Phantasmagoric Theater - Death

galadrial

I drew Death today; no big surprise considering that summer is over and my son is back to school. For me, that is a big transition:)

Graham's booklet says: A celebration is taking place across the stage. A new beginning is upon us. Death makes itself known, clearing the way for a new start. A feeling of freedom fills our spirit.
The time of role-playing is complete, great progress has been made. Death has no hold on harmful habits; he sets us free. Carrying his scythe, he clears the theater for a new start, until once again we are in control of ourselves and obstacles are removed. Death is not a destroyer; he carries both happiness and sorrow, and both masculine and feminine elements necessary for creation. The future is born from the breakdown of the past. Death is a resolution to our problems.

In spite of the skulls, the sloshing water and the tilted platforms, I find this a very positive looking card. The Sun is up and smiling benignly at this dark hour. The stars shine with hope. Whatever is being left behind or cut away seems to be causing a disturbance in the foreground- the present moment. But the tranquil backdrop seems to show that the near future, perhaps once one has attained the level, yellow platform and gained a broader view, is a landscape bright with promise (pinks) and potential growth (trees). I feel drawn to start walking between those trees (which remind me of the High Priestess and Moon pillars), on to what lies ahead, and leave the initial topsy-turvyness behind.
 

Maan

i am glad that you drew death today cause i just drawn justice and we already discussed that card.Thanks :*

I like this death card too. Its like the little sceleton really likes his job. dancing around the skulls in the sunlight.This card seems to say that you should enjoy change and celebrate it with a dance. And i LOVE to dance.

its like this sceleton is singing" yeah, were going to start fresh again, where going to start over"

Love
Maan
 

Melvis

When I see this card I think of "striking the set" after a theatrical production. In my hometown's little community theater, they saved as much as they could from each set, hoping to use it someday on another production.

But it was very cathartic, taking a stage from beautiful to completely bare.

Another card rediscovered, thanks to the Phantasmagoric!

Peace,

Melvis
:TSTRE
 

Xarokys

Wow, I really like the idea of walking up those tilted platforms to reach the tranquility in the back. It would be hard to keep your balance, especially if they're slippery from all that spilled water. The big yellow one kinda reminds me of a pedestal or a podium. I think the astrological sign of Scorpio is very appropriate for the Death card, as the Celtic New Year occurs while the sun is in Scorpio, the death of the old year and the birth of the new.

I noticed something that has me puzzled. The little jigsaw piece in the bottom right corner has its openings in the side closed up. That would make it impossible to use if it were real. I glanced at the other majors and this is the only one like that. I wonder if it's supposed to mean that something is closed off and has to be opened before the new beginning can happen. If so, what? A heart? A mind? A door?

And with the sides closed that that it sort of looks like a skull.

Becky
 

Little Baron

I found this 'Death' card to not fit with the others when I first got this deck and it still is a little 'seperated' from the pudgy, button-hole-eyed characters that frequent the rest of the cards. I think that if he/she had been named, then maybe I would have had more of a relationship with it, rather than the sometimes familiar 'skeleton' of 'death' cards in the tarot.

I see what you mean about the jigsaw piece, Becky. Maybe the closure of the piece means that there is no going back and we have to clear up and carry on.

The sun does offer hope and the trees are inviting. The pedistals/cylindrical stages remind me of the ones that the Fool used on his first journey. Maybe they remind us that we need to try and start a new again and remember how exciting that can be.

I am warming to this card now that I understand it a bit better. Maybe it would have been easier for me if it had been one of the other characters, rather than the skeleton that doesn't show much 'character' to me. I can imagine the 'Lunatic of Negativity' smashing up a theatre set and I can see that 'yellow blob' (havn't seen him in a bit), blobbing its way over a room and trashing it to peices to end a cycle.

Best wishes

Yaboot
 

darwinia

Dem Bones

I was struck by these palm trees and pink desert tropical hills. It's like a cartoon Las Vegas. The Ed Sullivan Sun points to Bones after introducing him to the crowd with a big send up.

I keep thinking "rattle dem bones," like people when they rattle your bones or try to upset you or tease you. Death is having a bit of fun with people doing his dinner show in Las Vegas on a parquet stage, complete with a high stepping dance down colourful platforms, waving his pink sickle like a stripper waves a boa constrictor.

He's now going to perform a soft shoe around those skulls, and on the lowest platform, what looks like an ocean wave. Catch the wave all you surfer dudes, you're in for the ride of your life.

Bonesy's gonna dance for you and you will be forever different, forever changed by the memory of his extravaganza in Vegas.
 

sashie

Phantasmagoric Theater - Death

Just received this deck in the mail, and Death is my daily draw.

I like him, and I shouldn’t. Death is supposed to mean a big, dramatic scary change… but this guy… he’s cute. He doesn’t have a robe on, so you can see how fragile he is. The happy sun on the dark background… this card isn’t intimidating at all. But maybe that’s the point.

Perhaps… the change need to happen so quickly that he forgot his robe backstage, he didn’t have time to put it on. Or he’s supposed to be very spooky, letting us wonder how he stands up without tendons.


Graham Cameron says; “A celebration is taking place across the stage. A new beginning is upon us. Death makes itself known, clearing the way for a new start. A feeling of freedom fills our spirit.
The time of role-playing is complete, great progress has been made. Death has no hold on harmful habits; he sets us free. Carrying his scythe, he clears the theater for a new start, until once again we are in control of ourselves and obstacles are removed. Death is not a destroyer; he carries both happiness and sorrow, and both masculine and feminine elements necessary for creation. The future is born from the breakdown of the past. Death is a resolution to our problems.”


He frightened me a bit, though... because he popped out on a day where I'm starting to get sick.