Stars/Starstones

Many of our temples feature decorative starstones or star images on the exterior of the buildings; the stars are variegated, portraying five-, six-, eight-, ten-, or even thirty-two-pointed stars. The stars may be located in the temple’s cornerstone, walkway, wrought-iron fences, entrance doors, entryway, exterior temple walls, stained-glass windows, steeple glass, or glass doors.

Glass-etched series of eight-pointed stars, San Diego Temple.

Star images on steeple, Portland Temple.

Glass-window star image facing starstone (upper), Nauvoo Illinois Temple.

The stars depicted on temples may possibly represent a few things: (1) Stars may symbolize people. “The morning stars” of Job were eminent persons (Job 38:7; see also 1 Ne. 1:9–10; D&C 128:23), with morning stars denoting spheres whose light continues for a period lengthier than the remaining stars of heaven. (2) Of all the stars, Jesus Christ is the preeminent and the greatest, “the bright and morning star” (Rev. 22:16). He is also the “Star out of Jacob” (Num. 24:17). (3) Beyond the symbolism of people, the brightness of the light of the stars has been compared to the glory that will exist in the telestial kingdom (see 1 Cor. 15:40–41; D&C 76:98). By way of contrast, the light of the sun is comparable to the glory of the celestial kingdom.

Just as the North Star has helped travelers for millennia to orient themselves during their journeys, temples assist us as we journey through mortality and back to Heavenly Father’s presence. And the North Star symbol reminds us of that journey.

President Gordon B. Hinckley likened the North Star to Jesus Christ: “Like the polar star in the heavens, regardless of what the future holds, there stands the Redeemer of the world, the Son of God, certain and sure as the anchor of our immortal lives. He is the rock of our salvation, our strength, our comfort, the very focus of our faith.”287