse of power.
Nearly a century before scholars and activists popularized the triangle of victim/survivor, bystander, and perpetrator, Pixie Smith created an image to show this web of relationships—inviting we who receive this image to step into the soul work of repairing harm.
Our commitment to moving through this passage connects us to what the poet Kathleen Aguero calls “the hard work of hope.” Because the hope that heals is actively engaged with the most difficult challenges of our times. This is the hope we are called to cultivate when we encounter the Five of Swords passage.
How do we cultivate this hope? By becoming stars for each other. Stars who interrupt the triangle of the triangle of victim/survivor, bystander, and perpetrator.
One way to interrupt the triangle is through bystander interventions that center the victim/survivor. Activists working against sexual violence and racist, homophobic and transphobic actions and comments have developed trainings to prepare us to act in immediate situations.
Since the U.S. government is now overtly a perpetrator of violence with both messages of hate and executive orders, legislative and direct action is a systemic bystander response.
Organizations of particularly targeted groups—for example: legal immigrants and our neighbors who live here without documentation as well as the trans community—can guide you in finding a way to be a star instead of a bystander. Find a list of national, regional, and local groups working on immigration issues on Detention Watch’s website. The Pink Haven Coalition supports mutual aid, relocation to safer states, and access to gender-affirming care for the trans and non-binary community.
I am writing these words the morning after the federal funding freeze caused great confusion and blocked funds flowing to programs that serve an untold number of people in every state in the country. Yesterday I received a message about the possible impacts connected to the workplace of someone within our Soul Path Sanctuary community, wondered how this would impact grant funding for climate resilience at my job, and heard from my mayor that she was looking into the impact on my city’s finances.
We may not be in groups that are specifically called out, but this situation—Choose Democracy, an excellent source for analysis, calls it an administrative coup—shows us how we are all impacted. (Afternoon update: I am hearing from Choose Democracy that the order is rescinded because of the public outcry. Sign up for their list and you will get good new, too!)
We may start out taking action we believe to be for others but find ourselves being the ones defended.
Posture to Take on the Path: King of Swords
To walk this path of being stars for each other, the Tarot offers us the King of Swords as one to emulate.

From Tarot Roots of Asia (unfortunately out of print)
The King is a master of the mind and uses their intellect to serve the good of the Whole.
To be like this King, we assess rather than block feelings, and we do not allow ourselves to be controlled by them. Once the emotions are acknowledged, we can look at current reality analytically, assess options from a larger perspective, and identify how our personal choices might impact others.
Being like Kings, we remember that hope is fed by action and we all have a role to play in the work of renewal. We don’t do this work alone. Kings exist within collectives. The collective is what carries the action forward. So while we live full lives and might only have 5 minutes a day or 15 minutes a week, these moments of taking star action can make a difference when joined with others.
In these chaotic times, it may seem foolish to believe that change can happen.
Time to be Fools
And if it seems foolish to dare to believe we can repair, the Tarot supports us to be that Fool. In fact, using the correspondences of astrology and Tarot, we find that The Fool, through its association with the planet of innovation Uranus, is said to rule The Star. To be Star beings we must follow The Fool.
I know some Fools. They are working on reparations for African Americans in the Valley where I live. They are members of the Nipmuc Nation who are leading the push to have a state-owned farm rematriated to their care. They are Palestinians returning to their homes and pitching their tents on the rubble to send a message that this land is theirs. They are poets like Muriel Rukyser who wrote in Speed of Darkness during the Vietnam war:
VIII Ends of the earth join tonight with blazing stars upon their meeting. These sons, these sons fall burning into Asia. IX Time comes into it. Say it. Say it. The universe is made of stories, not of atoms. XIII My night awake staring at the broad rough jewel the copper roof across the way thinking of the poet yet unborn in this dark who will be the throat of these hours. No. Of those hours. Who will speak these days, if not I, if not you?
The work is continuous—as continuous as the stars’ appearance in the night sky. The ancient Egyptians were close observers of stars, like the Pole Star, that did not set. Called the Imperishable Stars, they served as an image of eternity and a reminder of the constant presence of the Gods and Goddess in the people’s lives. The Tarot’s Star, too, reminds us of this Divine accompaniment, both when we are aware of Her presence and even when we doubt it. She holds us within Her embrace as we rest, and in the resting are reshaped. From here we will emerge into a new wholeness made from our broken parts.
Reading of the Moonth
These questions are offered for reflection and to spark practice throughout the moonth. Pulling Tarot and oracle cards in connection to these questions is appropriate, but not absolutely necessary. You might carry a question with you on a walk for example and observe what is happening in the natural world as a way to find insight into the answer to the question.
REPAIR: What work of repair does Five of Swords passage call me to this moonth?
ACTION: How can I engage in the repair work this moonth?
RENEW: How will I be contributing to the renewal of the Whole when I commit to this work?
I do offer this as an e-reading in my collaborative initiative format for $32. Sign up with Pay Pal or contact me about sending a check. When I receive notification, I’ll be in touch to let you know about when to expect to receive your reading by email. I generally have openings to do these readings on Mondays and Saturdays.