DEATH

Death is the thirteenth key to the Major Arcana in Tarot.  The Element of Death is Water and the zodiac affiliation of Death is Scorpio.

Qualities of Death are Change, Cycles, and Release.  Alternate names for Death are Transformation, and The Skeleton.  Symbols are Horse, Flag, River, Towers.

In German Death is called Der Tod.  In French, La Mort.  And in Italian, Il Morte, Lo Specchio, La Morte, Il Tredicesimo, and Uguaglianza.

SYMBOLOGY

Astride a snow-white horse, death rides, carrying a black flag often emblazoned with a white pattern, the contrast mirroring day and night and the endless cycle, yin and yang.  At times portrayed standing, his reaping scythe in hand, Death is depicted in most decks as a fearsome living skeleton.  He often is shown wearing armor, a sign of his invincibilikty, while his white horse represents purity and innocence.  On the ground at his feet are the lifeless bodies of a king, a pope, and a pauper, indicating that death comes to all, regardless of class or age or wealth.  His flag's pattern is often a five-petal white rose, representing immorality, and the light of transformation.  In the background, a river flows, suggesting a path to the underworld or the afterlife.  In the distance, between two high towers, the sun sets (or is it rising?), symbolizing the transition between day and night, life and death, and decay and rebirth.

ATTRIBUTES

With endings come new beginnings.  The Death card brings with it transformation, radical elimination, and rebirth.  The past is behind us, the future ahead.  Death asks us for total cleansing, for abandoning the old in favor of the new.  He breaks habit and reconstructs new pathways in the mind.  He asks that one let go and move on, close one door and open another.  He is the purge, cleansing us from within.  He signifies profound metamorphosis and transmutation.  He is the shedding of the skin, purification through destruction.  He demands transition, change, and renewal.  He destroys in order to rebuild.