Death and the Death card, know what you are doing.

I had a frantic caller yesterday. A client who sometimes "reads her own cards" (always a bad idea), saw the death card and was very upset. She wanted to know who was going to die. Well, all of us, and no one right now. One of the worst things you can do for yourself is read your own cards, the second worst is read your own cards when you really do not know what you are doing.

The Universe has one secret it always keeps. Death. Death and passing through the veil, is much too important and significant to be told to us.Some see disasters , yes, but usually not an individual's death. If you knew a death date of a loved one, what would you do? The answer is not as simple as it seems, and you would most likely be too upset to trek to the top of Mount Everest.

Death messages do come in subtle ways like "You need to speak to your brother". Of course messages like that do not always mean he is going to die, but that is a way death messages may come across.

So then what IS the death card all about???? I think a better name for it would be "Death/rebirth". The death card is an ending yes, but its' inherent message is, "and a new beginning". People forget to tack on the important part at the end. Many times when I am reading on the phone , people will ask me what cards I laid down. I won't tell them. First of all, if you want to interpret the cards yourself, do a reading. Second of all, I read the cards psychically, so I get more information that non psychics. people will say "Well how did you get that from those cards?" My psychic abilities My Pretty!!

I also have, and so does every reader who has read a lot, cards that mean something to me. They don't mean it to you, just to me. This doesn't make me special, it happens to everyone who forms a bond with the cards. I also go through them so quickly (I don't have to stop and think to look the cards up in a book), that I go through the messages coming in quickly, and I don't remember all the cards that go down (usually 10-15 for a complicated question).

So , going back to "Death". There are many meanings to each card. Death is no exception. It is first a major arcana card, which means that it is something Karmic, something that you cannot change, it is a major life event/person. Here is where you need to know what you are doing. You have to interpret the card in response to a question. General readings are harder for interpretation as you have nothing to go on, and have to really scrutinize cards around it and trust your intuition or psychic ability. Does the card mean a person or situation? What person? What meaning of the card? When that happens I feel I am doing a psychic reading, not a tarot reading, and it actually slows down things for me. My psychic brain and my brain that reads the cards, are two different brain waves, doing both at once is a juggling act that I have down pretty good, but when I then have to "think" on top of it all, it makes it harder for no reason. It makes me waste precious client time, and not get as clear a picture as I can.

I keep digressing from "Death". It is a major arcana card and it can represent a person, or a situation, all tarot cards do. Death is more "situation representative" than representing a person. In the rare case it is a person, it represents a Scorpio sign, and a person who deals in death. An undertaker, a grave digger, a crime scene analyst can all be represented by "Death". Death's main message is that something has run its' course, and change needs to occur. It can be a message to end something that needs to end, or that something is about to end. All of the decideing which come from experience and /or other talents. Other messages from the card are Rebirth of something that you let go of; a corrupt situation; a need to let go of old ideas and ways of doing things; transformation; endings; embrace the new; let go of the old; life transitions like marriage to divorce or the opposite; radical change; adaption ; embrace new opportunities; trust in what lies ahead.

The meaning of the death card in all of those meanings was never "you are going to die". Be careful how you read because you can ask how someone's relative with a serious illness is doing , see the Death card, and impart the bad news, just to learn that the death was the ending of the disease!

Reading tarot is not as simple as picking up a book and reading card meanings. Read first, then apprentice with an expert. Make sure you note any personal meanings of cards so that you pick up on a meaning no one else would have. Never try to read cards that another person puts down. Their methods, layouts and personal associations with the cards may make their reading totally different from your interpretations. There is not a set meaning, one for each card that always comes through. If I had to pick one meaning for "Death" it would be "drastic change involving an ending".

The metaphysical world is not for dabblers or people who learned all they know from a TV show. Learn from the experts, and NEVER read your own cards!



Peshaui Wequashimese


(C)2012 Dr R M Wolf. May not be used, copied or reproduced without prior written permission