During the time of the Hanged Man, the Fool drops into the deepest recesses of a mind turned upside down. They find the very center of stillness and pass through a point of no return. Naturally this gives rise to death or dissolution, a complete shedding of an old way of being and entering the unknown of the Death card. On Campbell’s map of the Hero’s journey, death sits at the bottom half of the circle where the hero must cross through the threshold of death, initiation into rebirth. Similarly, this card sits halfway through the major arcana journey and thus symbolizes not an ending but a transformation. Appropriately numbered at thirteen, a number long associated with darkness, mystery, and bad luck, in truth this number corresponds to the number of moon cycles found in a year. The mysteries of Death have historically been linked to the deep, dark, feminine cycles of time, sex, birth, menarche, menses, menopause, decay, dying, illness, and death.
The Death card is the great unknown, the void, the inevitable turning of one cycle to another. The tarot is well known for this card and the fear it evokes in people who are receiving a reading. The Death card appearing and indicating an actual death is quite rare, although not impossible. Although this has happened in my readings a few times, I would consider predicting this for people unethical and fear-producing especially since the Death card usually indicates a smaller kind of death in the form of a transformation, loss, letting go, closing, an ending, or moving from one phase into another.
Death is card number thirteen, associated with the traditional thirteen-moon calendar of a year, as thirteen moon cycles is the amount of time it takes the earth to completely travel around the sun. This calendar has been used by ancient cultures all over the world until the rise of patriarchy and suppression of indigenous or folk ways. That time marked a switch into a more solar culture in which the twelve-month calendar was created, dismissing the thirteen months long associated with the Goddess, the feminine, and the mysteries. In the number 13, the one joins the Magician and intent with the number three, the energy of the Empress—creative regeneration and feminine birth, which is naturally linked to death in its opposing transitional power.
Death is a powerful mystery! It is the gateway to the unseen world of spirits, the afterlife, the grand cosmic adventure that stands, like birth, as a portal between this world and the others. Healers are known to face their own death during initiations. In some ways every loss we go through in life is a preparation for our eventual death. As explored in the High Priestess chapter, Inanna, the ancient goddess of Sumeria and queen of heaven famously descended into the underworld to meet her dark sister, Ereshkigal. When Inanna arrives in the dark chamber, stripped of all of her clothing, jewels, pride and ego, Ereshkigal hangs her from a hook where she dies for three days symbolizing the three days of the new moon. Meanwhile, Inanna’s beloved servant still in the lands above calls to Father Enki, god of water and life to rescue Inanna. He does so by fashioning small genderless beings who fly down to Ereshkigal and see her moaning and writhing in pain. Instead of mocking her, they simply witness her suffering and mirror it back to her. Moved by this, she frees Inanna and restores her life (Perera, 1981). This story is one of the most ancient surviving stories speaking of initiation, death and rebirth, the sacred feminine and the power of healing through witnessing pain. All of these elements may arise in a death process and looked at closely when the card arises in a reading.
I encountered my own death journey when I lost a baby daughter soon after birth. I recall that long, lusterless terrain of grief, navigating insomnia and a heavy heart for a year and a day, leaving the ashes of my child in all the great waters of the world. Death reminds us to honor our ancestors, those who have gone before us and whom we carry imprinted in our DNA and our blood as well as our skills, our gifts, our pain and trauma. Ancestral lineages often hold intensely painful pasts and we have an opportunity to honor, heal, and release by clearing ancestral trauma through cleansing and forgiveness rituals and respecting our ancestors. When this card appears in a reading, you may refer to the Ancestral Fire ceremony in the Hierophant chapter to work with healing ancestral lines.
In the Waite-Smith imagery, we see a skeleton in black armor riding a white horse offering a black flag with a white flower. This symbolizes both the stark certainty of death as well as the peaceful nature of its arrival. Below Death lies the person who has recently died, a young child who looks up unabashedly, a youth who is turned away, and a religious figure emotionally offering their hands. These varied figures symbolize the many reactions to death. Some are at peace with the passing of a loved one, others feel intense pain or sorrow, others are in denial. Often mourning is a mixture of all of these feelings. In the background are the two gray gates found in the Moon card, indicating deep feelings receding. While the Moon brings up processes to deal with, Death is the release of those processes and the end of an era or period in our lives; it is a dissolution, a final letting go. The sun sets, or perhaps rises, symbolizing the beauty of endings and the possibility of rebirth to follow.
In the Crowley deck, a black skeleton wields a scythe across the card in an active relinquishing of the connected webs. The skeleton is cutting the cords and releasing transparent images symbolizing the spirit leaving the body and moving on to the next phase. Surrounding the skeleton are classic images of death and transformation: a snake, scorpion, and upside down datura flower. These symbols invoke a sense of power and mystery in the process of transformation that indubitably arrives with the Death card. We have the opportunity to touch into the great unknown and perhaps, while still here, bring back some wisdom to share with others.
When Death appears in a reading, there is simply no argument or anything left to process. Something is clearly ending and a powerful transformation is upon us. Often this transformation has been clear in our lives for some time and just as dead leaves simply fall to the ground, so does our own shedding of emotional issues, relationships, jobs, or places we have lived. This card will strongly affect other cards in the reading, showing that the qualities and energies moving through are at a powerful transitional time. The Death card may also indicate a fear of death, suicidal ideation, anxiety, or alternatively a time of embracing death, an initiation or a time to move willingly into the paradox of death mysteries. These are not unrelated, and the more we can sit with the truth of Death the more we can embrace life.
Essential Qualities: transformation, release, shedding, opening, mystery, unknown, letting go, magic, curiosity, endings, closure
Suggestions: Visit your local cemetery and sit on the ground, contemplating the bones beneath you. Offer a prayer of remembrance for your ancestral line and those who have put in the time of human life and all its joys and suffering. Contemplate your own death as a powerful way to remember that life is not so long after all and we can make choices of power, love, and wisdom in every moment. If we were to die tomorrow, what might we say, do, or choose differently today? If we knew we had a year to live, what would we seek out from our heart?
Visualization with the Death Card
Pull out the Death card and place it in front of you. It is often very difficult for us to imagine or accept our own death in a real way that is not conceptual. The attachment to self is strongly rooted in our way of being, and even if we have thoughts or ideas of suicide or leaving earth or don’t feel at home, how many of us truly reflect on what may happen to us after death? Do we believe in an afterlife? What is the sense of being connected to our ancestors or those who have died? Do we believe our consciousness will continue? Do we believe in rebirth and reincarnation? Considering these thoughts may offer a different perspective on our everyday life. Contemplating death is a helpful way to bring more vividness and gratitude into your daily experience.
I work with hospice and often spend time sitting with people passing away. Many people die alone, and I wonder at the dissolving story of their lives, who they knew, what they experienced. Although difficult to face, these realities are happening all the time and perhaps may bring more connection to those around us whom we love.
Light a candle and sit with the Death card for fifteen or twenty minutes. Imagine you are gone from your life and everything going on after you leave. Your children, friends, and beloveds are still on earth living their lives. What might they miss about you? What are you leaving behind? Do you have gifts you still wish to offer before it is time to leave? Journal these thoughts and ideas and discover more about your own relationship and association with death and dying.
Death Card Layout: Reflections on Transition
This layout is used to reflect on what is passing away from your life, to make room for what is yet to come. This particular format is helpful to use when something is clearly ending in your life, such as a breakup, leaving a job, or moving to a new place. The cards are used to help support the necessary transitional process.
• Card 1: Past: what is influencing the current transition
• Card 2: Present transformative process
• Card 3: Ground: what is helping to support the process
• Card 4: Unseen: help or guidance that may not necessarily be apparent
• Card 5: Outcome