Transformation - The Death Card

It doesn't seem to matter how many times I draw the Death card from my Mythic Tarot deck, it still startles me even though I know full well this is a positive card about transformation. It is a personal kind of transformation that it speaks of a dying to old behaviours, becoming someone new, evolved and changed in some way for the better. It certainly isn't a negative, nor is it a indication of physical death. Regardless, I still have that initial visceral reaction every time it comes up for me.

I suspect the reason for this, has to do with having experiencing a lot of death in my own life, and I do think about it, which I believe is a good thing, because we live in a society that is preoccupied with keeping death at a distance, and having a negative outlook.  However, I am in need to get out of my head and get prepared for a good death. There I said it. So I have to ask myself, how to prepare for this and figure out just what this means to me, and then makes plans to ensure that this is implemented, when ever that time comes.

We have in our society the big business of funeral homes, an obsession with youth, ageism, and a resistance to openly broach the subject, causing us and resulting in our having a fearful attitude toward death, and an existing denial of the natural life-death-life cycle.

Over the years I have become more and more interested in how death has the most to teach me about life. It is good to know that I am not alone in having this perspective, and organizations like The Order of The Good Death, can help people to transform their perceptions about death and dying.

Transcendence - The World

The World is a reassuring card that I have drawn today, after this past week which has be a rather difficult one. A sense of completion and wholeness, the ideal goal in the cycle of life, that goes on as they say, and we are left often trying to figure out what it all means. There are often no answers to our questions, but I do believe with the depth of my soul, that there is the power to transcend, through a spiritual awakening, the kind the Carl Jung referred to regardless of your religious belief.

Life being so full of ups and downs, we all pass through various phases, that present a variety of challenges. It can be very difficult to find joy when we are at the low ebbs of the cycle. I compare life to the weather. Wait a while, and it will change. If there is nothing we can do, then we can do nothing, but wait for the storms to pass, and take what joy we can, out of the moments we have, and be grateful for the seemingly  insignificant little things, as well as the major events in life.

All the elements come into play in the last card of the major Arcana. The unborn potential and capacity of the personality leads the birth of the Fool which completes the circle of life.

The World causes me to reflect on the Winter Solstice which is fast approaching, heralding the end of darkness and beginning of new light. In the cycle of life, life begins, ends and begins again.

"The great cycle of the Major Arcana ends where it begins." -The Mythic Tarot

Skeleton Woman - Catherine Meyers

Death - How Death Can Save Your Life

I drew the Death card this morning, and I was glad, because in spite of it's dark foreboding appearance, and looking like Darth Vader, it is an affirming card, that reminds me to be willing to accept change as being a huge part of life, a card representing acceptance of change, transition or transformation, so that rebirth can occur. The little folk beneath, seem welcoming, one even offers a flower, and they are not running away.

Change is not a walk in the park, as there are always varying degrees of trepidation, and some real anxiety when things happen, as we can feel everything is out of control. With acceptance, making the decision to let go, realizing I am not in control, along with the choices I make, this is what can alter my life for the better.

My whole attitude, and outlook changed twenty years ago, after I chose to live a sober life, and I have been in transition ever since. Letting go of the old self, is a kind of death, because of this willingness to change, letting go of the old life, and embracing my new life, that was what saved me from a dead end road. You don't have to be physically dead, to not be fully alive.

There is much to be learned through this card, and through actual physical death, which contemporary society keeps at arms length. Death has much to teach us about life and it can even save our lives.

The Hermit - The Way To Wisdom

I love the Hermit card, as I have always had a thirst to understand spiritual matters. This is a card of strong healing, as a result of solitude, loneliness, patience, and from which comes, insight and understanding.

 Who is this Hermit? He is the ancient God Cronos, who's name means time. The Fool, the first Major Arcana card of the Tarot deck, has four moral lessons to learn, and the last of these, is the lesson of time within the cycle of life, and the lesson of mortality.

Deciding to move to the countryside, being in close contact with nature, has allowed me to focus my mind and heart. Through quite reflection, and the solitude of living alone has provided me with serenity amidst the storms of life.

Spending my childhood and early youth, and early adulthood in the city, I understand all that it has to offer. As an adult I came to the realization I was unhappy, and that I was the only person responsible for my own happiness. After asking myself, when was I the happiest in life, the answer came to me immediately. It was when I spent hours in the country. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to now live in rural Nova Scotia for twenty years.

Some folks don't understand why someone would want to live in the country. I understand why folks want to live in more urban city locations, but I know I would be very unhappy, and out of touch with that serenity and solace, that I had longed for since I was a child.

There is a deep part of my soul that has become the Hermit, and believe this is why I identify with this card so much.

 I think of the wise words that the late Robin Williams echos my thoughts and feelings about the Hermit.

  " I used to think the worst thing in life is to end up all alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone." 

Canada Geese - The View From My Studio - Catherine Meyers Photography

Death - A Time For Endings

 
 As I make my way through my daily study, through the 22 Major Arcana cards, today the Death card was what came to mind; the card that signifies a time for endings, and is the 13th card in the Major Arcana.

The Death card I don't often see in readings, but when it comes up in a spread, many folks are fearful of seeing this card. It is by no means an indication of physical Death, but a card of transition and transformation. We need to accept and let go of what was, in order to embrace and allow for our soul's future growth and change. In a way, I think of it a kind of shape shifting card were we can transform ourselves in some way if we can let go of past issues that are holding us back. We die to the old and are re-birthed into anew kind of being, in better circumstance.

A major change is needed and due! The destruction of the old is a blessing in disguise, though we are saddened and are mourning,  it signifies the end of a cycle, or a way of life, where we relinquish an old dream, an attitude, or a way of being in the world and this is replaced with a new beginning. How we handle this experience depends on our capacity for acceptance and recognition for the necessity of endings.

Death is always our invisible companion throughout our lives, and all part of the life-death-life-cycle.
If you are faced with an ending, this is a good time for a reading to receive insight into the darkness, and to help you prepare for the new beginning that awaits you.