So excited for today’s episode on the death card. It is one of the more well know cards in the Tarot. Even people who have never held a tarot deck know there is a death card to be found within.
Movies and pop culture have a lot to say about the death card.
How foreboding it is and why it should strike fear in your heart….
To me, it is not the scariest card in the Tarot by far. (I’ll tell you the card that makes me most nervous when we get to it) The big theme on the death card is not death at all.Well not in the literal sense.
This card speaks to us of:
- transitions
- of letting go
- releasing what no longer serves us
- the natural process of renewal
Yes…. decay and death are part of renewal.
That is because we cannot have endless and continual growth. Nature works in cycles and seasons, so do we.
When the Death Card is in our Tarot Spreads
It is highlighting the need to let go, showing us that we are at a crossroads, a place we need to grow through and transform through.
It’s a card with lots of big feels
and quite a bit of cultural baggage to unpack.
In the dominant cultures of North America (I can only teach through the lens of the world I see) there is a lacking of ritual about death.
We struggle with processing our feelings in times of change. We put timelines and rules on our grief. There seems to be a disconnection, a fear. We have with letting go ….. and it wraps itself around this card.
Let’s challenge ourselves to look deeper, to look for the rays of hope and the signs of renewal.
The artwork on the death card typically shows symbols of birth or hope along with images of destruction. There is a balance within the card between these opposing forces. (you will see all this lovely imagery in the Death Card video on my Youtube page)
The Death Card is the Peak of a Transformation
Its a Big Feels Card
When the Death Card appears in a spread, big things are happening for your client. The decisions they are facing and the energies swirling around them feel life altering, sometimes desperate and always BIG
The position of the card will let you know the timing…. is this time of change coming to your client or are they are just moving out of the release part of the change and into the renewal process.
Because the card is about the cycle of release and renewal, it can appear whenever big shifts are needed or happening.
It can point to needing to shift and change our ideas or our lives
- expanding our careers
- taking on new responsibilities in any area of our life
- letting go our old beliefs that hold us back
- releasing old habits we have outgrown
- doing the self-work it takes to deepen our relationships
- letting go of unrealistic ideals
There is grief and often resistance to the process of letting go that is required when the Death card appears. It is a big emotional time. It is still a natural process, it is often a gradual and welcome change. Once we actually face the situation and feel the feelings around it.
The Death card honours the cycles of life so the next step after the release will be easy to see.
Once we are feeling it all and working with the energy of Death, the fog of fear lifts and we can see hope.
- The Llewelyn Tarot – by Anna-Marie Ferguson
- Legacy of the Devine Tarot – by Ciro Marchetti
- Deviant Moon Tarot – by Patrick Valenza
- Steampunk Tarot – by Barbara Moore art by Aly Fell
pssstt: I can earn commissions from some of the services and products on this page
Jodi Anne 
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