Death

The name of the card puts a slight fear in us ... DEATH, the fear of inevitability. Why ?, perhaps we have been taught by religion, about notions such as sin, the devil and hell. But it was never a question of LIFE and death, it was always a question of BIRTH and death; life is eternal, only living is not. Birth is the appearance of yet another form of life, death is just the disappearance of a form of life, not the disappearance of life.

On the card people are kneeling before death, personified both by the dead father/king, and by the armoured skeleton. The mother even turns her head away, being afraid to look death in the eye. However the child is not yet scared, staring openly. The priest stands but holds his hands forward in an attitude of offering.

The mounted figure is not that scary; instead of the traditional reaper equipped with a scythe, this bringer of death carries a standard embroiled with a 5-petal flower. Four elements which is required for existence, and a fifth ether, grace or soul which links the world of matter with the world behind the veil.

On the picture it's either sunset or sunrise, and both is equally correct. With the death of something, comes the beginning of something.

More importantly than seeing this card as a physical death, is acknowledging that a process/phase has come to an end, and a new is about to begin.But to be allowed across the river seen below, and finally receiving the new, when passing between the two towers into the sunrise, everything has to be left behind, only then is the transformation complete.

Keywords: End and beginning, letting go, transcending, a new and fresh chapter.

©2017 Jan Kirk (text only)