Tarot: DEATH

Transformation of Childhood Imprints, Liberation, Future, Renewal, Crisis, Essentialization, Relief, and Clarity

What you see:

The Arcanum number XIII shows a figure in black armor riding into the picture from the left on a white horse. She uses her right hand to rein in her horse with its fiery, glowing red eyes. In her left hand she is carrying a black banner on which a white, five-petaled rose is blooming. The rider has flipped up his visor and reveals his bare skull. It is death itself.

Dead people line his path. A king lies prostrate on the ground beneath the horse's hooves, a boy and a girl are sinking straight to the ground, while a bishop in golden regalia is still begging for mercy. But his crosier, which is already lying on the ground, shows that the process is irreversible. In the background we see a waterfall flowing into a river on which a ship is sailing. Behind it, there are two towers, between which the sun is rising on the horizon.

In the oldest Tarot we know - the Tarot de Marseille (left) - the Arcanum number XIII has no name. In later variations, such as the Rider Waite Tarot (right) which I am mainly referring to in this Blog it is labelled as “Death”.

What you get:

Let's be honest, my dear: Death is definitely one of those cards that makes us think: “Oh let’s reshuffle.” The sight of it can give us a queasy feeling or even scare us a little: “Is this the end?” No, that's a big misunderstanding. This card is not about your end. In fact, in the Tarot Death is the card that, more than any other, leads you into the FUTURE and into the CORE of your LIFE.

The sight of the Death card is really honouring the fact that you have made it to the threshold of the New! Your previous decisions have led you to an important point in your question or process. This card indicates that it is now time to free yourself from restrictive ideas and to blossom from your inner truth.

This sounds already better, doesn't it? So, let's take the horror out of death and understand this powerful arcanum a little better...

To do this, we should take a closer look at who or what is actually dying or passing away on this card. In the Tarot de Marseille, the oldest tarot deck we know, a male and female head lie at the feet of Death, symbolizing the archetypes of king and queen, mother and father. In the Rider Waite Tarot, there is also a king, a bishop and two children.

Outgrow your inner Authorities!

What these symbols mean is this: What may now pass away are the inner authorities to which you still bow in childlike ways. Death does away with the age-old beliefs, dogmas, rules, and supposedly irrefutable truths that family, tradition, society, school, state, religion etc. have instilled in us and which - especially when they remain unconscious - are extremely active within us.

Here are a few samples: “Only the strong survive.” “Feelings are a private matter.” “Art won’t pay the bills.” “Half a loaf is better than no bread.” “Boys don't cry.” “A silent woman is a gift from God.”

Precisely because we consider these and other sentences to be “normal” and have learned them unconsciously at an early age, they act as fixed ideas and implicit taboos that actively control our actions and behavior. They draw the narrow boundaries of what is conceivable and even imaginable for us. We will only notice them when we touch or want to cross these limitations and suddenly feel highly threatened in our basic need for love and belonging.

This is a moment that feels existential. We may believe: “If I say / do / admit / show / or end this now, I'll be in deep trouble. I will be abandoned. I'll lose partners / friends / followers / colleagues ... I won't be able to show my face here anymore.” 

The Conditions of Love...

Death therefore has a social and deep psychological component. After all, being excluded from our so-called primary group - our family of origin - is tantamount to a death sentence for us as children. In this early and very dependent phase of our lives, we simply cannot allow ourselves to break the unwritten rules of our clan. Instead, in order to secure the love and care that is essential for our survival, we adapt and adjust in ways that can later prevent us from leading the life that is truly meant for us. We sacrifice parts of our identity and life energy and bury the gifts, resources, and character traits that seem unacceptable to us in the so-called “shadow” of our psyche.

Death is here to confront you with the conditions of love that bind you and prevent you from acting maturely, self-effectively and in alignment with your core. It does not come to destroy you, but on the contrary, to awaken your life force and liberate the meaningful parts of yourself that you have relegated to the shadows.

The pale rider has opened his visor so that you can clearly see the ephemerality of your core beliefs:

“This is over. You are no longer a child. This truth, this idea, this limitation, and behavior belong to the past. They died long ago and yet they still prevent you from living. What you consider forbidden and unacceptable is the area in your life where you can finally grow and break free.”

So in this respect, something does actually die. But it’s not the thing you love or want, but the unconscious conditions and obsessions that prevent the powerful and effortless unfolding of your life energy.

It may seem surprising, but this truly is a match made in Heaven: The Major Arcana III and XIII are deeply connected. Together, Empress and Death embrace the cycle of Life.

Shed your past to reclaim your Future...

The tarot card is also so impressive because Death - at least in the Rider Waite Tarot - rides in in the classic and very powerful pose of the Conqueror in Triumph. His direction of movement is from left to right, which art history interprets as a movement from the past into the FUTURE. A five-petalled rose blooms on his banner, a symbol of Venus that connects Death with its partner, the Empress. The Empress is the arcanum that embodies your values, abundance, sovereignty, love, and vitality like no other. Like the winter and summer solstices, the major arcana numbers III (Empress) and XIII (Death) embrace the whole cycle of life. Together they hold the space for what we call the autonomous pulse in body-oriented psychotherapy: The movement of life between contraction and expansion, ebb and flow, full and empty, introversion and extraversion.

Determination and Commitment

To be able to embody and follow this pulse, we need something that Death directly illustrates with its skeleton-body: Substance, backbone, structure, in other words, a strong and lasting awareness of our Essence. This is why the arcanum number XIII so often appears in times when we feel a little lost or are pursuing things that don't really suit us.

In the abundance of possibilities and options, the arcanum helps you to recognize again what you are and what you are not. As we try to stay open to everything, we run the risk of missing the point of our own life. Death reminds you that you are not a jukebox. Tune into your own melody, again.

Personally, the rather unconventional dream couple of Empress and Death always brings back memories of my time as a gardener in the mountains. It was there that I really understood the connection between Life and Death, cultivation and selection: The number of plants that I sowed and nurtured is small compared to the countless plants that I weeded, uprooted, sawed, and cut up. We didn't create paradise by waving seed bags, fertilizer, and watering cans like some plant-loving fairies. In Life as in the Garden, growth happens on its own. The gardener's tools are knives, scissors, hoes, spades, scythes, blades, and saws, ...

To ensure that your life doesn't just run riot, but grows, blossoms and flourishes in lasting ways, you need to get aware of the things that are essential for you and take committed and consistent steps to meet them. Indeed, that may sound very grown-up, radical. ... perhaps almost a little death-defying...  : )

So, wake up, my dear! Recognize what you really are and love, and make space for your future!

I promise, Death is on your side!

Yours, INSA