Tarot Blog Hop: Death Prelude to Healing

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Our fearless leader for this Hop was Jay Cassels and his overall guidance to us was:

Are you familiar with concept of the burning bush? Well this Mabon I am going to invite you to investigate two concepts of burning bushes of your own. Using the Tarot, Oracle, or Astrology I’d like you to enlighten your readers as to what you think they represent.
Perhaps you see these concepts as warning? or maybe a path to enlightenment?

I chose to think about the Death Card in this post and even though it is not quite Samhain, this topic felt right.

Prelude to Healing

Death surrounds me lately. I am a thanatologist, which means I study death and all its related aspects including grief and the devastation it can leave behind. I’m currently surrounded by about 15 books related to death, dying, grief, loss, and a host of related topics as I work to finish my capstone project that will make me a degreed thanatologist. I tell my kids that I will be a ‘Master of Death” and there is a bracelet on my wrist with tiny silver skulls to remind me of my academic accomplishment. However, the truth of the matter is that none of us are the master of death because at the end of the day death masters us all.

Death can be hard and painful and it can destroy us if we lose people we love too soon. However, death can also be beautiful when people who have lived a long life slip into the night and cross the veil. I came face to face with death six years ago when my very beloved Luke crossed the rainbow bridge. I held him as he died and stroked his fear and told him that it was okay to let go and move on. I was devastated when he left, but I also realized that the love I felt for him in my heart had not left, it had just changed form.

The Death card in Tarot is one of the most feared cards as novices often think that it means a literal death. However, it usually signals a transition and a time to let go of something. The Tower card is also a card of transition, but one of the things that I have realized lately is that the Death card represents a definitive end to something and there is no chance to rebuild it. However, the Tower is usually a man made structure and man-made structures can be rebuilt. The new structure may not be identical, but it can come close to replicating the original. In contrast, Death signifies the end of an organic being that will decay and return to the earth. There is no realistic way to rebuild and recreate an organic being.

Like many people, I was afraid when the Death card came calling. However, the Death card has led to much healing as it has forced me to face facts about relationships, jobs, and personal habits that were Dead. I had to face the fact that they were in fact Dead and I could not cling to them any long. I had to shed a tear, say good bye, and move on.

Here are some lessons from my favorite Death cards

The Finality of Death

traditional rendering of Death is as a figure on a horse stepping over a body while people pray and supplicate as they beg for more time. However, the reality is that Death comes for us all and that that while we may be able to hold death off for a short time, ultimately Death will take us.

This message is even more clear in the Death card from the Tree Tarot that shows a beautiful tree laying on its side after it has been cut down. This drastic message of cutting a life short signifies that there is no going back and that we need to accept the loss is final and move on.

Pulling the Death card helped me to accept that my marriage was truly over. Seeing the cold bony fingers of a skeleton, like Santa Muerte from the Dark Goddess Tarot, made me realize that my marriage was a corpse and that holding on to something that had died would only bring heartache.

Life after Death

Death not only takes the lives of loved ones, it also permanently altars the lives of those left behind as we are left with a hole in our heart that can never be filled. However, we are also left with the lessons that our beloved have given us and it is our job to look deep within and learn the lessons of death so that we can move on.

My first tarot deck was the DruidCraft tarot and I love the image of an old woman holding a skull standing over a cauldron of renewal. For me this card is a reminder that there are lessons to be learned and that life can be transformed.

The image of Death from the Santa Muerte tarot is even more clear that there is life after death as Santa Muerte, the Saint of Death, is rubbing her pregnant belly while she looks at a baby cradle.

Although the message from the Gaian Tarot’s death card is not as clear, for me the boat in the picture has always signified moving on and the message on this card is clear that we need to let go of the old to make room for the new.

Messages of our Beloved

The Ghetto Tarot is one of my favorite decks as I love how the photos were created in Haiti and are mostly close replicas of traditional tarot poses. However, this card is not even close to the traditional death card. For me, it represents connection to the ancestors and rituals to reconnect. It also reminds me of a fearsome Voodoo display that I saw at the Field Museum a few years ago.

Although the book meaning on this card is all about letting go and moving on, similar to the messages above, for me this card speaks to me about connecting with the ancestors and those who have gone before. This is not a meaning I’ve gotten from a death card before today, so I will be taking some time to reflect on it and will setting up my ancestor altar in preparation for Samhain.