Chaos & Dancing Star Tarot Spread

One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star. -Nietzsche

We are living in an age where chaos is frowned upon and even repressed in the overculture. This manifests in things like the “clean girl” and “quiet luxury” trends in personal style, new buildings that all have the same cheap generic architecture, coffee shops with those god forsaken tiny metal stools, millennial gray, and really just a general loss of diversity. “Enshittification,” which is late stage capitalism pushing out personality in favor of profit.

Chaos exists both internally in the psyche and of course in the outer world. And in both instances, it can be destructive OR creative. So in some ways, the trend to minimize chaos makes sense. When you’re living in a time of destructive chaos: multiple genocides, constant technology fatigue, economic uncertainty, political violence and on and on… maybe it follows that you’d want to decorate your living space with simple clean lines and dress in beige. Seeking calm in the ways you can control.

Needless to say inner chaos can also be very bad. From ruminating thoughts to depression to mental illness to addiction and self-destructive behaviors.

But what about the good chaos? The chaos that shakes things up and brings ACTUAL joy? Things that are interesting and genuine. Things that make you go WTF. We need good chaos, chaos to challenge the status quo and wake up something in the soul.

Chaos can remind you that you are ALIVE! And it can indeed be rebellious, because things are a lot easier for the Nefarious Powers That Be if we are disconnected from the vital life-force that is our birthright.

I’ve always liked that Nietzsche quote, and of course it has always reminded me of the link between the Tower and the Star in tarot. It occurred to me that this concept could make an interesting tarot spread. The Tower gets a bad rep, and sometimes it rough as shit. But I have always liked the Tower for its representation of Good Chaos, and that’s the paradigm it fits in this spread.

Begin by finding the Tower and the Star in your tarot deck. Place them out to use as focal points for the spread. Shuffle and when you’re ready, lay out two cards. Place the first above the Tower. This card represents the current chaos in your life and/or your psyche. Place the second card above the Star. This card hints at the “dancing star” this current chaos may be birthing. In other words, this is the creative potential of the chaos.

I’ll share my own reading, and as always, encourage you to try it for yourself too.

My card above the Tower, representing my current chaos, is the Knight of Cups reversed. And above the Star, I have the Four of Pentacles reversed.

The Knight of Cups reversed immediately clicked for me, as I do have a fair amount of chaotic emotional turmoil inside me. And the reversal makes sense, because I think lately I’ve been (subconsciously, or even partially consciously) trying to repress or avoid these emotions.

In fact, last night, I had a dream where I was crying ferociously. I can’t recall the last time I cried that intensely in my waking life. But I did awake gasping for air. So there certainly is some chaotic emotional turmoil in the depths of my psyche, trying to poke through to the surface.

Big Feelings (tm) are also frowned upon in the overculture. When I walk into a white walled, metal tabled coffee shop with tiny uncomfortable benches and someone says “how are you?” they don’t expect to hear “OMG, I don’t know! I’m all over the place. I’m mourning, I’m angry, I’m apathetic, I’M WILD!” They expect “find thanks, how are you.”

The only places I let these emotions out lately are here in my tarot writings (lucky you) and with my therapist. Otherwise, I am very much the Knight of Cups reversed. Keeping it alllll bottled up! But perhaps these cards (and my dreams) are telling me something needs to be released.

Now, the reversed Four of Pentacles suggesting the creative potential of this chaos is a tricky one. I stared at this card for some time waiting for it to reveal its message. Finally, I saw something in the actual imagery. It’s almost as though the figure on this card is ready to release those coins into the wishing well of the Star below.

So maybe the creative potential here is: find some place safe and magical to deposit feelings. This has worked for me in the past. Creativity has been a transformative channel for raw emotion. Things I create just for myself: blackout poetry, drawings, scrawling journal ramblings.

Since this is a Pentacles card, it suggests the value of concrete offerings. Like I mentioned above, tangible tactile objects.

There’s also something here about letting myself connect with desires. Being willing to throw the coins into the wishing well. Loosening up a bit. This part also seems both emotional and physical. Releasing some emotions, of course.

But also, my body very much physically needs to loosen up as I’m still recovering from broken ankle bones (just yesterday my PT told me how tight my muscles and tendons still are). I do feel ready now to limber up on both planes of existence.

That’s my reading. What about you? I wish you all the best in connecting to your own dancing star.

Carrie