The 78 Cards
Death
Major Arcana, card 13. Astrology: Scorpio.
An ending. The chapter closes so the next one can begin.
The picture
A skeleton in black armour rides a white horse. He carries a black banner with a white rose on it. In front of the horse a king lies fallen on the ground. A bishop in a tall hat stands with his hands together, facing the rider. Beside him a young woman kneels and turns her face away, and a small child looks up at the rider. Far behind them a boat sails on a river, and the sun sits low on the horizon between two towers.
Upright
People fear this card more than any other, so I will say plainly how I read it. Death is a mirror. It shows you a change, the close of a chapter, and asks how you are meeting it.
Look at the people in front of the horse. The king is flat on the ground. The bishop stands and faces it. The young woman looks away, and the child looks straight up with open eyes. They are four ways of meeting change, and the card asks which one you are.
Scorpio rules this card, and Scorpio knows about letting things fall away so something deeper can grow. A job ends, a relationship finishes, an old way of seeing yourself wears out. The rose on the banner is new life. And the sun sits between the towers on the horizon, which I read as a sunrise: the ending opens the way for what comes next.
Reversed
Reversed, Death is still a mirror, and I read it as blocked or delayed. Blocked is the ending you are refusing to let happen, holding on to something that has already finished and keeping yourself in the half light. Delayed is the change that is on its way, moving slowly, while the old chapter drags on.
To tell which one, look at what you are holding. If you are gripping something that has run its course, the card asks you to open your hands. If you are ready and it simply has not happened yet, it asks for patience. Either way, the change is coming, and it is making room.
When it turns up
What in your life has already ended, and is waiting for you to let it go?
If you would like the cards read against your own chart, my readings are here.
Related pages
Death as a Birth Card · The Twenty Two Paths
The 78 Cards
Every card in the deck, upright and reversed.
See every page and post in the Contents.
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