Stars of Creativity Part I

The stellar beings who shape our art

Today, I am continuing my Venus retrograde series on astrology and creativity.

This Venus Retrograde, I find myself turning inward with my art. I have long looked to Venus to tell us about our aesthetics, style, inspirations, artistry; the things we enjoy and make us who we are.

What I love about astrology is that it gives me a language for all of the intangible, singular things about me, including what makes my art different than yours and yours different from mine. We might take for granted that we have different routines, subject matter and style but astrology lays it out for you, showing you new sides of yourself to celebrate.

This week, I want to continue the series by focusing on the fixed stars that I see giving juice to our creative endeavors. Though the effects will be most pronounced if you have one of these stars conjoined a natal placement (one of the seven traditional planets, one of the angles or the Lot of Fortune or Spirit), you can still call on these stars devotionally if you need them. I have deep connection with stars that don’t show up in my natal chart so use these descriptions to see which ones resonate most with what you need right now.

If you want help connecting to and speaking to these stars yourself, check out my newsletter “Gnosis In Practice”.

If you want to be taken on a mystic journey with the fixed stars and how they operate within astrology, check out my Intro to Fixed Stars Class, which you can find on my website.

And if you want to learn more about your natal stars and how they shape your life, my books are open for August. Take 20% off my Creative Praxis Readings with code SHINE through the rest of the retrograde 💘

Try invoking one of these stars before a painting or dance sesh; during an artist’s date or when you are looking for inspiration.

The divine wants to help you— courtesy just require that we ask <3

The Stars of Creativity

Schedar, 7º47’ Taurus

(Source)

This star is the brightest in the Cassiopeia constellation, mother of Andromeda whose boasting over her and her daughter’s beauty led to the ire of Poseidon seizing the princess and chaining her to a rock. As a result, the meaning of this star is often ambivalent. In the middle east, the stars of this constellation were known as “the tinted hand,” referring either to the hands of women painted with henna or those drenched in blood.¹ Teucros, echoing this claim, says this constellation “makes quarrelers and women with painted faces”.² Diana Rosenberg says that, underneath the adornment lies the archetype of the queen beset with “divine wisdom, authority, knowledge and both spiritual and temporal rule".³ But, as the Queen is seated in the constellation, she also contains traces of the divine child, her opposite, pointing to “as-yet-unrealized potential, ” like that buried beneath the ground or gestating within a womb.⁴

There is the spark of the divine in Schedar, but it often must be excavated or uncovered. Fittingly, Manilius says that this constellation “will produce goldsmiths who can turn their work into a thousand different shapes, endow the precious substance with yet greater value, and add thereto the vivid hue of Jewels”.⁵ There is a special connection between this star and jewelers, metalsmiths, and those dealing with the hard substances of the earth. Speaking to her divine nature, Manilius also adds that she specifically creates “spoils undimmed by the passage of time,” or those that match the divine in their longevity, their timelessness, so call on Schedar for both the use of hard substances and for anything that you wish to stand the test of time. There’s also an interesting connection here between adornment and uncovering what lies beneath. Manilius goes on to say that from this constellation “come the enhancement of beauty and devices for adorning the body” but that she also “bids men look for gold beneath the ground, uproot all which nature stealthily conceals”.⁶ Use Schedar to create a beautiful exterior but also dig to the heart of creativity to some deeper, more esoteric knowledge.