meanings of the Death card

[kwaw]

Your cards drawn are 8 of Pentacles, 6 of Swords, 6 of Wands, Death, 9 of Cups from the RWS deck. You read it as "If you continue to work hard and set goals, this will bring you to a promotion." But then you die? Then the job dies? Somebody dies and you celebrate that? Who dies? What would you do with that Death card that's hanging out there? If you're going to stick to rigidly insisting that the Death card only means actual death, then what? Or do you read it as that the hard work and persistence is going to bring you to a promotion which will transform that job into one you can have enjoyment and fulfillment from which is reason for celebration?

A literal reading may go:

death+9cups= to reap + celebration (harvest festival) - 'you shall reap the rewards of one's labour, and have cause for celebration and thanks. . .' or, given the present climate:

'there will be need of cut-backs ahead, planning and hard work will place you in a position to consolidate your role and responsibilities. . .' or,

etc, etc.,

 

[Maagi]

I'm sorry, this is a bit off topic but I need to clarify things a bit and then go on with this topic.

OT: Hi Maagi, my apologies if my comment seemed to be an attack on you - it wasn't - merely a call on a statement of fact about the cards history (not an opinion) you made that is erroneous (albeit frequently made, and often by people who know better). It is the statement of fact you made I meant as 'baloney', not you or your opinions - my apologies if it came over as such.

I honestly didn't mean to make a statement of fact. I didn't know about all these different "schools" on Tarot. I'm new here and never really talked about Tarot with anyone. My point was indeed the point of a historian - you can't know anything for sure about history. It's all about interpretation and research on interpretation. So my point on "not knowing the initial meaning of the cards" wasn't any more than that; all the same I could say that we don't actually know who killed Caesar etc.

I'm also very interested in any kind of knowledge around the Tarot, feel free to inform me, anyone! That's one of the reasons why I am here. ! I appreciate your aspects, but life (and science!) has taught me to be alert whenever people come and insist they know the *only* truth.

I hope such an apparent piss-poor attitude to critical faculty isn't typical of the majority of our University Students (whether of history or anything else)!

What is and isn't baloney is a problem - it reflects on one's ability to make critical distinctions and to check sources or otherwise to appear as a gullible fool (and why shouldn't one - one of the possible meanings of the name tarocchi is after all the 'game of the blockhead/fool') - IMHO to stick one's head in the sand or attack the messenger in the face of facts is inherently problematic whether one cares to think of it as such or not.

Okay, so this is what I'd call "jumping to conclusions". We don't really know each other at all - the downside of internet activity. What I meant with "not my problem" was, it doesn't really bother me what a nickname *kwaw* means with "baloney" in my case. Of course it is a problem, if one chooses to be ignorant, or doesn't want to question things. Oh boy, if you only knew how much I do that! Most of all myself.

What the history studies have taught me is indeed to question everything. There's no such thing as 100% accurate truth in the field of history. Neither is there anything completely solved in the field of science. It's all *theories*, that's what it is. Whenever a better theory comes up, the old one is gladly updated. The "truths" are usually just the most recent theories.

Which brings me back to the nature of the Death card and regeneration! Ha! Seriously, I don't claim to KNOW anything. It's all about learning.

I appreciate Grizabella's views, very human and wise.

People could debate about the "facts" forever - by all means do that - but I wish to be left out of it. Express your views; tell me about the things you've learned; that's all very interesting. But it won't change what's dear to me in these cards, and that's the concentrated wisdom that *I* see in them. Am I wrong? Who cares. Wait, I do, I still do, if I make my thesis about Tarot! But this isn't it.

 

[raeanne]

For me, the Death card is the “let it go” card. We so often hang on to things way longer than we should. Old hatred, old grudges, old loves, all seem to hang around us way past the time when they have (or should have) died. Even for those times when Death really does mean death, it still means “let it go”. I have had to “let go” of loved ones, pets, and friends. It isn’t easy but in the end you just can’t keep dragging yourself down by hanging on to something for way too long – it slows the healing and blinds you to the new. Every spring when I go out to the garden for the first time, everything looks dead. But, when I start clearing away the dead stuff, there, beneath all that dead stuff is the new green shoots ready to reach for the sunshine and start growing. However, sometimes, after a particularly harsh winter, there is very little remaining. In that case, I go to Earl May (a gardening store that is just down the street from my house) and buy new plants to replace the old. So, if it is dead, let it go.

 

[NamasteIndia]

Judgement as outcome

edited

 

[caridwen]

What does judgement means for outcome of a situation related to purchase deal???

Is judgement talking about something in the past, or does it mean a fruitful outcome??

Perhaps a thread on Judgement may be more conducive

 

[Luminosa]

Very interesting this discussion. I would like just to add a small comment. I think a problem with tarot meanings may be that of supporting them exclusively with the image and disregarding concepts. For me, a card or arcanum is a unity, composed of a duality that must be taken into account. So, not always Death will mean death and termination, but also life, as I had the opportunity to see it representing pregnancy, and continuation. I’ve seen instances in which people got stagnant in a situation with the Death card, a total lack of movement, no changes at all happened.

Lu

 

[kwaw]

A literal reading may go:

death+9cups= to reap + celebration (harvest festival) - 'you shall reap the rewards of one's labour, and have cause for celebration and thanks. . .' or, given the present climate:

'there will be need of cut-backs ahead, planning and hard work will place you in a position to consolidate your role and responsibilities. . .' or,

etc, etc.,

Alternatively, noting that 'to mow, deduct, prune' in latin is defalcate, and defalcate is a legal term for fraud, embezzlement - 'tired of being a trustworthy and hardworking employee with little in the way of recognition or renumeration and under constant threat of termination you shall embezzle company funds and enjoy a good time on the proceeds. . ."

 

[Maagi]

There was something in my head all the time people were discussing the Death as the Grim reaper vs. the symbol of regeneration... I couldn't quite touch what it was but this morning it came to me!

This:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Death

The interesting details:

"The central figures are reminiscent of the classic black-clad Grim Reaper, but paradoxically are tending to gardens; traditionally symbols of birth or renewal."

The painting is a fresco in *a cathedral*.

What say you?

 

[Rasa]

I don't like "rebirth" as a keyword for Death, because it always seems to me like trying to skip over the 'death' part. Instead, I like to think of it as just the ending. Maybe a new beginning will come after, but if we were really talking about beginnings, we could have drawn the Magician, the Fool, or maybe the Sun.

Death can have positive connotations though.
The scythe is a clear symbol of harvest.. what are you reaping?
I wear a mala with skulls to remind me that everything passes, and the skeleton in the Death card could be the same. It can suggest a situtation that's impermanent, or temporary.
It may show a release of something, or a suggestion to not cling to something too tightly.
It could be showing something in stages of decomposition, encouraging you to consider what is stagnant around you.
It may be a reminder of the past, to think about what's gone from your life. It could show a part of yourself you thought you'd buried, or perhaps something aobut the history of a situation.

 

[Maagi]

Hmm, just out of interest and will to learn; can anyone name some philosophical and/or religious/mystical belief systems that do NOT consider death as a new beginning? Nothing comes to my mind atm, but I'm sure there are some?