The Star:

Andromeda might have been born the beautiful daughter of royal parents, but she wasn’t the luckiest of girls.  For one thing, her mother had a big mouth.  Cassiopeia was famously proud of her own and her daughter’s good looks and constantly bragged about them.  That was fine until she went too far and declared that they were more beautiful even than the nereids, the sea nymphs. 

Naturally, this annoyed the nereids, who complained to Poseidon, lord of the sea.  Poseidon felt that he already had enough problems without a bunch of pouting nymphs hanging about, thanks very much.  So, in the typical, over-the-top fashion of pestered gods, he sent a huge snake to destroy Cassiopeia’s kingdom. 

The royal couple consulted an oracle, asking what to do about the snake, which was eating all the tax payers, and the unending rain Poseidon had sent as a chaser, which was flooding all the fields.  They soon received the bad news: only a virgin sacrifice would appease the god’s wrath. Andromeda quickly did the math and realized that there was only one royal virgin at hand.  But before she could take care of that problem with a handy stable boy, she was dragged down to the coast and chained to a big rock. There she was to await the sea monster that Poseidon was sending to dine on her flesh. 

Now, the classical Greek telling of this story would have us believe that Andromeda was a meek little woman who silently stood in her chains, her distress visible only by the few slow tears that squeezed out of her beautiful eyes.  I suppose it makes a more dignified story than her thrashing about and screaming bloody murder.  However, the latter is far more likely, and not only because that’s what any sane person would do with a huge sea monster coming to eat them.  No, we can be pretty sure that Andromeda was putting up one hell of a fuss, because despite the wind and the rain and the slapping of giant waves against the shore, she managed to get the attention of a passing traveler.  And not just any old traveler at that.

Andromeda yelled loudly enough to bring Perseus, manly hero type that he was, over to see what was going on.  And then, with only seconds to spare, she somehow convinced him that risking his life battling the horrid monster that was looming up behind him was a good idea. That’s grace under pressure, folks.

Long story short, Perseus killed the monster, got the girl and became the hero of the story.  But someone must have decided that maybe there was more to it, because Andromeda ended up with a constellation named after her, as well.  It shines as brightly as ever, reminding us never to give up hope, no matter how dark a situation might seem.  It’s the same lesson taught by the Star tarot card, which promises better days ahead, despite all appearances to the contrary.   

  

The Star Reversed:

Perseus, one of those half-mortal by-blows Zeus littered around everywhere, was feeling pretty put upon.  All he’d been trying to do was to get the ruler of the island he called home to stop hitting on his mother, who didn’t want anything to do with the guy.  But while Perseus was big and pretty and muscle-y, he wasn’t the sharpest pencil in the box.  You know, if the Greeks had had pencils. 

The king nonetheless backed off, not wanting to get in a fight with the son of a god, and soon thereafter declared that he was marrying some other gal.  And that everyone now needed to give him expensive presents.  Perseus, who had been making a living as a fisherman since Zeus didn’t feel the need to provide child support, had no money with which to buy the king a gift.  He was told not to worry, that he could do him a small favor instead.  Perseus—remember, not that sharp—said sure thing, name it.  So the king did: bring back the head of Medusa. 

This seemed hard enough in and of itself—Medusa being the Gorgon famous for turning men into stone just by looking at them.  But then there were the small matters of his not knowing how to kill her, not having any weapons and not even knowing where she was.  It seemed an impossible task, and while he was away, the randy old king was sure to go back to pestering his mom.  Perseus was bummed.  

It’s the way anyone pulling the Star Reversed is likely to feel: overwhelmed, hopeless, and lost.  But before giving into discouragement and depression, remember Perseus.  For what he lacked in smarts, he made up for in sheer perseverance. He decided that there was no point in having godly relatives if you never hit them up for a loan, and soon he was mooching weapons and advice off Athena, Mercury and everyone else who didn’t get away fast enough. 

In the end, he not only killed the Gorgon, he used her severed head to turn a sea monster into stone and thereby rescued a beautiful princess, who agreed to marry him.  He and the princess returned to his island, and just as he’d suspected, the old king was back to his bad habits.  So Perseus turned him into stone, too.  And everyone lived happily ever after.  Except, you know, for Medusa.  And the sea monster.  And the king.