Death ☠️

A while back, the podcast covered Death, #13 in the major arcana. Death, like every other major arcana card, is largely metaphorical. It's not about literally dying, it's about transformation and rebirth. But can Death be literal? In tarot, anything is possible. 

The white flower on Death's flag isn't just any flower. It's a Tudor Rose, the heraldic symbol of the House of Tudor. The rose's white color symbolizes purity and innocence, and on Death, this color symbolism communicates that Death isn't vengeful or malicious, but a completely neutral part of life. Death's horse is white as well, and this could also be interpreted as a reference to the Book of Revelation, where "Death rode in on a pale horse.”

However, this is a somewhat modern depiction of Death. In decks that came before the Rider Waite Smith, Death is often depicted as a reaper at harvest time. Take a look at these depictions from a range of decks that predate the Rider Waite Smith deck:

Thematically, this is a bit of a different take, isn't it? Instead of Death simply marching into the scene and ushering in the next phase, these older cards present Death as a farmer tasked with harvesting this season's crop. This isn't a totally foreign concept to most of us. The Grim Reaper, as a figure, symbolizes this theme. We can also trace older decks' depiction of Death to depictions of Saturn, the Roman God of the Harvest. Saturn was typically depicted as an old man with a sickle, and over time, lent his image to Father Time. 

Father Time in the Rotunda Clock at the Library of Congress, USA

So how does this connect to the Death card? Or to Saturn? 

Because Saturn, the God of agriculture and the harvest, was tasked with reaping what we've grown and cultivated, clearing the fields so the next season can begin. Think about how New Year's Eve often incorporates symbols of Father Time giving way to Baby New Year—it's out with the old, in with the new, and the cycle goes on and on. In Roman mythology, Saturn gave up his throne to his son, Jupiter, similarly symbolizing the process of clearing the old to make way for the new. There’s more to the story, like him eating his kids, but let’s not get too off-track here 😉

See how that fits with Death's themes? At this point, you might be asking why Death is associated with Scorpio, then, and not Capricorn or Aquarius, since those are the signs ruled by Saturn. I don't know. If you know, or you have a theory, I'd love to hear it. Seriously, we're all learning, and I still learn new things about the tarot all the time. DM me on Instagram or shoot me an email at omg@omgtarot.com. 

My educated guess is that Scorpio is the sign associated with scraping through facades to reveal the truth, with the ultimate goal of transformation. There's a reason you can't get anything past a Scorpio—they see right through any kind of falseness or fluff and will call you right out on it. Scorpio isn't afraid to dig deep if that's what they've got to do to reach the truth. Once they've got the truth, they can twist it and take it apart and put it together again and create something completely new. I think this fits Death's theme of coming to terms with stark reality and then undergoing a rebirth more closely than the themes of Capricorn and Aquarius, which are (to make it really quick here) essentially money control power organization and weirdness innovation refusal to conform, respectively. 

In a way, that makes Death a great card for this time of year. You're slashing away what’s left of the old year, taking whatever you can, so you move into the new year ready for whatever it throws your way. Maybe Death is associated with Scorpio and not Capricorn because on the Wheel of the Year, aka the Pagan calendar, Samhain (October 31) is the end of the year. Samhain occurs during Scorpio season (Oct 22-Nov 21, approximately), and as the third harvest, it's the time to take any last bits of what you've accomplished that year as you prepare for the new year. It's the end, you're done, and now your harvest is going to sustain you through the darker half of the year. 

(And then our modern New Year's occurs during Capricorn season, which makes a lot more sense given its themes of setting goals and being willing to play the long game to achieve success.)

So if you pull Death, don't be afraid. It means change is underway. Big change. Dramatic change. The kind of change that will leave you feeling renewed afterward. 

If you pull the 10 of Swords, on the other hand…

We'll talk about that next time 😁

If you missed the Death episode of the Omg Tarot! podcast, listen to it here: