Am I Going to Die?
The first thing that comes to mind when a novice client sees the Death Card in a reading is that they are going to die, or that something bad will happen to them. The fear this card instills in people is mostly due to Hollywood’s dramatic interpretation of the tarot cards. And peoples lack of knowledge about how the tarot works.
Now there are some thrill seekers who haven’t been thrown by this card coming up in their reading when they know nothing about the tarot. And for those open minded and adventurous souls, I salute you. Because you’re actually right on the money! The Death Card is the opposite of what people think it is. Yes, it is death. The falling away of outdated ideas, things that aren’t working or situations that are holding us back in life. But duality is a big part of life and you cannot have death without rebirth, which is the other meaning of this card.
Death comes for all of us, regardless of age, race, social status or gender. It’s the ultimate equalizer. In death we are all the same. And when things fall away, there is room for new things to come in. Whether this is a new generation of individuals, a new mindset, or even a new lifestyle. When this card appears it rarely signifies an actual human death, but the ending of something that isn’t working and the space to creates to replace it with something better that will.
Let’s get to the question on everyone’s minds – “Have you ever seen death in the cards?” My personal answer is no. The tarot has an interesting way of working. Usually it shows you someone’s death as a release of burdens, a happy transition or a new adventure. Because that’s how tarot sees this event. So when you are reading you might not even catch this for what it is. I’m sure there are people who read that will predict things like this. But for me, that’s not how Spirit wants me to work with people.
If you want to get a better understanding of the energy of this card, and what a death/rebirth energy is like, all you have to do is picture a woman’s closet. We all know her. The girl who has so many clothes hung up that she can barely pull out a shirt. Where the top shelf is stacked to the ceiling and shoes spill out of it like a waterfall. Realistically she doesn’t wear over half of these clothes. They’re outdated, they don’t fit anymore, or she just doesn’t like them. But she can’t buy anything new that fits unless she clears some space. This is the exact energy of the Death Card. Spirit has cleaned out your closet to get rid of what’s not working in order to make room for new things that do.
Lastly I want to take a quick moment to discuss what this card is like should it come up reversed in a tarot reading. It simply means that instead of the energy moving, it is stagnant. So if you see this reversed, you might want to start making some changes to get things flowing again in the right direction.
To hear me talk about this in person, check out my video “Is the Death Card Bad?”
“Death follows stagnation.” – T.F. Hodge