{"id":300,"date":"2014-08-26T21:56:19","date_gmt":"2014-08-26T21:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.keen.com\/newarticles\/uncategorized\/death-tarot-card"},"modified":"2022-11-03T20:45:59","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T20:45:59","slug":"death-tarot-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.keen.com\/articles\/tarot\/death-tarot-card","title":{"rendered":"The Death Tarot Card"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amidst the shuffled Tarot deck, there is a card that nobody wants to see. Even though it is misunderstood (as exemplified in The Simpsons episode, “Lisa’s Wedding”<\/a>), the most adept Tarot reader never enjoys explaining to a visiting seeker that their reading has drawn the Tarot’s card of Death<\/a>. Let’s face it; this is not a popular subject. And if you feel bad for the poor Tarot card reader who pulls it from the deck, imagine the dread this card creates in the person who receives it in his or her Tarot reading. The most important thing to remember about the Death card<\/a> is that it represents the coming of many possible types of death<\/a>, not the physical one whose inevitability we all fear.<\/p>\n

\n

Under a slate gray sky, on a pale white horse, a yellowed skeleton in black armor rides across a landscape. Beneath him, one sees a dead body laid out, a corpse whose crown has fallen from its head. A small baby and an adolescent girl kneel at the hooves of the marching horse, not fighting their fate. A bishop in ornate robes stands praying, but from the viewer’s vantage point, we see he is in the path of the horse. The horse’s bridle is leather and adorned with skulls. In his right hand the skeleton holds the reins and steadies the horse ahead. In his left hand he carries a mast; its flag is black with a white five-petal flower blooming. Off in the distance is a lake or sea with a large warship, its giant sail most prominent, but still almost a speck. The sun is setting at the card’s far right. It is perfectly aligned between the two watchtowers featured in The Moon<\/a> card.<\/p>\n

There is little redemption in the scene depicted on this card. The people are dead or dying. Neither surrender nor prayers seem to help. The triumphant flag is to be planted as a flower on one’s grave, cold and colorless. The warship off in the far distance lets us know that the littlest incident in our past may have led to this current state of utter immolation. The horse’s leg is raised in a slow march on a certain path, so nothing there will be spared.<\/p>\n

But there is some good news:<\/p>\n