Sun on the Death Card

Ruby Jewel

The Sun Cards

It seems to me, in looking at the suns in Temperance, Death, and the Sun cards, that a setting sun would not be quite so bright and vibrant as the sun in those cards, so I am inclined to believe it is rising in those three. I suppose that is an arbitrary call. However, I believe that in the end, we each have to make our own call. It is nice to hear what others think, but ultimately, it is an enigma, which is probably what it is meant to be in the first place. When I look at the sun in The Fool card, I see that sun to be the spiritual sun that you were referring to. Actually, if my memory serves me correctly, wasn't Case referring to the Fool card when he said that (rather than the Death card)? I can see a big difference in the Fool card because the sun is not yellow.....it is white and that is the indication that it is "spiritual."

Your thoughts on the Ten of Swords being predawn makes sense to me for the simple reason that numerically, the 10 represents both an ending and a beginning. Also, it is a bright and vibrant yellow. I think if it were setting it would have more of an orange hue.

I can't imagine a reading in which I would call the sun as setting because I would never tell a client that. I don't believe the tarot is meant to predict doom. I feel it is an important tool for inspiring hope. I understand that in England, it is against the law for a card reader to predict death. A setting sun is tantamount to predicting a death of some sort.
 

Richard

......Actually I vaguely remember reading it once, but it has been awhile now. It seems to me there was so much dissension and competition between those guys in the Golden Dawn, it is hard to distill a particular "truth" out of it all, but I find it all fascinating, nonetheless........
The dissension in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was mostly political, not so much concerning esoteric matters.
 

Ruby Jewel

There seems to have been quite an important disagreement between Case and Papus as to how the tarot applies to the Kabbalah, particularly in reference to placement of the Fool and the Magician relative to the alphabet; and, therefore, the structure that they used in the Tree of Life and the structure that Papus used in the Tarot of the Bohemians. In general, I think Case won the point; however, when I consider the two spreads side by side, I much prefer the Papus method.
 

Zephyros

The dissension in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was mostly political, not so much concerning esoteric matters.

If politics can be defined as "I talk to invisible people and you don't" ;)

(On second thought, that sounds like the GOP)
 

Samweiss

I was just reading PFC's writings about Death and after that I found this thread. I quote a short piece that you may find interesting:

Ordinarily the idea of death is associated with sunset. But in this Key the sun is in the East, and therefore rising. Here is a clear intimation that the power men see as death is really the power of life. Every dissolution of form brings about the birth of new ones.

He is, of course, talking about the BOTA version of Death, but it is probably true for the RWS version as well.
 

Ruby Jewel

Sun as a Symbol of Hope

Hi Samweiss, I wonder if PFC believed in reincarnation. I suppose there would be some consolation in the fact that a new form follows the dissolution of a previous form, but one would have to believe in reincarnation for it to console the client.

According to the commentary in the online tarot documentary the Death card doesn't mean the end - only change, a new order and a new direction. I usually interpret it as a transformation. But considering it from the perspective of Papus' layout of ternaries and septenaries, I personally see it as the entry into the 3rd septenary of the Dark Night of the Soul or the Night Sea Journey through the cards 13 through 18. The Gate (2 pillars) you see in the background of the first card of the Dark Night, the Death card, is the same gate in the last card of the Dark Night, Moon (18) card, through which you emerge from the Night Sea Journey into the brilliant daylight of the Sun (19). For me, the brilliant sun in the Death card is beckoning, offering hope.

As for the client, it depicts a time of great transformation, and particularly if someone is dealing with an addiction of some kind. You see the same landscape in the 2nd card of the Dark Night, Temperance (14), that you see in the Moon card. And, there is the sun again, and the same path showing you the way and offering hope.

For me, the sun is a symbol of hope. It says, "never give up." And particularly in the Death card. It is like the lantern of the Hermit leading us through the Dark Night.....beckoning and offering hope. And what a sun it is in the Sun Card....saying, Hallelujah, you've made it!