The Death Card and The Other 4 "Scary" Major Arcana: A Blessing in Disguise

Something I hear commonly about tarot readings is people say that they are scared to get a reading. They are afraid I will tell them something "bad" or when they are going to die or something else along those lines.

I have never told someone how they are going to die in my whole career as an intuitive and my focus is on guiding my clients to make the best choices possible out of the circumstances that are presented to them.

These blog posts will be in a series where I will discuss the Major Arcana cards that often can invoke fear for those who do not understand their meaning, as well as the minor arcana that have similar connotations.

It is probably the Scorpio in me that likes to delve deep into the dark side of things and find the light, as it seems that is part of my purpose. What I have found out about fear is the unknown is the most terrifying to those who will not cross its bounds and the most exhilarating to those who dive into it.

So let's dive right into it.

What we see in the Hanged man 12th Major Arcana card probably does not look positive to most. We have a man hanging upside down from a noose by his foot. Yet his leg is cross his other leg and he has his hands behind his back, with a yellow halo around his head appearing serene and calm.

The Major Arcana represents Major life lessons that we face and this card depicts sacrifice, letting go, a change of perspective, through suffering we can gain enlightenment, patience and surrender. Sometimes we encounter those crossroads on our journey where we are temporarily in a state of limbo where the only way to learn the lessons and see the positive side of things is to accept the situation and be fully present in the situation.

The next card is the death card often the most "feared" of them all. The death card is the 13th Major Arcana card and depicts a skeleton armored soldier on a white horse, with a black and white flag, who has just stepped over a dead king, is about to step on a child and young girl who has her head turned away and the priest stands their praying. Below is a river where a ship sails and up the hill is two towers (As the ones depicted in the Moon card) with the Sun rising behind them with mountains beyond.

Overall death or you could say "change" comes for everyone, kings, children, priests etc. We can resist it like the young maiden in the photo or we can be open and surrender to it like the little toddler or the priest. We then have faith that there is a new beginning depicted by the sunrise. Letting go of old habits and purifying ourselves can be uncomfortable, painful and challenging at times yet resisting the transformations we need to make tends to be even more agonizing in the long run.

In the 15th Major Arcana card the devil card you see a demonic winged looking goat creature holding a torch with a reversed pentagram above his head and the surroundings are all black. There is a man and a women naked and chained to a block at the devils feet. Both the man and the women have horns and the man has a flaming tail while the women has a tail made of grapes.

The lesson we are learning here with the devil is about the repressed desires, habits and addictions that can keep us in bondage represented by the chains. This is a two way street, by being in denial of our shadow self and the darker side of life these urges can have a

greater control over us. We can enjoy the earthly desires and pleasures yet there is also the temptation and possibility that our passions can over take us and we lose control and become the devil/enslaved by the very things we want. The reversed pentagram stands for a reversal of spiritual principles and a material or selfish focus.

The image we see in the 16th Major Arcana the Tower is a king and queen falling from a crowned tower that was hit by a lightning bolt (The crown comes off as well.) The foundation of the tower already looks like it is collapsing and there are gray clouds and the sky is black.

The tower can represent the structure of our lives/ego being broken down by a sudden lightning bolt, which can represent a realization, event or flash of insight. The king and the queen, the solitary high, the broken foundation, the mighty tower, plus the crown on top the tower paramount meaning: That the illusionary nature of our pride, self importance and ego defenses will be broken down in the face of challenging circumstances. It may all feel all " dark and cloudy" during that process, yet the the following card represented by the "The Star" card number 17 in the Major Arcana reveals that healing and renewal arrives after we let go of a false or unhealthy pattern/situation.

In the the 18th major Arcana Moon card we see a pool of water where there is a crustacean climbing out of it and on the ground on one side of the path is wolf and a dog on the other side.. Up in the sky there is a moon with sleeping crescent moon inside it.

Farther ahead there is a two towers on either side of the path and the path winds all the way up into the mountains illuminated by the light of the moon.

The Moon symbolizes following your intuition and instincts, trusting in your inner guidance.

The Crustacean coming out the water represents that in order to evolve emotionally you have to allow yourself to be open in the face of uncertainty and mystery. The dog and the wolf represent the more regulated and primal aspect of our psyche, that in order to come to a place of integration of these opposites we have to walk our path into the unknown. The towers can represent a defense from the subconscious material from our minds, while also as a security from the illusions and deceptions that can occur when we don't filter our emotions through reason.

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I sincerely hope that this clears up any misconceptions about these five major arcana cards and if they should show up in a reading you can understand the lesson involved instead of believing the voice of fear.

Have a wonderful day

Tito at Freespiritmagick