Sun on the Death Card

lad

from a technical point of view...

the sun is actually on the left of death, which would suggest West, which would mean sun is not rising, but as others have said, it's quite possible it's neither.

lad
 

Keigh

Thoughts on the sun on death card

To me, the sun, which lies both at the end of the path and the end of the river, and behind the two pillars seems to indicate, in part the "light at the end of the tunnel". After the confusion that surrounds death, there is illumination, clarity, understanding. However, to reach this, you have to stay on course, you have to follow the path and pierce the veil (I see these two pillars as the same ones on the moon and on the high priestess). Beyond death - or spiritual transformation - there is a new beginning, a new life and new clarity at a higher level of consciousness.

Keigh
 

Dulcimer

Dudes, the sun is SETTING. It is Death! Sure, the card means transformation, but it is the transformation that comes when nature has taken its course. Say, when Autumn turns to Winter, or when evening turns to night; when nature needs to clear the way for fresh new life. But there is Winter and the the dark, dark night to get through before the Sun is reborn. This is definitely not the card of new beginnings, though I agree it promises such - but not just yet.
 

BlueLeaf

I always assumed the sun is setting on the card because of those cards that follow Death: The Devil, the Tower, The Star, the Moon and finally back to the sun. It is a journey into the underworld, the dark parts of the soul.

But I think this is a perfect question for the querent, to gauge how they feel about a situation.
 

poivre

O.K. I think I get it now. The sun is setting!

(but it depends on the reading also)

Thanks for info,
ros
 

ArcanoMáximo

I don't agree!

For me the sun is always rising!

In this deck if we see to the sequence of the mayor arcana cards the characters are closing to The Sun, the towers are becoming bigger, we are approaching The Sun, even when we have to go across The Devil, The Tower and The Moon, but in The Sun Card we are in the other side of the towers, a thing that for me is shown also in the direction of the flag in the Death card, and the address in which the dark knight is going, right to the future!

I'm basing this view in no one author but i think is something easy to notice just seeing the images in the cards.
LooK...
 

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poivre

O.K. I think I get it now. The sun is rising.


If the Death, Moon & Sun is rx does this mean they are setting?

I'm so confused now. I still think it depends on how you
want to read.
 

Dulcimer

Not convinced

Sorry ArcanoMaximo, but all that means is that the next cards in sequence are passing through the night to reach the sunrise at card 19. Egyptian mythology would have it that this is the passage of the sungod through the underworld: devoured by Typhon/Set (The Devil) at sunset and reborn as Horus/Harpocrates (The Sun) at sunrise. Isn't that what Levi, Waite, and Crowley were trying to convey when they placed the cards in this order?
 

ArcanoMáximo

Dulcimer said:
Isn't that what Levi, Waite, and Crowley were trying to convey when they placed the cards in this order?
????????????
Let me clarify that when i said "in this deck" i mean about the images in the sequence, not the sequence itself.
I don't say that the next card is The Sun, obviously, cause all these are placed in the "dark part" (subconscious, unconscious, whatever you wanna call it...) of the road.
What i mean is that just for me what the Death card is saying is "Death doesn't exist", is an "ilusion" or a transmutation, a transformation, and i feel that cause it is placed in the half of the road and not in the end, that shows the direction of the flag too.
But traditionaly the name was "The Death", so how to show that Waite didn't believe in it? (In Marseille decks is shown in red color, and the active movement of the skeleton...)
So, who have created the Tarot wanted to make us a joke? I don't guess. But i think that for sure have used a known image to say many more than the usual meaning.
That's why i'm sure that when Tarot shows a Sun is always rising, or is always "alive", i can even see it behind the moon in the proper The Moon card.
For me Tarot doesn't believe in death, and the images of the Sun is with what this position is illustrated.
But for sure is a very personal view...your seems very eloquent too.
 

Dulcimer

ArcanoMáximo said:
????????????
Let me clarify that when i said "in this deck" i mean about the images in the sequence, not the sequence itself.
I don't say that the next card is The Sun, obviously, cause all these are placed in the "dark part" (subconscious, unconscious, whatever you wanna call it...) of the road.
What i mean is that just for me what the Death card is saying is "Death doesn't exist", is an "ilusion" or a transmutation, a transformation, and i feel that cause it is placed in the half of the road and not in the end, that shows the direction of the flag too.
But traditionaly the name was "The Death", so how to show that Waite didn't believe in it? (In Marseille decks is shown in red color, and the active movement of the skeleton...)
So, who have created the Tarot wanted to make us a joke? I don't guess. But i think that for sure have used a known image to say many more than the usual meaning.
That's why i'm sure that when Tarot shows a Sun is always rising, or is always "alive", i can even see it behind the moon in the proper The Moon card.
For me Tarot doesn't believe in death, and the images of the Sun is with what this position is illustrated.
But for sure is a very personal view...your seems very eloquent too.

OK, good point well made.