This image is from one of my new Tarot Affirmation posters, now available on my Etsy art site. I really love how it turned out—but even more than that, I love the message it carries: Shine Your Light.
And yet, for so many of us, that’s easier said than done.
Instead of shining, we hide. Instead of pouring ourselves out like starlight, we dim, shrink, withdraw. Why is it so hard to be radiant in a world that so desperately needs our brilliance?
The Culture of Shame and the Fear of Being Seen
In one of her powerful TED Talks, Brené Brown speaks about the culture of shame we all live in. Even if you didn’t grow up in a dysfunctional family (and statistically, about 60% of us did), we’re still marinated in a society that constantly criticizes, compares, and belittles.
Maybe you brought home a report card with a B, and your parent asked, “Why didn’t you get an A?”
Maybe you’re in a job where meeting your performance goals doesn’t bring a sense of completion—it just earns you a fresh, even more demanding set.
Maybe you’ve internalized the billions of dollars spent by the beauty industry telling you that your face, your body, your age, or your hair simply aren’t good enough.
On social media, the message is constant: unless you’re being validated with likes and followers, you’re invisible.
Advertising tells you your house isn’t elegant enough, your car’s too old, your wardrobe outdated.
Even spirituality isn’t immune. We whisper to ourselves: I should be better. I should care more. I should meditate more. Pray more. Try harder.
Let’s face it: in this world, it’s all too easy to believe that we should be ashamed of simply being ourselves.
As Brown puts it, shame drives two powerful tapes in our heads:
1. You’re never good enough, and
2. Who do you think you are?
And because those tapes run deep, we begin to engineer our own smallness. We shrink ourselves to stay invisible—because visibility feels like a threat. We dim our light so no one will see just how “inadequate” we believe we are. And in doing so, we fail to shine.
Codependency and Dimming Our Own Lights
Sometimes, the reason we hide isn’t culture—it’s relationships.
Too many of us are caught in dynamics where one partner shines while the other fades into the background. It might be dressed up in the language of care or sacrifice, but the effect is the same: one person takes center stage, while the other erases themselves.
It could be a relationship with a narcissist, where one partner is expected to provide constant praise, attention, and emotional caretaking.
It could be a more obvious kind of abuse, where failing to meet someone else’s needs results in punishment, blame, or even violence.
It might even look noble—like staying small to “support” someone who is ill, unstable, or in need. But the underlying belief is this: there isn’t enough light to go around.
And so, we dim ourselves to make the other person shine.
We play down our accomplishments. We pretend we’re not that talented. We take the backseat in our own story. And we tell ourselves it’s virtuous.
But it’s not noble to disappear. It’s not compassionate to go dark.
We were meant to shine.
The Star Card and the Sacred Act of Sharing
The Star card in the Tarot is a card of healing—but it’s not just personal healing. It’s about reconnecting with the world by letting your own light flow into it.
In Tibetan Buddhism, there’s a teaching that each of us carries a radiant jewel inside. It may be buried under layers of dust or encased in stone, but it’s there—glimmering with our true nature. And our task in life is to uncover that jewel and offer it to the world.
That’s what the woman in The Star card is doing. She kneels beside the stream and pours out her water—not hoarding, not holding back. She gives freely to the land and to the flow of life itself.
She’s not asking for praise. She’s not trying to be impressive.
She’s just being who she is: a vessel of light.
And so are you.
You don’t shine for applause.
You don’t shine to prove anything.
You shine because it’s your nature.
And this world is thirsty for that kind of offering.
A Final Thought
You are not just a person. You are a sacred gift.
You are a hidden jewel.
You are starlight in human form.
Let yourself shine.
Just the Tarot 