meanings of the Death card

SunChariot

I'm thinking I really need to revise my meaning of the Death card. I have so far been using it just to mean that something is (or is going to) end, so that something better can come to take it's place. I always have the two parts to it. But lately my method has been getting to be a bit of a bore for me, in the sense that whenever it comes up I find I need to pull two extra cards to see a) what it is that is ending and b) what it is that will come take it's place (that's better). Getting to be too much work. I need a better meaning for the card

I'd love to hear suggestions on what the Death card means to you. Never mind physical death as I know it can at times mean that, but besides that does anyone have some good ideas for me?

Thanks :heart:

Babs
 

caridwen

Ideas for Death:

Death is a necessary and inevitable part of life.

Death is not always positive or welcome.

Death means the irretrievable end of something.

When one thing ends another starts.

Death is unpredictable.

Just some ideas to throw into the pot:)
 

Adriana

In the Connolly deck this card is called Transition, which I feel is a better word. You go from one thing to something else, but it's not the same thing. You have two people that are friends, then they become lovers. Or you have two people that are lovers that become friends. But the changes are often deep ones, things wont be the same. I also often pick explanatory cards to know what it goes from and what it goes to.
Often this change may cos you to be a deeper person, to evolve maybe?
 

RunningWild

I think it's the Shadowscapes deck that offers up an image of a Phoenix rising from the ashes. So in a sense, there's a rebirth.
 

Claire Bear

Death astrologicaly corresponds with Scorpio. Embracing change rather than fighting against it. Secretive. Jealousy. Delving into the minds of others and what makes them tick, whilst not giving a lot away concerning oneself. Very perceptive. The shadow side of oneself. Hidden qualities. Volatility. Passionate.
 

Zephyros

I think Death is one of the most important cards in any deck; so important, in fact, that it can be a "deck breaker" for me, it's usually the first thing I look at.

Death, to me means the "traditional" meanings of death, of which there are many, but so much more. Think of it, from the Death of people to throwing out the trash to shedding skin flakes, Death is almost more a part of our lives than, well, Life. There is a reason there is a Death card, but not a Life card. Death not only represents the end and death of things and situations, but the endless continuation of the road of Time, that each step we take on it, indeed, every breath we take, is the Death of the previous one. Death is at once the End and the Beginning, not separate as in death and rebirth, but simultaneously.

In the Thoth, Death shows a traditional skeleton and scythe, but here he is not bringing things to an end, he is actively creating new forms out of the putrefaction of the dead weeds at the bottom of the ocean. Even when things end and die, that very death is a form of rebirth and new creation, the two are not separate. Put another way, when the world was formed, that was the Death of the Nothingness that was before; birth and death are interlinked and the same. When you burn an match, are you really ending it, or creating ash? Death is attributed to Scorpio, representing the sea, fish, and everything underwater. Fish hold important significance in many cultures, as well they should. Jesus brought fish to his followers, fish are the traditional food at Jewish New Year... We ourselves were created in the ocean, and staggered onto land to begin our lives here. Scorpio in this case may represent our long lost ties to the ocean, where in fact everything on earth began.

In a way this card represents not rebirth, but simple birth, since what was, is no more, nothing to be reborn from it, only something new and completely different.

Sorry for the ramble, I really like this card :)
 

SilverSquirrel

As the "teacher card" in my tarot constellation, Death has taught me the futility of trying to halt the process of change by clinging to outworn modalities of the past. It leads to a neurotic inability to go forward in life. But sometimes it's so hard to feel what you know -- that death is a process of transformation, and not the ultimate "end of you." Because... in a way, it IS the end of your ego to transform. The way a butterfly is the end of the caterpillar. If the caterpillar knew, maybe it wouldn't want to spin a cocoon. No more than a vampire wants to go into the sun. We cling to the devil we know for fear the unknown will be worse. Well, if we're fearful... and that's what the death card has come to mean to me personally. Unfortunately!
 

Tianna

I see it as a form of rebirth/renewal. It reminds me of the farmer scything old vegetation down, so that the goodness goes into the earth, and helps in the growth of new shoots. Everything's cyclical. I liked the suggestion earlier on about transitions, i.e., out of the ashes of a romantic relationship, a really good friendship may grow, or vice versa. Your children leave home for lives of their own, and your day-to-day life transitions into something completely different. You retire from work, and soon you are into hobbies you decide to take up, and wonder where you found the time to work before. Death of the old way of life, birth of the new!
 

frac_ture

Great answers so far to a really good question!

If I had to boil down my take on the Death card to one word, it would be "change," or some synonym thereof (like "transformation" or "metamorphosis," or maybe "evolution"). I tend to like the "darker" cards, and as a Scorpio, this one is my personal Zodiac Card, so I've done a bit of pondering on it. I also think the changes signified by the Death card are "involuntary," or generally not ones sought by the querent -- they're coming down the pike no matter what.

Lately I've even been toying with the idea that Death is possibly a more somber and serious companion-concept to the Wheel of Fortune in certain ways...
 

SilverSquirrel

Lately I've even been toying with the idea that Death is possibly a more somber and serious companion-concept to the Wheel of Fortune in certain ways...

.. Do you mean as in Clothos, Lachesis, and Atropos, spinning, clothing, and of course snipping away the "excess" as the spinning wheel turns? I can see your point there. Crowley's rendition (painted by the talented Frieda Harris) of the trump as mentioned earlier with the spiralling forms being created as others are reaped down evokes the wheel sorta kinda.