Aquarian: Death

This Death card, to me, is one of the creepiest ever. Now mind you, I've seen Death cards with every imagineable arrangement of skeletons possible.

This Death seems to pare down the RWS Death card down to the Death figure seemingly having designs on the castle on the hill. A sun sets behind it, which seems to mean the End for the residents in this castle. Death holds a black flag with a black rose on it. Death's face is a skull, but it's as if its an impression of a skull. He wears armor. It's as if he's a ghost.

To me, the Death card is The Big End. This death card is about the inevitability of Death and the Big End, which comes to us all.

What do you think?

Queen of Disks said:

A sun sets behind it, which seems to mean the End for the residents in this castle.

Click to expand...

Whoa...is the sun going down?

Or is the sun coming up? and all the desolation is about to end?

Is the reign of death beginning or ending?

IMO...could be either way. And that's where I find the power of this card. In other decks Death appears to be 'in progress'. Here, it's either beginning or ending.

(depending on the surrounding cards...)

*bows humbly before the Stetsoned One*

First of all, I'd like to say that I am honored to have you here, Umbrae. Thanks for posting!


You are right, the sun may be coming up and Death may be leaving. I saw it as the sun going down when I wrote this post, but you never really know...

Thanks very much!

I think of the Death card as symbolizing irrevocable change. Once something happens, you can never go back to the way things were before. Which is not to say that it's necessarily death we're talking about. It could be pregnancy, marriage, literacy, etc. Even if you lose the baby, you still have had an experience that has changed you forever.

I like the idea that the sun could be rising, not just setting. Maybe that symbolizes the start of a new part of your life.

I have to agree with QoD. When I first looked at this card (I broke down and bought the deck ) the first thing that came to mind was THE END. The concentration on the skeleton and flag just puts a big exclamation point on it for me. Then looking at the sun in the background and noticing that there's no indication in the sky of whether the sun is rising or setting gives it the sense of continuation. Things go on, the sun will still rise and set, life must go on even after what appears to be the end.

So, what do you think of the deck? I like it a lot. Somehow, it's more approachable than a lot of other decks, and the Art Deco styling gives it a certain flair.

Well, I gotta say I have mixed feelings about it. Considering I'm a die hard RWS fan, it's difficult for me to deal with the lack of background and minimal symbolism in the minors. The majors for the most part speak to me more.

I really want to like this deck, but it's going to take some time to get used to.

I can't wait until we move on to some of the cards that I really don't have a feel for like Temperence. It really stumped me.

I got the spanish version since that was all that was available. I do speak spanish but it's rusty and I don't totally understand the pequenito libro blanco (translation-LWB)

Yeah, the Temperance card seems pretty barren. All you see is a person with wings. No sense of mixing unlike elements to make something new.

On this card, Death, the LWB says: Death, rebirth, generally in areas of one's consciousness. Great change in one's life. Reverse: Stagnation, tendency to lethargy.

I had a similar reaction to the deck when I first got it. The Aquarian grew on me (slowly), but yes, it has some really bare cards. I'll address this on some later posts.

And now back to the Death card...