Part One - The Major Arcana - 13

[dreamfairy]

Thanks for your feedback. Gem. Much appreciated.

Dreamfairy

[weezerwall]

The Death Card!

Number 13.

This must be the most frequently misinterpreted card. From the RW picture its probably easy to see why? But.. there is movement, there is the horse, and there are lots of clues, what do you see and feel from this card?

 My mind "knows" that this card's message is basically "positive", but it still gives me the shivers! I guess it's because I've been socialized to be nervous when I see a skeleton.  The motionless "corpse" under the horse's hooves, the little boy who doesn't seem to realize what's going on, the little girl seemingly in a trance - even "the bishop" seems to be "pleading"!  

There are some "comforting" symbols that keep my knees from knocking together:  the pink saddle that death is riding.  I learned somewhere that pink is often associated with love, affection and compassion. Yes, movement - a journey is indicated - the white horse - being accompanied or carried by white light. (This feels protective and safe).  Hopefully the journey will look like this:  we cross the sea and end up in the land between the 2 pillars where the sun is shining brilliantly?  Finally, the white flower stemming out of the black background on the flag means for me that what dies gives birth to something new - or what happens to us as we emerge from dark tunnel of the unknown.  :)

This card is "easier" to take if I  view it as a PROCESS - then I can feel the energy of "transformation"  and "re-birth".  Endings become beginnings and vice versa.

Although nothing is carved in stone, I also think this card may say something about accepting the things that we cannot change in a particular instant - or reversed - our refusal to accept the opportunity that change or transformation may bring.  (whew!!) This is such a powerful card!!

Warmest,
Weezer

[infinitii525]

The Death card shows me changing with or without your acceptance. Optimism and faith will see you through on you travel. ending of an era. I feel good about this card but nervous about the change. I have been pulling this card alot.

[pamDemonium]

I don't like this card. I don't like the picture of the skeleton and  the number 13 has traditionally been 'unlucky'.  Also as a typical Libran, I do not like change.

 


I first took a real interest in tarot a few  yrs ago. I had had a reading.  I didn't know a whole lot about the cards then but everyone knows the dreaded 'death card'. I couldnt ignore it cos it was facing me (therefore reversed).. The clairvoyant asked me if I knew a woman who was sick. I didn't.  

Anyhow some weeks later, my mum had complained of headaches, was diagnosed with a tumour on the brain.  They didn't get it all in the first op and so another op was required. she went into a coma and didnt come out.  She was in and out of hospital for six months before she died.  Now the second most important person (besides my kids) had died. (my husb dying just 2 yrs prior)

I certainly didn't write the above to evoke sympathy. It's six yrs since my mum died, 8 since husb.  I feel pretty happy with my independant life now. AND I feel soooooo lucky to have not one, not two, not three but FOUR gorgeous boys who all adore me.

Anyway getting back to the card, you may now understand if I say I feel nervous about it.  MY card does show bright colour tho.  There is a pink wall behind the skeleton......what can be sinister about pink? And the semicircle behind the skeleton's head (almost like a halo) show contrasting colours; indicating change, or  perhaps coming out of the darkness into the light. The grass is sprouting indicating new life.

[SandiLJ]

I,see that a persons life is full of changes some for good and some not so good but one thing is so important is your life is constiantly changing for even in death we just change houses our earthly bodies will not last forever neither dose anything else. SandiLJ

[littleone22]

Death shows a great change is on the way although at the time the change may feel negative, the shining sun in the background lets you know it will turn out for the best! The white horse symbolises peace and is an angelic white!  love littleone22

[grmrsan]

Forest-
Here Death isn't a skeleton, just a man with a weird look on his face. He's wearing the black robe and carrying the scythe. He does have the addition of a snake on his other arm. I guess the white horse would be transpoting you from this life to the next. He's white for rebirth. The snake is usually about temptation, but maybe here it is more about fear, especialy of things we don't understand. It also sheds it's skin and grows a new one regularly, this is something that has do be done regularly, otherwise it can't grow. The scythe is a pretty obvious symol of the harvest and the regrowth cycle. Death may the end of one thing, but it's just a phase, which we will pass through to begin a new life and start the cycle over again.


Dragon-

I like this one better, the black dragon sheds it's skin to start fresh and pure with a new one. This card focuses more on the growth that follows rather than on the ending itself.  According to the book, his head is lifted in a cry of victory for his transformation and new birth, but to me it looks like he's screaming in pain. I think starting all over IS painful, endings and loss HURT . Thats ok, it's normal, and you need to acknowledge the pain so that you can heal and move on to the next phase. Thats what this card is really about, acknowledging the pain and loss, and accepting them in order to grow.

[Cheyenne]

An ending of a process that is inevitable. This ending could either be good or bad. Change. Ending. It could signify a transformation of a project. Or a transformation of oneself. However in the back it seems that the sun is rising. So that could indicate that it’s not necessarily a bad card. It’s just how you look at it.

[BLouise]

This card suggests to me the end of life as I know it.  I am soothed by the images of a flower and a white horse as well as the flowing scarves.  It feels to me as though I am being ushered to the next level of my existence.  A new life, closing the door and leaving behind the old one.

[arianna]

I have no fear of this card and find it invigorating because it is a new beginning - time for life altering change a complete transformation

[Sabra]

The Death Card!

Number 13.

This must be the most frequently misinterpreted card. From the RW picture its probably easy to see why? But.. there is movement, there is the horse, and there are lots of clues, what do you see and feel from this card?

This card is all about change, which is positive.  It also about change that can be very painful, which could be interpreted as negative, but it helps knowing that after the dust settles we can settle into new doors that have been opened and are welcoming us.  Like getting laid off or divorce, then finding the job or person of our dreams.

In the Thoth deck, the Death figure is wearing the helmet of Osiris.  I'm still exploring this, but in the mythology Osiris was murdered by his brother, then resurrected and reassembled by Isis

[winniewoo]

Life cycles. Major change. The closing of one chapter on your life to start a new one. You can not live in the past. Giving up the past to journey toward the future. Off with the old and on with the new.

[pirbid]

"Here I am, and it's no use trying to bribe me, persuade me or buy me. Everything must come to an end sooner or later and I am only doing my job, here, so move on and let me get on with it".

This card certainly seems to get strong reactions, specially among those querents not initiated in Tarot (all they want to see is the ace of pentacles and the two of cups, usually). I agree one has to be very careful when explaining this card to someone not familiar with its meanings (in fact, I have a strong feeling that some people should never go for a reading because of the way they regard Tarot as an all powerful and unchanging magic guide).

Death is powerful and striking, specially for those of us raised in a society that makes a taboo out of such a natural thing. But it is also beautiful: Death comes as a Knight on a pure white steed and it could well act as our rescuer from certain stagnant situations.

Still, even though actual death is one possible kind of ending, I usually see it as a necessary end to a situation. In fact, I find it more worrying when I get it upside down because it can point at our desperate struggle not to let go of something that is already dead or useless to us. In the case of Dreamfairy's father, I'm sure he would have picked this card upside down very often because of his fears. And, as she said, this way of dealing with life can be very constraining for ourselves and others, and not very healthy.



Scapini's is quite a merry dancing fella, as if beheadings were something to be proud of. Still, I find it quite cheerful, in its way.

Robin Wood's has powerful colors linking it to raw power and purity. Death is a very fair thing, happening to all sooner or later, even if we never see it that way when it happens near us.

Ancestral Path's is more enigmatic but also more natural. I like the way the child plays with the skull, uninhibited by moral rules or education. Would we all accept it as a natural thing if we had not been taught against it?

[glenellen]

DEATH....stright to the point someone at there lowest ebb, sorrow, pain, loss but light at the end of the tunnel someone there to help you but not the person you expect

[windspirits]

I feel that the Death card can be a very powerful card to read.  To me it does not mean that someone is going to die in the physical sence.  Perhaps it is the death of a situation, emotion or desire.  It is certainly the end of something, but could be the beginning of something new and wonderful.  Everything has a birth and a death.  Plants, insects, animals, humans, water every element in the universe.  If you look at the faces in this card you will see smiles on almost all the faces including the Death Keeper himself.  Sometimes it's a pleasure to have a death of something, because it brings new life, a new outlook, a new attitude, a positive feeling.  We ourselves are reborn and begin this cycle over again, putting into play the lessons we have learned from the past.