Starry Night. Vincent Van Gogh. 1889. Wikioo

Ye stars! which are the poetry of heaven!

Lord Byron

Stars are portrayed in literature, poetry, drama, music and art as mysterious, sparkling and inspiring symbols of so many different thoughts and ideas.

What is it that makes them so important to us, and what life-lessons do they hold for us all? They are the stuff of fairytales, fantasies, and fabulous creations…

Now, turn up your volume, sit back and listen to this magical, starry music…

Stars can have many roles, and they are regarded as enigmatic, marvellous and wondrous by all humanity. They may be seen as indicators of ‘the way,’ showing us our individual directions through life, our ‘guiding’ stars. In times gone by, they did, indeed, guide us in a real, navigational sense… and they gave us light.

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“Whatever road I take, the guiding star is within me; the guiding star and the loadstone which point the way. They point in but one direction. They point to me.”

Ayn Rand, Anthem

These twinkling orbs can reflect who we are; they encourage us to look deep inside ourselves for direction and wisdom. We are made of the same elements.

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff.”

Carl Sagan

They can fill us with ambition, as we are urged to ‘reach for the stars,’ or to ‘follow our star.’ They may be seen as indicators of destiny, with our future ‘written in the stars,’ or we might feel we have ‘lucky stars.’ We may ‘wish upon a star,’ as a kind of good luck icon, or ‘have stars in our eyes,’ when we feel happy and, possibly unrealistically, hopeful.

• Stars as healing

Landscape with Stars. 1905-8. Henri-Edmond Cross. Wikimedia Commons

“Turn your scars into stars.”

Robert H. Schuller

These words urge us to view our scars, our past hurts and wounds, from a different angle. We could reevaluate and reframe these scars, seeing them as evidence that we have, indeed, suffered, and yet, we have also grown and learnt as a result.

Such marks of pain can be transformed in our minds into stars, into signifiers of our shining achievements in overcoming difficulties and traumas. They can serve as evidence of our strength and resilience  and become symbols of how we have recovered and survived. They tell something of our life-story…

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”

Khalil Gibran

Whatever stars mean to us, they can be very comforting; perhaps they represent someone we once loved who has died, a person who is always with us in a spiritual sense, sparkling, still brilliantly visible against an azure sky.

“In one of those stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing…And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend…I shall not leave you.”

Saint-Exupéry

Eugen Bracht-Morning Star. 1899. Wikimedia Commons

Stargazing can fill us with wonder, can make us feel relaxed and a part of something vast. This can give us new perspectives and teach us to recognise patterns and connections, helping to place our personal issues in a different, and far wider, context.

• Stars and paradoxes

Star Flowers. Painting by V. Bakliyskyi 1990. Wikimedia Commons

“Stars and blossoming fruit trees: Utter permanence and extreme fragility give an equal sense of eternity.”

Simone Weil

Stars present us with paradoxes; they are here and not here, eternal and yet transient, real and not real, close yet faraway, still yet moving fast, visible and invisible…

“When it is dark enough you can see the stars.”

 Ralph Waldo Emerson

They can make us feel that we are in touch with others throughout the world who also observe them, spurring us on, encouraging us to feel enlightened, motivated and connected. They are part of us and we are part of them…

“The stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own.”

Mary Oliver. American Primitive.

Van Gogh. Starry Night Over the Rhône. 1888. Wikioo

“Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.”

Sarah Williams, Twilight Hours: A Legacy of Verse

• Stars and love

Stars have long been associated with love and romance. Stargazing together can feel intimate and magical, meaningful and eternal.

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“Yours is the light by which my spirit’s born: – you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars.”

E.E. Cummings

Stars are linked to love and eternity, to fortune, to connection, and to dependability. They shine faithfully upon generations of lovers, spreading their beautiful glowing light.  So often they express aspects of romantic relationships.

“Sonnet XVII” — Pablo Neruda (1959)

“I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
I love you as the starflowers love the sky.”

Emile Friant. Les Amoureux. 1888. Wikimedia Commons

“Marius and Cosette were in the dark in regard to each other. They did not speak, they did not bow, they were not acquainted; they saw each other; and, like the stars in the sky separated by millions of leagues, they lived by gazing upon each other.”

Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

Edwin Blashfield – Spring Scattering Stars.1927. Wikimedia Commons

“Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven,
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie

• Stars, understanding, self- knowledge.

Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach: Asking The Stars. 1895. Wikimedia Commons

“When you reach for the stars, you are reaching for the farthest thing out there. When you reach deep into yourself, it is the same thing, but in the opposite direction. If you reach in both directions, you will have spanned the universe.”

Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Stars can enable us to know more about ourselves. What do I mean by this? The vastness of the constellations above us can help us feel humble, aware of our place in the world, and of the way in which we all share one world. When we survey the galaxy, earthly boundaries melt away, and, similarly, time dissolves as we contemplate infinity.

Caspar David Friedrich – Wanderer Above The Sea Of Fog. c. 1817. Wikimedia Commons

“If we climb high enough, we will reach a height from which tragedy ceases to look tragic.”

Irvin D. Yalom

From the earliest of days, human beings have gazed at the stars for answers to the biggest questions in life. From them we can learn to be patient, to wait, seeing them as metaphors for our own existence and personal development.

They can function reflectively, in that, for example, their light may take many, many years to reach us here on earth, long after the star itself has died. This can mirror our own influences on others, for our words and ideas can travel far, rippling through space and time.

In this way, we are enabled to have an effect on the future and, like stars, to spread our light as a rich legacy, even after we have gone. 

“Live right… and have faith that good things will flow from you even if you never learn of them”

Yalom

Human looking at the stars during Perseids with the Milky Way in the background. Photo by Giles Laurent. 2022.

“Look at the stars. It won’t fix the economy. It won’t stop wars. It won’t give you flat abs, or even help you figure out your relationship. But it’s important. It helps you to remember that you and your problems are both infinitesimally small and conversely, that you are a piece of an amazing and vast universe.”

Kate Bartolotta

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Stars also give us a sense of eternity, even though, in reality, they are not everlasting. However, in a more poetic sense, they have come to symbolise something timeless and enduring, always there.

Witold Pruszkowski. Falling Star. 1884. Wikimedia Commons

“Isn’t it strange that all life can pretty much end, but the universe goes on as it is? No one else exists, but the moon keeps shining and the stars keep falling.”

 Isabella Olivia Ellis, Love After The Gone

• Stars as inspiration…

Shooting Star. Franz Stuck. 1912. Wikimedia Commons

“Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.”

Stephen Hawking

Stars stimulate our curiosity and sense of wonder; these ancient, celestial beacons of light have been with us forever, and they speak of eternity and a sense of the everlasting, always being with us.

They make us question, inspiring us to dream about the vastness of the universe and about the smallness of ourselves within it. Stars can, in addition, stimulate our creativity, helping us to meditate on the wonders of life, to imagine and be curious.

Van Gogh. Café Terrace at Night,1888. Wikioo

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

Van Gogh

William Blake – When the Morning Stars Sang Together”

“What happens when we die?”

“I think we become stars.”

Nuala McGovern, The Guardian. 8/11/25

© Linda Berman