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Overview and common meanings of The Death Tarot Card

The Death card is about rebirth; of eliminating the dead weight of old habits that no longer serve us; of letting go of relationships that no longer fit into who we are; of releasing old belief systems that are keeping us from living our best life.  This is, to many, the scariest card in the Tarot deck.  People immediately think that they, or a loved one will die.  This is rarely the case.  This card is about the little deaths in our life that enable us to transition to newer and better things.  Try to let it happen and remember that swift change brings new beginnings.

Other names in alternating decks are Transformation, Transition, Liberation.

When you are transitioning to a new season of life, the people and situations that no longer fit you will fall away.

Mandy Hale

Common Meanings

The Death Tarot card, which almost always indicates the death of one thing so that another can begin, rarely comes as a true surprise.  You knew, even if you didn’t want to admit it to yourself that the thing, relationship, season of life, was over.  It is perfectly acceptable to mourn the ending of something, even as you are looking forward with great joy and eagerness to the beginning of something new. This is the card of endings and beginnings, often both at once; fast and deep transformation.  Rebirth is what it is all about.  It could mean that the place you are living no longer meets your needs and you need to find a new home.  It could indicate that new circumstances may offer an opportunity to relocate. The death card can speak to your current job situation – that change is coming there, and, like all change, it might be scary and feel unstable for a time.  It can also be the ending or a necessary time apart in a friendship or relationship.  Sometimes this is temporary, unless these have run their course and they no longer fit into the life you see for yourself going forward. Try to remember that it is natural and normal to grieve all endings, while keeping in mind that in every ending is a beginning, and that something better is waiting for you just over the horizon. 

The Many Faces of Death

The shadow side, or reversal of death is often the same as the upright meanings.  It can be an indication of fear of transformation, grieving loss, figurative deaths, sentimental attachments that outlive the reality of the situation.  This is one of those cards where both the upright and the reversal or shadow side tell you to embrace the change that is inevitable, but also that it is ok to grieve what you are leaving behind.  That knot of fear in your stomach while you are also deeply excited:  its perfectly natural and normal.

The Journey of Death in the Tarot

We are coming very close to the end of the second septenary, which as you will recall is about social and moral understandings, the separation of the ego and transformation of the Self toward spiritual equilibrium. This kind of true transformation can only truly take place when a death occurs – a death of who you were as you transform into who you are becoming. 

Description

A figure in black armor, face that of a skeleton, rides a white horse with glowing red eyes. A red feather wilts from the peak of his helm. The chest stall of the horse is decorated with skull and crossbones. In his left hand is a black standard bearing the image of a white flower and five ears of corn, or wheat.  There is a king lying dead beneath the hooves of his horse, his crown fallen to the ground, and his scepter lying next to him.  The land is barren, there is a tiny ship on the seas in the distance.  On the ground is a baby in blue, and a maiden in white, both kneeling in supplication.  At the head of the horse stands a pope, hands clasped in prayer, with dark shadows stretching out from him.  In the distance we see two towers, with the sun setting or rising between them. 

Themes of Death

• Transformation
• Endings
• Rebirth
• Transition
• Change
• New cycles
• Awakening
• End of an era
• Letting go

The Number 13

The number 13 brings the assessment, the agony, and the loss. It symbolizes the end to the issue or to the ego and alignment with the spiritual. 

Elements of the Death Card and Associated Symbolism

• The skeleton- what survives after life has left.
• The standard – black with a white rose, symbolizing renewal, and the corn or wheat, the harvest.  The message being that death takes his harvest of souls and leaves the grain, or the truth, behind. 
• Black Armor – black is about endings
• Pale horse – representative of the four horsemen of the apocalypse
• Wilted Red feather – life force ebbing
• Maiden looking away– fear of the death of innocence
• Child – innocence and unafraid
• Pope – Piety in the face of uncertainty; faith
• Dead king – death, or endings, does not spare those of high caste; like justice, it is blind to all.
• Ship – represents the ship carrying souls across the river Styx
• Two towers, or city gates – Traditionally, the dead were buried outside of the city.  The city gates can also be seen as the gates to heaven.  The symbolism here is about stepping outside of your own fortress and exposing yourself to the elements so that you can be born anew into whatever comes next.
• Sun rising or setting – the perpetual cycle of death and rebirth

Herbs for The Death Card

• Hawthorn – protection and openness
• Linden – calming heart tonic; protective, comforting, through times of grief
• Milky Oat tops – nourishment and calm.  Helps overcome feelings of being overwhelmed and out of control when life is throwing transformation at you fast and hard.
• Mimosa – Sadness, loss, heartache, grief. 
• Sage – wisdom; esteem; resolving spiritual issues; to feel more linked with day-to-day existence, i.e., grasping and allowing reality to be what it is, rather than what we wish it were.

Questions that the Death Tarot card asks us

• What in my life needs to “die” in order for me to live my very best life?
• What areas of my life that I once thought long dead, are experiencing a rebirth?

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Thank you for reading.  Wishing you a week in which you accept with grace the endings that are taking place in your life and look eagerly to the new beginnings that spring from every ending. It Please leave comments or ask questions, and join me next week for Temperance!