DEATH

• ENDING
• TRANSITION
• ELIMINATION
• INEXORABLE FORCES

• Actions
• Opposing Cards
• Reinforcing Cards
• Description

ACTIONS

• ENDING
• closing one door to open another
• bringing something to a close
• completing a chapter
• concluding unfinished business
• putting the past behind you
• having a parting of the ways

• TRANSITION
• changing status
• moving from the known to the unknown
• being cast adrift
• waiting in an in-between state
• being in the middle

• ELIMINATION
• cutting out what isn't necessary
• shedding old attitudes
• getting down to bare bones
• concentrating on essentials
• getting back to basics

• INEXORABLE FORCES
• being in the path of sweeping change
• being caught in the inescapable
• going through what cannot be avoided
• being part of a powerful movement
• riding your fate
• accepting the inevitable

OPPOSING CARDS: Some Possibilities

• Fool - beginning
• Empress - birth
• Judgement - rebirth, fresh start

REINFORCING CARDS: Some Possibilities

• Tower - sweeping impact, powerful forces
• Eight of Wands - conclusion, ending
• Five of Cups - loss, good-byes
• Eight of Cups - moving on, finishing up

DESCRIPTION

Death! A powerful energy indeed. Who can look at the dark, skeletal figure on Card 13 and not feel uneasy? Here we see the face of our deepest fear - our greatest unknown. We recoil from Death because we think of it as annihilation. In the tarot Death is not a permanent end, but a transition into a new state. Life is eternal in its essence, if not in its form. To grow, to move, to live - we must "die" to the old to give birth to the new.

It is a truism in tarot work that Card 13 rarely has anything to do with physical death. A responsible card reader never interprets Card 13 in this way because this view is too limiting. Death is not something that happens once to our bodies. It happens continually, at many levels and not just in the physical.

In readings, Death often represents an important ending that will initiate great change. It signals the end of an era; a moment when a door is closing. At such times, there may be sadness and reluctance, but also relief and a sense of completion. Death also suggests getting down to basics. Dying has a way of making you concentrate on what's important. This card reminds you to cut out the unnecessary. Death can also mean you will experience an inexorable force.

• TAROT CARDS
• TAROT CARDS MAJOR ARCANA
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the fool;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the magician;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the high priestess;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the empress;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the emperor;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the hierophant;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the lovers;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the chariot;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: strength;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the hermit;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: wheel of fortune;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: justice;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the hanged man;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: death;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: temperance;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the devil;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the tower;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the star;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the moon;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the sun;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: judgement;
• Tarot cards, major arcana: the world;