13. Death

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Upright

Change and transformation.

Reversed

Being stuck; unable to move on or accept changes.

Element: Water

I like the Death card. It is not the card of ruin, like the 10 of Swords, but rather the card of change. It portrays death riding on a steed and completely upsetting the social order, as during the plague. Check out the people on the cards. Death is bringing changes that cannot be prevented by status, prayer, ignorance, or innocence, and the people are coping in different ways. The holy man pleads, the maiden ignores, the king literally rolls over and dies, and the child offers a gift. This card speaks of change, and it asks us how we will react.

This card means things will change. It is not a card of upheaval like The Tower, a card that implies the changes were partially due to our own hubris. The kind of change and transformation embodied in this card is a kind outside of our control.

I think of Death as a gentler message of change as well. Death brings new life, death is a part of a cycle, and death comes to everyone. When we draw The Tower, we get the picture of a big upset that represents a fall from grace, potentially due to our own hubris. When we draw Death, we simply get a sense of change that comes to us all, regardless of status, action, or achievement. We get the implication of something that had to happen, and which will ultimately bring transformation rather than ruin.

When reversed, Death indicates being stuck or unable to move on. The energy of transformation is blocked. Perhaps changes are occurring, as they do around this card, and you are unwilling to accept them.