78 Weeks: (Death)

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Some amongst us may be working through the deck in a different order, and using different decks.

For more general comments or questions about the 78 weeks, please post in the thread linked above.

Enjoy!

Death - XIII

Radiant Rider Waite

A skeleton in black armour (the colour associated with death) riding a white horse (horse representing power), carrying a black banner with a white rose. This is the Mystic Rose - a five petaled rose - representing the four elements plus the spirit of life. He looks like he is going to ride over the other people in the image. The king looks already dead, whereas the bishop looks like he is praying (in the face of death), the young girl is looking away from death not wanting to see it coming, but not running from it either - just accepting. The young child does not seem to show fear in its approach - the innocence of a child. Seems to send the message that Death comes to all - irregardless of preparedness, position, age or beliefs.

There is a river in the background with a boat sailing on it. The boat could represent a vessel for the spirit once death has come, to sail away to a new destination, new beginning or new life.

There is a sun rising between two towers in the background of the image. These two towers remind me of the towers in the Moon card. The rising sun makes me think of a new beginning after the death or release.

Death always brings change in your life - whether it is the death of a way of life, a belief, a situation, a relationship or even the death of someone or something dear to you. Sometimes it is something you are expecting or not - there is still a sense of loss, grief but a knowing that the cycle of life goes on - from the ending of something there is always a new beginning, but it often changes forever how you may look at something or life itself. Accepting that it is inevitable and a part of every life cycle.

CreativeFire

Hadar - marseilles

Death is a skeleton, although his face doesn't appear to be. He has eyes and is smiling. His head is bandaged. He is flesh coloured which is the colour of man but his spine is green (vitality), the base of the spine is red (earthly plane) and his neck is blue (spirituality).

He has swung his scythe resulting in strewn body parts. He looks to the future - death comes to us all. He doesn't look at what he is doing but into the distance - does this refer to indiscriminate death?

The ground is black (death) but there is a variety of vegetation and growth. He is reaping a crop (of people) - thus 'the grim reaper'. So the body parts are food for new growth. The transformation.

Moonbow*

In the version of the Tarot of Marseilles I own the card numbered XIII carries no title and is referred to as the un-named arcanum (although I personally prefer the un-named trump), without capital letters to further reinforce the idea that this card has no name. To use capital letters would be to name the card. Everyone knows by looking at the picture to what the subject depicted refers. Nonetheless, there are versions of the card that do carry a title.

Without death there can be nothing new. The passing of the old, whether it be people, plants, animals, buildings, feelings, ideas or indeed anything we can name, makes room for new things to grow and develop. Thus, death is forever tied with birth and the wheel continues to turn. It is death that makes the leaves fall in autumn and grow again in spring.

For those who view themselves as physical beings, death represents the end of existance and thus is faced with fear. My belief is that the reality is that everything is God and physical death is simply another transition encountered on the wheel of life - to be feared no more than discarding the rubish in the weekly collection. (It is my hope that my faith does not desert me when my time comes. It is the rare person without some fear of death.) Certainly everyone has respect for death even though this will manifest in numerous ways.

For my study this week, I gathered 9 different examples from various versions of the Tarot of Marseilles. Of these, only two carry a title. Six of them depict the central character of the card wearing what looks to my eyes to be a pair of shorts. I allowed these observations to influence the card I have drawn.

Hi everyone,

Well, here we are at the dreaded Death card! I can think of worse cards to spend a week with!

D Dawning
E Ending
A Abandonment
T Tranformation
H Hope

HADAR/FOURNIER
Here is a link to the Fournier card
http://www.learntarot.com/fmdesc.htm

I have had some fun this week, comparing these two cards. Whilst there are distinct similarities, the thing that struck me was that the Fournier card has his left foot missing! My immediate reaction was that he had cut it off himself, and this turned out to be a thought that many others came up with when I posted this question on the H&I forum. My interpretation of this is one of being 'halted in your tracks'. In both cards wheat appears in place of the spine, a symbol of the harvest, of death, rebirth and resurrection. In the Hadar the redness at the base of his spine, becomes green as we move up the spine and finally becomes blue around the cervical area. These colours are broadly synonymous with the chakra colours (although there are a few missing) but in the context of this card could represent the material world - being born (red), life - growth and vitality (green) and finally spirituality (blue). All the bits of body on the ground is a reminder to get rid off the old and you will be able to see more clearly.

One thought that came to me is that in the Marseille this card has a number but no name, but the Fool has a name and no number. Does this link them? The Fool has a love of life and in the un-named card, the message is to live life to the full whilst respecting the certainty of death.

CRYSTAL

The feeling with this card is one of movement. Death is on his horse and appears to move/progress forward, purposefully into the future, waving his scythe. He moves at some pace, and quite obviously the message here is to welcome the future and to let go of the past. We can just see new growth peaking below the surface of the ground. A reminder of a new opportunities to flourish. The scythe is crescent shaped, the same shape as some of the phases of the moon and the card is number 13. The message? One phase ended - a new one begins.

HAINDL

This card is one I really connect with in this deck. The emphasis is very much on the fact that for one thing to live another has to die. A leaf falls from a tree, which shows new growth. Even in death the leaf will become food for detritus feeders who themselves feed into the food chain. A new beginning. So simple but what a great way to get the message across. A skeletal arm brandishes a scythe and a peacock fills the card. The Peacock is a symbol of resurrection and is a reminder to look at death with honesty.

J

Blue Rose deck

An illuminated skull with glowing red eyes looks as though he is about to speak, as though a spirit from the other side has briefly reanimated this so compelling piece of matter to tell me of what lies beyond. But he finds no tongue so bears mute witness via symbols... In the storm clouds I envision Death as a horseman riding the violent sky and reaping the fallout of the opening of Pandora's box. But in the forground is a butterfly radiating energy; nearer than the storm is hope. The water seems a higher octave of that in the 6 of Swords; an ultimate crossing, a transformative transition. The roses seem especially poignant, representing in their polarity all the soul's longing for what can never be found on this plane. Their scent is lost on the noseless skull, and wafts upwards like a prayer, like a sigh, following the soul home.

www.tarotpassages.com/PGDeath.htm

I have the Fournier edition of Marseilles, which I always compare with the Camoin – Jodorowsky edition. But I will skip the description of the cards, and try to share some of my thoughts about the un-named Arcanum.

There is notice that, in ancient Greece, the god Hermes (Mercury) was sometimes pictured as a skeleton, in order to reinforce his role as guide of the souls in the world of the death – the Hermes Psychopompos, and also Hermes the Wayfinder, as in the Odyssey. Other comparisons between this personification of Death (or of Transition…) and Hermes can be made: one of his epithets was "the quick one", and this name is analysed by some experts as being related to death gods, meaning the one that is "fast as death". Hermes is the mediator between life and death.

About the card’s number, note that number 4, resulting from the addition of 1 and 3, is strongly related to Hermes, and is referred to in very ancient hymns: his “birthday” was in a day 4, and in Argos the fourth month of the year had the name Hermaios. Quotating an author, “the quaternity was for the ancients one of the most constant constituents of the Hermes image; they further acknowledge this in the four-cornered form of the Herms” (“Herms” were carved stones, made for devotional proposes, with the head or heads of the god Hermes, and sometimes also with Apollo; they have a phallic form, but a square base).

He was also very deeply related to the night (being also a “ruler of dreams”) and the obscure aspects of life. Because of this, as is of common knowledge, he become a tutelary figure for what we could call the “hermetic” mysteries. It is also very important to enhance the fact that he learned his divinatory skills with Apollo, and, as far as I can see, this makes him the perfect guide to tarot practitioners…

Obviously, his relation to Tarot is well explored in many senses, but not, to my knowledge, in relation to this Arcanum. Maybe we can find him a bit all over, in tarot cards, namely in the first one (the Magician – he was also the god of magic and illusion) and in the last one (The World - he could be pictured with four heads and four aspects, as a representation of the totality of the universe).

Again about the skeleton: the limits of human life are the mother’s womb, and the grave. Both can be seen here, I think – death is generally accepted as being female, and the earth which “she” revolves is a symbol of the largest of all “mother’s wombs”, were life is continually irrupting from apparently “dead” material. And in the skeleton’s pelvis, the “space” where internal organs should be appears to be emphasised, perhaps to point out the place of a uterus… or am I seeing too much? Any initiation, of course, is a kind of death, for we must die to this world in order to born into another.

The quotation I made belongs to the book “Hermes Guide of Souls”, by Karl Kerényi.

I was thinking about the spine in the skeleton, so obviously pointing out a means of ascension, and also so obviously related to the symbology of “the column”, connecting earth and heaven and introducing a “way of the middle” that balances (and connects) the Left and the Right sides. Well, I found this information, which seemed important to me: in the kabala system, there is Malkuth, also called The Kingdom, which forms the base of the cabalistic tree, and refers to physical reality, and also to death, being of feminine nature. And there is Keter, The Crown, or God. They are sometimes called King (Keter) and Queen (Malkuth), and the latest is also known as “Spouse of the Divine God”, because “she” is the recipient of the superior energies.

Learning this I couldn’t help thinking about the crowned heads of a man and a woman laying on the ground. The female head is on the left, the male head on the right, and I would say there is a symbolic reason to this. They represent several ideas: that death levels all living creatures, rich or poor, etc. (this being a traditional meaning of the scythe), but also that a “ritual death”, symbolized by initiation, allows integrating both natures, the Feminine Left and the Masculine Right, and thus becoming complete. Earth, or Malkuth, and Heaven, or Keter, are clearly represented in the card, anyway.

There is a great (and difficult to read) book that connects the Kabala to the human body, its structure and its functions, but I can’t say if there is an English version – “Le symbolisme du corps humain”, by Annick de Souzenelle, ed. Albin Michel, 1991, ISBN 2-226-05181-3 (in English, this should be something like The Symbolism of the Human Body).

A site with lots of representations of Death (and some historical explanation).
http://www.geocities.com/ppollefeys/main.htm

I couldn't really think of what to say for this, so I am going to rely on what I have found out in accordance to the Astrological side of things, so here goes:

XIII - Death

Radiant Rider-Waite

LWB
End, mortality, destruction and corruption

Golden Tarot of Klimt

LWB
Drastic changes, new births, and end or beginning of an activity

My Impressions from both Radiant Rider-Waite and Golden Tarot of Klimt
All I can think of is absolute endings that bring about brand new beginnings

Astrological - Scorpio
Since they are astrologically aligned with Pluto - the most awesome of the planets and the God who ruled the underworld in Greek mythology - life for them is not menat to be a stroll down easy street. They may have to lse the things or people you value to know what all the things they have around them truly mean to them and realise that their family and frineds are their highest heartfelt priorities. Life has many distinctive phases and stages where they are concerned. Their energy field naturally attracts opportunities and therefore choices. The trouble is that many of the positive options that present themselves contain hidden challenges. Wilful and headstrong, they can have a hard time taking no for an answer when no is actually in their best interest. Even when they take risks that backfire, like the cat, they seem to have their own form of nine lives. It is almost though they enjoy playing risk-taking games with Lady Luck and the forces that control their existence, just to see how much control they can wield over destiny, others and themselves. Because they love to be in control, the way they operate, the relationships they become involved in, and the dreams they set their sights upon sometimes are extraordinary. They are prepared to go after higher prizes or bigger dreams than most people. Naturally the higher they aim, the greater possibility of the fall they might exerience. And when they do fall from grace or power or out of love, they can find themselves more beaten, battered and bruised emotionally, spiritually and psychologically than is bearable. They are prepared to rise and fall in the name of gaining love, control, experimentation and - best of all - success! At time, they acna have a kamikaze approach to situations, where they might feel that they would rather sacrifice themselves than surrender. They cannot have power over destiny and so while they may like these forces of fate when they work for them and they're on top of the world, they curse them when they get in the way of their well-laid plans. The unseen powers or forces of fate are far more closely alignes to them than any other sign of the zodiac. Being a somewhat driven sign, they also seek a more intangible type of success in the form of living up to their fullest and highest potential. When they find themselves not progressing or getting what they want, they can become extremely despondent. There are times, when they thing they know best and they dig their heels and will not move forwards or change. Few Scorpios trust change, even whey they are the ones making it happen. Should they freely choose to change their mind about something or someone and switch mental channels, they switch completely. They are known for keeping their commitments, but when they do move on from something or someone, they rarely explain why or look back. When they say goodbye to something or someone, that chapter of their life is often closed in a way that leaves the other person or the situation they left behind in some kind or chaos. However, they do not slam doors behind then easily or without a great deal of thought. As a rule, whatever it is that makes this happen builds up for a long time until eventually reach their breaking point. Sometimes they feel as though they have been defeated when instead they are actually being presented with a winning hand of cards. Pluto, ruling planet, the planet of rebirth and transformation and the way it weaves its magic is often through destroying one situation that surrounds them to rebuild it anew. Consequently, some of the worst times of their lives are merely the creation time that precedes the best period of their lives. They frequently have to go through hell to reach heaven or lose something or someone to find something or someone better in the future

Bec