By Dr. Laura Wilhelm, LauraWil Intercultural
Starry Venus is a multidisciplinary creator—musician, filmmaker, and visual artist—who blends organic sounds like handpans, piano, and strings with digital layers and ethereal vocals to create immersive, spiritual soundscapes. Her debut EP SOUL, released earlier this year, explores themes of empowerment, balance, and transformation through a unique fusion of New Age, ambient, and pop.
Beyond music, her award-winning short film Starborn and her visionary music videos—such as “Do You Feel It”—use cinematic storytelling to inspire self-discovery and spiritual awakening. Her work is deeply rooted in nature, feminine empowerment, and cosmic symbolism, making her a perfect fit for conversations around healing and holistic well-being. Insta: @starryvenus.world
Can you share what first drew you to blending music, film, and visual art into one creative practice?
The blending comes from the way I experience my everyday world, whether I’m in nature or a city or anywhere. It’s an experience of creation where there is no separation. When I create something musically or sonically, it’s extremely cinematic for me. Those visuals come in and each element is informing the other. It’s all connected to the moment of life that I’m in, which becomes a spiritual reckoning of sorts.
I connect very deeply to the way of the stars; there’s something mystical and magical about what that means to us as humans. My creations are a way to be in communication with that, and there’s no separation for me between the forms. I have an intention to keep my mind out of it and just create. Do the music, do the film, bring the art in, don’t let myself divide how it wants to connect. I love seeing how it all works together.
It’s ultimately a desire to explore how these different mediums are united and can echo and enhance each other. It’s an endless dialogue I want to continually be in and there’s always something to discover, which is reflective of how I choose to operate as a human being in the world. It’sa very proactive way of playing with creation.
Your work is deeply connected to nature and cosmic symbolism. Where do you find the most inspiration foryour creative process?
Well, I have this thing for Venus, and it’s not the Venus that we may all assume it is. Not just the star or a goddess or woman or the way she’s often portrayed in myth and reality. It’s a very deep core that I feel when I am in nature and in that cosmic connection. The muse of the Venusian reality and idealism, it’s very sensual. It’s in these moments when I’m feeling this connection to Venus very strongly, almost like a Mother of creation, her passion and desire and longing and beauty. It’s a constant communion and inspiration for me anywhere I go.
How has Arizona—the landscapes, the environment, the energy—shaped your artistry and vision?
The landscape gives a lot of space, it’s the desert here but it’s very alive and vibrant, especially this area of Sedona. There’s so much space, and that space becomes a mirror. There’s nowhere to hide, not a lot of distraction. It’s almost like this beautiful intense zero-point pallet. Every day, it’s like she’s saying, What have you got for me? What are you going to put in this space?
It’s a harsh environment sometimes, it requires truth and a willingness to meet it and answer, to give it something. I want that intensity to be a part of my work. It can be very introspective in terms of looking at the existential aspects of Why am I here, How are we connecting to each other? With this extreme landscape and all the space comes a desire to fill it. What are we going to fill the space with? I want to honor that and put something very intentional there.
Your debut EP SOUL carries strong themes of empowerment, balance, and transformation. What personal experiences inspired this work?
During these years of living in Sedona, I’ve had a lot of “dark nights of the soul,” often happening in relationships with people who I became close to. I also had an intense near-death experience. There have been many things that took me to the brink. Dealing with deep karmic imprints, themes of deception and betrayal, where I was giving away my power or allowing myself to be a victim. Finding my way through these personal events was very spiritual. When people say that living somewhere powerful like Sedona will challenge you, it’s no joke.
I had to realize that my power was in the transformation. I had to be strong despite being hurt or deceived, and realize at the seat of consciousness I have the power to transform those experiences. It’s a very potent place to create from, because it becomes a way of speaking to myself, and then hoping that we can help each other and not have to go so deep into that dark night. Or if you do go there, know that there’s support, and that support can often show up as music, art, film, a friend, a stranger or the divine.
You often blend organic instruments like handpan and piano with ethereal digital textures. How do you see sound itself acting as a healing force?
I see an opportunity to explore any kind of sound and create harmony with it. When one sound can create a harmonic resonance with another, then you’re creating a realm, a language and something new. It’s about finding moments of resonance that you might not normally put together. As a culture, we have an idea of what we think harmonies are. But there are so many subtle ways things can be harmonized, so many sub-layers, overtones, undertones.
The subtle field of sound is fascinating. When we explore it and activate what’s going harmonically in creation and become fearless in how to blend things and play, it’s like a program that can come into the conscious field as a healing force. What it heals is a whole other world, where different qualities of sound, music and resonances get dialed in. It’s infinite and one of the most direct way to heal, because it’s the core of what we’re really made of: frequencies and sound.
How would you like listeners to feel after experiencing your music?
I want listeners to feel activated in their own connection to whatever it is in their life that matters. I’m hoping that somehow the music can enhance that feeling of connection. I want people to feel like they have more space, more opportunity to be in resonance with something truthful from within or around them, and just to feel that. ideally that feeling filters into the love, goodness and desire to be in connection with an even greater love.
You describe your process as rooted in feminine empowerment and cosmic symbolism. Can you share how spirituality guides and informs your art?
I feel like spirituality isn’t separate from being alive. We breathe, we are spirit, therefore we are spiritual and beings of spirit. The art is the expression and the exploration of the spirituality and it’s a dialogue with the things that connect me to spirit. The art is communion with spirituality. It’s not so much that spirituality is informing art, it’s that the art is reminding me that everything is spiritual. If I’m making it and creating it and believing it, then I’m also living the life of spirit the way I feel is most relevant. It’s important that I constantly keep that connection.
Many of your projects invite people into self-discovery and awakening. What role has creativity played in your own healing journey?
My healing journey has shown me that the creation itself is worthy of allowing it and not judging it, but instead to be in a state of reception and willingness to listen. It’s taught me to also apply those ways of being to myself, not just the creation. There have been times in those dark nights that I’ve questioned if I’m worthy, but when I do that I’m squelching the creativity.
There have been unexpected positive receptions of my work. People have responded to Starborn in a humbling way, and I think, Who am I to set limits on something or judge something? Creativity has taught me that healing has been about allowing something pure and innocent to exist in any way it wants. I’ve been shown that if I had shut it down or said no, this whole world wouldn’t have happened that is worthy of being. To experience it directly through the creativity is very powerful healing. I appreciate becoming stronger because of that.
Do you see your music and films as a form of meditation or ritual for audiences?
Yes to meditation. There is a meditative aspect in the music and film. Not so much ritual, only because I don’t see it that way. I see it as very experiential and individual, like meditation. Everyone has a different experience, but there might be an overall theme. I’ve gotten feedback that there’s a trancelike aspect or a timelessness. Meditation transcends time and the mind, and I think the work does do that, and it’s an open field.
Your short film Starborn received recognition and acclaim. What story did you want to tell through that project, and how does it connect to your music?
I wanted to tell the story of a real time everyday goddess who has forgotten herself or lost faith and show a transformation through the realization of who she is. The story of her having been an angel that other people recognize, who she had been there for, saving them in critical moments. The people come and reflect that back to her. This becomes her renewal, her power to step into herself. In the film, you don’t really know where she’s from, there’s a fantastical element. Did she go through all that and fall, or was she already fallen?
She is the catalyst to show that we are angels for each other. It’s a cyclical story of seeing the wounding and the transformation, the reflections from others. There’s an unspoken story of choice around what wounds we’re carrying, whether we go back to them and how we triumph.
When I’m writing the music, these are the types of visuals I’m seeing. They come very strongly whenever I play music, even casually, and they stay with me.
In your music video “Do You Feel It,” cinematic storytelling plays a big role. How do visuals expand or amplify the spiritual messages in your songs?
I’m working a lot with color, light, form and casting people who can embody that energy visually. I’m looking for the perfect visual scene, committed to getting the right energy in each moment. I was intentional about what I did with Do You Feel It. It’s got a rough-around-the-edges feeling, at the same time being very cinematic. Similar to how a painter gets a certain texture, I wanted the dramatic images of the cave and these women being connected in this energetic power.
I’m wanting the edginess that is in the vocals to be there in the visuals as well as the beauty. I work the visuals similar to how I play the synthesizer, combining layers, narrative, images, and abstraction. Ultimately hoping that the visuals have an energy in them that speaks what the music is doing. I treat the visuals like music, with specific colors and ways the light works, plus bringing in the nature. The organic and synthetic working together, along with a state of play and allowance.
How do you balance being both behind the camera as a filmmaker and in front of the lens as a performing artist?
It’s not an easy balance. It’s about getting out of my head and staying true to the vision. I used to do performance art, so it’s easy for me to slip into that space, but when you’re also thinking about all the details of filming, it’s a lot to manage. At the same time, there’s a beauty to working that way and getting a deep authentic performance. What keeps it balanced is staying connected to the vision, the feeling and having a good crew. My production partner Kira Mele is there making sure all the details and important aspects are taken care of. It creates a comfort level and structure to have someone in the creative process being present so I can move back and forth fluidly. I like doing both because it can be playful and as a filmmaker it reminds me that I’m not separated from any part of the process.
You’ve built a multidisciplinary platform rooted in healing and transformation. What’s next for you creatively?
I’ve just released a dance remix of “Stars” (October 17) with Grammy Award-winning producer Kizzo. Making dance music has been a vision of mine for a long time. I love going out and dancing and being immersed in the music. It can be very healing to be free on dance floor, letting yourself loose. When I made the EP, I knew I would be creating these dance remixes, and “Stars” is the first one. It’s fun, uplifting, genre-bending and I hope it will connect with people who may not always listen to dance music.
I want to see people be happy and be in their hearts. I’ll be releasing visual work with it, as well as a cinematic music video, and am following up with more remixes. At the same time I’m developing a longer form film. In all of this, I’m focused on that feeling of heart and embodiment and expanding that forward personally and collectively.
What message or energy do you most want to share with the world at this stage in your journey?
It’s simple but… say yes. Say yes to the good things. Say yes to the little things. Say yes to the quiet voice inside that you might be used to doubting. And let it thrive. Let the smallest moment be the best and the brightest and biggest and realize that anything is possible in that sweet space. It’s a matter of saying yes and allowing it. The more we do that in ourselves and watch beauty and goodness and grace and healing and love come from that place, the more we’re creating a better world for each other and are more empowered to trust our destiny together. Say yes to love, to helping people, to believing in yourself. To anything that feels good. Ride that wave and make more.