← Encyclopedia of Tarot · lesson 14/121
Death
Death is the card of endings and transformation. Despite its name, readers almost never take it literally: it is read as one chapter closing so that another can begin — a phase of life, a habit, a role or a relationship coming to its natural end. It is one of the most misunderstood cards, and often one of the most freeing.
The image
A skeleton in black armour rides a white horse and carries a black banner marked with a white rose. Before it a king has fallen, a churchman stands with hands joined, and a girl and a child turn away or look on. In the distance a river flows and the sun rises between two towers. The rider is usually taken as change that comes to everyone alike, the white rose as purity and renewal, and the rising sun as the life that follows the ending.
Upright
Endings, release, transition and transformation. Waite himself notes that besides its obvious meaning the card is given "change and transformation". In everyday life it can point to leaving a job or home, the close of a relationship or stage of life, or letting go of an old way of being. It tends to describe something that has run its course, and the space its ending opens up.
Reversed
Waite gives inertia, sleep and lethargy. Modern readers often see resistance to an ending that is already happening: holding on, stagnation, or a change that keeps being put off. It can also describe a transformation happening slowly and inwardly. Some readers do not use reversals at all.
Correspondences
Major Arcana card XIII. In the Golden Dawn system, which most English-language decks follow, it is the Hebrew letter Nun (the fish), the 24th path on the Tree of Life, and the sign of Scorpio; its element is water. French (Papus) tradition attributes some Majors differently, and in the Marseille deck the card is often left unnamed.
In a reading
In the past, it can describe a closed chapter whose effects are still felt. As an obstacle, it may point to clinging to what is finished. As advice, it invites letting go cleanly; as an outcome, a real turning point and a fresh start. Beside the Hanged Man it is often read as surrender leading into change.
In astrology
The Golden Dawn's correspondences, which most English-language decks follow (French, Marseille-based tradition differs for some Major Arcana).
Sign: Scorpio
Element: Water — the element of Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces
Mode: Fixed — Scorpio is a fixed sign