The Death Card in operation.

Last Thursday I sketched a skeleton on canvas for my Death card painting. Within less that an hour I had fallen and partially cracked my ankle bone (skeleton) and torn tendons (holding things together). My family began arguing over the scattering of my Dad's cremains (skeleton bits) and the family has split in two - death of relationships and transformation of family structure.

How's them apples for the Death Card making itself felt in one's daily life?

Needless to say, I haven't been able to do any more work on the painting as yet. I'm not plastered (one would hope not at ten to 6AM on a Monday morning - huh humour!). As soon as I can, I will continue with the painting .... one can only wonder what will happen then.

mythos

Hmm, maybe I am a little too skeptical here but personally I wouldn't portrait this to the death card perse. That is; if you're talking about it portraying your nasty accident. If I'd have to pick a major card to portrait your ill fortune it would definitely be the tower instead of death. Then again, I do see what you're getting at but I can't help think this to be a very unfortunate coincidence.

I do wish you all the best with your recovery and even though I can't really comment on the whole situation since I haven't lived it I do want to stress out that I don't think you should reflect this solely on the card and as such stop working on it. Don't forget that a lot of things happening around us can become real because we make it real. Sometimes even without realizing it.

Some people are vulnerable to superstition. Maybe we all are in varying degrees. Religious practice often sounds more like superstition than a true spiritual understanding of God. I do not see this as predictive when you chose the subject for art. Some events transpired that were tied to the symbolism in the imagery. This is more like a subconscious manifestation. We certainly have influence on our environment including effects on other people and attracting events into the lives around us.

Quick, start painting the "transformation" elements! A rose, maybe, in Skeletor's teeth???

Hope your ankle feels better soon...

It definitely happens sometimes, in art, and in spiritual practise (I occasionally have a hard time telling them apart).

Hold off on the Tower when you do! Do up a nice 6 Cups next, or the like.

It's really weird the way that happens sometimes. But it's happened to me (I don't paint, I write), and I've seen it happen to a lot of other artists too.

And get better soon!

I am not negating what you wrote Mythos.

But long before my Tarot days, I realized that if someone important in your life passes on, you get sick with something. I saw it in my Mother when my Dad died and in one sister.

I won't go on with examples but it has happened quite a few times. I believe it to be true anyway.

You did injure the skeleton of your body in having a traumatic accident
and you were painting the skeleton. So that is eerie indeed.

I hope and trust you will feel better soon. At least this is something that will heal even if long. Love Memries

Gee thanks guys. I am not, and never have been superstitious. I have, in fact, been sick for a number of months since my Dad died ... I understand that process only too well. It is about the relationship between highly emotionally/psychologically stressful events and health. See Hans Selye's work as an example of the relationship between stress and illness.

Insofar as coincidence is concerned, what about 'meaningful coincidences' i.e. synchronicity a la Jung? Not all coincidences are meaningful of course ... but Jung never suggested that they were, nor do I.

And, I had no expectations of any particular difficulties associated with painting this figure except the technical ones associated with painting it, and a curiosity evoked from past experience of painting cards, and how they often show themselves as mirrors of our lives. I am not painting Fool to the World card, but intuitively chose my next canvas as it arises into consciousness. When I painted the Tower card, my father fell, hit his head, and had a brain haemorrhage.

I am not saying that the card 'causes' anything ... this would be utter foolishness, and a fool I am not.

Nonetheless, I see no reason why such timely experiences cannot extend our meaning of a card. After all, theory should be altered to fit people's experiences, rather than people being altered to fit theory. That is why, in a nutshell, I chose not to accept a Master's Degree placement offered to me in 'adjustment' psychology. I am not a one-size-fits-all kind of person ... and refuse to force a 'fit' between an individual or group, and some theory of socially-constructed reality. I will never see tarot as a one-size-fits-all and completely timeless process. One only has to study the history of tarot, or collect a few hundred decks from very old to very new to see how much change has occurred in meanings attributed decks, and their expression as an art form. Tarot is a reflection of us and of the zeitgeist.

mythos

We do pull in events and experiences. You may have a particular knack for tying events in with your artwork.

When my mother died I felt her around me so intensely. I was closer to her when she died than when she was alive. She was happy with her newfound access to the spiritual realm. She had wanted a closer spiritual awareness when alive. I did not get sick however.

When my sister died I had mourned her death for an entire year prior. She had become so cruel and bitter that I was better off distancing myself from her even though I wanted to be with her. I was more depressed than ill in her case but in the misery I considered suicide as a worthy option.

I suspect illness around the death of a close loved one is just one common enough event yet it may not effect even a significantly large percentage of people this way.

Edited for humor.

This experience is not a blip on the screen of my Tower experiences. I'll try again.

1. Painting canvas of Death card as a skeleton.
2. My father recently died.
3. My family has 'died' - ended as a unit, as a result of disagreement over the scattering of my father's skeletal remains.
4. I broke my ankle (skeleton).
5. I paint tarot canvases (and other symbolist paintings) as I am 'called' to. I was/am 'called' to paint Death as a skeleton (not my original thoughts on it at all).

I have no fear of death, having done it once this lifetime and been extremely peeved that I was pulled back into the fleshly world. I have no fear of Tower experiences. I welcome them, and find them uniquely insightful. I handle crises exceptionally well and, in fact, was in my social work practice, the head of the crisis intervention team. I find routine and boredom problematic though.

There is nothing sudden about the splitting of my extraordinarily dysfunctional family. It is merely an end and a transformation.

This is not, and I repeat, not a Tower experience ... this is about death and it's expression through the symbol of the skeleton.

Take it or leave it, but don't reinterpret it or diminish or minimise it.

Goodbye everybody ... another 'end' is now occurring.

mythos