euripides Posted August 11, 2022 Posted August 11, 2022 Do you have a favourite Death card? One that offers a rich or pointed understanding, or is interesting or beautiful? (perhsps one where the guidebook reveals some insightful interpretation)?
gregory Posted August 11, 2022 Posted August 11, 2022 (edited) Death is my FAVOURITE card. It's very hard to choose ONE, but my most INTERESTING one is the Ansata: I don't have it with me, but I found an image on line: it's one fascinating deck... Edited August 11, 2022 by gregory
Niobium Posted August 11, 2022 Posted August 11, 2022 Oh what a cool card, @gregory! Shadowscapes has a Phoenix bursting into flame at the end of its life, which I particularly like:
vulprix Posted August 11, 2022 Posted August 11, 2022 I have to give my top spot to the Death card of the Pagan Otherworlds Tarot. It is the card which pushed me above all other cards to support the Kickstarter for the deck. It is simple but direct in its symbolism, and there is so much movement and intense energy in the still image. I find it understated, powerful, and perfect.
KiMo Posted August 11, 2022 Posted August 11, 2022 On reading the thread title I thought to myself 'oooh definitely the Death card from the Pagan Otherworlds tarot!' and was about to run off to take a photo of it but you beat me to it @vulprix 😅 As you say it just has an energy to it.
euripides Posted August 12, 2022 Author Posted August 12, 2022 (edited) Oh that is an evocative card, @gregory. Lot of layers and that surrealist feel. Hints of Geiger and Bosch. The Pagan Otherworlds has such a strong composition but without being cartoony. It's certainly uncompromising! The Shadowscapes reminds me of Stravinsky's Firebird. I'll have to have a think about my favorites. I'm kind of doing a bit of a deep dive into this card at the moment. The Gaian's is really lovely. It really speaks to the cycle of life, letting go, and the inevitable decay and return to the earth of things, but with the gentle aesthetic of this lovely deck, it's kind of comforting at the same time. The guidebook reminds the reader of the Otherworld in celtic mythologies lying in the West, and travelers setting off on their last journey by boat. Oddly, the Ten of Water, depicting dead and spawning salmon, is a more disturbing card though similar in themes. Edited August 12, 2022 by euripides
Flaxen Posted August 12, 2022 Posted August 12, 2022 These are all lovely examples. Death is also one of my favourite cards in the tarot and it’s hard to pick out just one favourite. However, I’ll go for the Thoth as it was the Death card which really drew me in to buying this deck - I love how it conveys a sense of dance and movement. Of the more modern decks, I like the depiction in the Dinosaures de Marseilles - bit of humour.
Pretzel Posted August 12, 2022 Posted August 12, 2022 (edited) I didn't have to think twice. For me it's the death card from Influence of the Angels. As the book says "when one phase ends, the next begins". It's just beautiful, as is the whole deck. Edited August 12, 2022 by Pretzel
DanielJUK Posted August 12, 2022 Posted August 12, 2022 Here are some of my faves from my tarot collection. I have to say Death is not my fave card, I loathe dealing with change 😿 I captured these myself.... Death in the Gay Tarot by Lee Bursten 😭 I think this was aimed at queer generations before mine but what happened after the 80's AIDS epidemic to the LGBTQ+ community and allies and loved ones left? What happened to the survivors whose lives were changed? Death in the Wild Unknown Tarot So simple and minimalistic, a bird's skeleton spread out on the ground, it almost looks like it's smiling. The intention about this card is strongly about transformation, the bird has changed form, it has transitioned! This is one is very about transition in the written text. A connection in the deck is that The Fool is a baby chick on a branch, is it the same bird? I wonder Death in the Enchanted Tarot The skeleton looks smiling and almost like dancing! There are multiple layers in this card and multiple fabrics. The official text is about going through multiple things, casting away the old layers and you can see new growth around the card image. Death in the Modern Witch Tarot This is a modern updated take of the classic RWS image Death in the Pearls of Wisdom Tarot This is one of my fave all time decks, the lady is transitioning in life. She throws away the masks she wore in the past (from the official text) and steps into a new time in her life. I think these are all wonderful and interesting, so did a selection 🙂
Mirath Posted August 13, 2022 Posted August 13, 2022 Right now, I’d have to say the Death card from the Steampunk deck by Barbara Moore. Not only is it a pretty card (second prettiest in that deck, personally - Two of Cups definitely holds prettiest card!), but because of the feelings it invoked when I look at it. The way that Death is casting a glance back at the man laying red roses for his beloved passed on, gives me that feeling that ‘It’s time to go’ - I’d like to specify NOT in a ‘move on from this emotion’ way, but a ‘change has happened, flow with it’ way.
Chariot Posted August 21, 2022 Posted August 21, 2022 (edited) The most interesting Death card I've got is the one from the Gregory Scott Tarot Deck. It depicts the aura of transformation ...not an overblown, melodramatic image, but just one of calm and peace. Definitely gives off a 'better place' vibe. This is not a card that would scare anybody. Of course it also doesn't dwell on the idea that Death can be an unpleasant period to go through—that it's sometimes difficult to let go of old notions, things, ways of doing things, or actual people ...losing something we valued is never easy. This card depicts the next step, after fear and resistance has gone. If the card is reversed, it will make the seeker long for this change and sense of peace, so it will make it easy to let go of the past and accept the changes inherent in this card. I have not used this deck to read for another person yet, but I think it might be a good one to try. There are a few other interesting and useful deviations from the usual Rider-Waite images in this deck, but the meaning of the cards has been well re-interpreted in many cases—although like with any deck, there are also card designs I'm not that fond of ...but that's another topic. Edited August 21, 2022 by Chariot adding a bit of opinion - nobody has reacted to this post yet, so I figured it was okay to amend it
euripides Posted August 25, 2022 Author Posted August 25, 2022 On 8/21/2022 at 5:08 PM, Chariot said: The most interesting Death card I've got is the one from the Gregory Scott Tarot Deck. It depicts the aura of transformation ...not an overblown, melodramatic image, but just one of calm and peace. Definitely gives off a 'better place' vibe. This is not a card that would scare anybody. Of course it also doesn't dwell on the idea that Death can be an unpleasant period to go through—that it's sometimes difficult to let go of old notions, things, ways of doing things, or actual people ...losing something we valued is never easy. This card depicts the next step, after fear and resistance has gone. If the card is reversed, it will make the seeker long for this change and sense of peace, so it will make it easy to let go of the past and accept the changes inherent in this card. I have not used this deck to read for another person yet, but I think it might be a good one to try. There are a few other interesting and useful deviations from the usual Rider-Waite images in this deck, but the meaning of the cards has been well re-interpreted in many cases—although like with any deck, there are also card designs I'm not that fond of ...but that's another topic. Interesting card! Thanks for sharing. It leaves a lot of room for the reader's insight, doesn't it. I love your thoughts about letting go and that transition into longing for peace. I've not seen this deck - I'll check it out.
euripides Posted August 25, 2022 Author Posted August 25, 2022 On 8/13/2022 at 12:08 AM, DanielJUK said: Death in the Pearls of Wisdom Tarot This is one of my fave all time decks, the lady is transitioning in life. She throws away the masks she wore in the past (from the official text) and steps into a new time in her life. I think these are all wonderful and interesting, so did a selection 🙂 These are all amazing but this last one really struck me. It's probably a deck I'd not have chosen myself but this card really speaks to me. That symbolism of throwing away the mask is perfect
Agnes Posted August 25, 2022 Posted August 25, 2022 (edited) These are the 12 (!!!) Death cards in the Alleyman’s Tarot, an extremely unconventional deck that I’m working with right now. I’m trying to get the hang of the differences and decide if there’s any point in splitting them off as separate cards rather then keeping them in mind as possible meanings for the basic card. From top left they are: Death (stubborn), Death (rebirth), Death (fire), Death (blood), Death (motel), Death (dancing), Death (riding), Death (sowing), Death (shovel), Death, The Mourning Death, and The Smoking Death. The final card is Father Sleep, the king of the strange suit, who basically sounds like death to me. If anyone wants to know the original decks these came from, let me know. (Edited to add that all cards were included in this deck with permission, either from the creator or from the museum that holds the antique card.) Edited August 25, 2022 by Agnes To assuage fears of copyright violation.
Chariot Posted August 26, 2022 Posted August 26, 2022 On 8/25/2022 at 11:24 AM, euripides said: These are all amazing but this last one really struck me. It's probably a deck I'd not have chosen myself but this card really speaks to me. That symbolism of throwing away the mask is perfect Yes, that is a very interesting card, and not a scary one. It gives lots of food for thought. I rather like the idea of a non-scary Death card that depicts the actual act of transformation from old to new. Not because I can't rise above the usual skeleton, but simply because Death doesn't usually mean physical death. In fact, it rarely does. However, try explaining that to people you're reading for. Most folks get shivers when the Death card comes up. It would be great to be able to portray the act as a beneficial one, without having to explain away a scary image. I can't help remembering what I read once ...and I can't remember where ...that if the card forecasts your own death, it will only be right once! I know I've got the death card umpteen times in readings for myself, and hey ho-I'm still here!
Kneeling Posted October 29, 2022 Posted October 29, 2022 There isn't a specific card for Death in the so called "Tarocchi di Mantegna", but the Saturn card there seems as deathly as any. The sense of time, doom, fate, decay, the indiscriminate, inescapable, and final, is most potently signified. You have as well C. S. Lewis' grim passage on Saturn in his "The Planets": "Up far beyond Goes SATURN silent in the seventh region, The skirts of the sky. Scant grows the light, Sickly, uncertain (the Sun’s finger Daunted with darkness). Distance hurts us, And the vault severe of vast silence; Where fancy fails us, and fair language, And love leaves us, and light fails us And Mars fails us, and the mirth of Jove Is as tin tinkling. In tattered garment, Weak with winters, he walks forever A weary way, wide round the heav’n, Stoop’d and stumbling, with staff groping, The lord of lead. He is the last planet Old and ugly. His eye fathers Pale pestilence, pain of envy, Remorse and murder. Melancholy drink (For bane or blessing) of bitter wisdom He pours out for his people, a perilous draught That the lip loves not."
Wyrdkiss Posted October 29, 2022 Posted October 29, 2022 (edited) I enjoy this one from the Nightsun Tarot. The pregnancy has deep symbolic significance. Edited October 29, 2022 by Wyrdkiss
AnomalyTempest Posted October 29, 2022 Posted October 29, 2022 This Death from XIII Tarot is probably my favorite. At least right now. I can't help thinking he's the result of a hook-up between the High Priestess and Tower.
Grandma Posted October 29, 2022 Posted October 29, 2022 What a fascinating thread - so much information, such beautiful art! Thank you to all who have contributed! This is not a Tarot Death card but I thought it should be so I included it in my own deck which only Grandpa and I have ever seen. The Getty has made it available for anyone without regard to copyright - I forget what that program is called. BURIAL OF ATALA after 1808 Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson French 1767-1824 The J. Paul Getty Museum Los Angeles, CA http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/925/anne-louis-girodet-de-roucy-trioson-french-1767-1824/
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