I remember the first time I had a tarot card reading, I was seventeen. I grew up in a very Roman Catholic household which although open-minded about things like seeing mediums (my Mom had seen her fair share here and there) my family never really went to psychics. So there I was in the client’s chair nervously shuffling my deck and handing them back to my reader, who split them three times and laid them out…anxiously, I peered at what I saw and was horrified to see Death!

Of course, this terrified seventeen year old (and rather uneducated in the art of tarot at that time) me: I kept thinking ‘am I going to die?!”. Ironically enough, when I was a very young girl I always had dreams that I was gonna die in a car accident having been hit by a drunk driver, this fear had crippled me for years (in fact it took every ounce of bravery I had when I turned seventeen to go to the DMV and get tested for my license). Did this card mean I was going to die young and this was going to happen to me?

The psychic I had could see my discomfort and reassured me that while I wasn’t going to die, something around me was. You see, the Death Card augurs a time when a chapter in our life comes to a close, for me at the time, two months from turning eighteen and on the cusp of graduating high school it was my grade school career that was coming to a close and my college career which was about to begin. Thus began my love of tarot, AND the Death Card.

Now, the Death Card is associated with the number thirteen and while twelve is considered a perfect number in the Major arcana good ol’ thirteen disrupts that sense of perfection. It’s ruled by the planet Saturn and its element is associated with water. Water itself is both very healing and nurturing but water could hurt and destroy too (Hurricanes in the past that produced damaging floods which sweep away both homes, businesses and can wipe out communities is proof of that). What can we take away from receiving the Death Card? I’ll give you the “bad” news first, and I use this term very loosely because I happen to LOVE the Death Card.

The bad news about the Death Card is that something (generally something that’s familiar and comforting) must come to an end. It basically tells us we need to give something we have up, no matter what. This could negatively impact someone’s life if the Death Card is referring to a relationship or perhaps even your long time and long held job. It may change and challenge the way you think which could be downright scary for people who like to stay within lines and never challenge status quo.

I’ll give you a perfect example: Being Clairsentient and Clairvoyant in a Catholic household for me made me turn my back on my gifts which GOD himself gave me. Being both was hard, I often chose my religion over exploring my gifts and empowering my relationship with Jesus Christ by using them. I believe we are all intuitive, I believe that we have the right as children of God to access him on our own whenever we want. Church is a great source of comfort for me and I really love my church community but I also do not go to confession because I believe that I can access God by using my own intuitive abilities and yes for me that entails what some may call divination in the form of tarot and even scrying by looking into the clouds for messages and signs from Him and his angels. I wanted to be able to talk to my spirit guides, access the archangels and connect with my savior, Jesus Christ, who wouldn’t?

The God I love, who loves me unconditionally, wouldn’t shun me for pushing the limits here on Earth just to be close to him. God wants that. I truly believe that we are all sent to earth as a finishing school, and when we are done we get to go home to heaven. I also believe like any loving parent, God the Father gave us all intuitive gifts so we can ‘phone home’ whenever we need to. Our intuitive gifts and embracing them is a GPS from our loving Father to get us HOME to him, where he’s excited to receive us.

The ultimate thing that God cares about in my mind is how well we love those around us. The golden rule is that we are supposed to love one another and reaching out to access him, as long as a protective prayer and positive intent is set beforehand is never wrong in my eyes. I like to think of my tarot cards as a way of praying on the multi-sensory level. I have never contacted demons (nor do I plan to) and I make my intent very clear before I even begin that “whatever doesn’t walk in Christ’s light is not welcome”. I have received nothing but loving and beautiful messages from the other side which have helped both myself and my friends. So what does this story have to do with the Death Card? Everything!

When I decided to not hide that part of myself (the gifted and intuitive side of me) from my close friends and family, that symbolized the death of the way I was thinking. I was living a more authentic life and happier to boot for it! Sure, it was scary-as change often is, and I felt alone at times but not being who I was had to end. Enter the Death Card.

That brings us to the good news about the Death Card. The good news was once I got past that negative pattern of thought that I was “bad” for experiencing moments of clairvoyance and constant clairsentience (that’s a whole nother blog topic of itself) I came out on the other side stronger spiritually then ever! The Death Card challenges us to go through a spiritual transformation which-while sometimes painful and isolating-is so worth it in the end. Death itself is proof that while all things (including all of our lives one day) are going to come to an end, our life doesn’t end with our bodies our souls go on. Similarly, in life there are seasons and while inevitably every door must close one day another door always opens and we too must go on.

Instead when the Death Card comes up, we need to see not only the ending of a chapter but the beautiful beginning of another. The death card allows us to put our destiny and the free will that God gave us into our own hands. It means that just as in the picture above, how Hades stands before the kneeling, naked people who are willing to give him anything to keep things the same change,like death itself, is inevitable. In readings, Death stands to show us all an important ending is on the horizon that will initiate great change. It signals the end of an era; a moment when a door is closing. At such times, there may be sadness and reluctance, but also relief and a sense of completion. As mentioned above, every single ending is a precursor to a new beginning.

Keywords to keep in mind with the Death Card: The End of An Era, Inevitable Change, Getting Back To Basics (a wake up call to refocus your attention on what’s REALLY important), Leaving The Past Behind (closing a deal, moving on from former lovers and friends, starting a new job), Transition, Starting Fresh and Putting Power Back in YOUR hands.

Please note that when you receive the Death Card in your reading and it is reversed this often means that you are reluctant to this change and are unwilling to let go of unhealthy habits, people and environments. It may be that you’re unable to move on. The Death Card reversed calls us to examine the things in our lives which do not serve us and like Elsa from ‘Frozen’ once said, “Let It Go!”

So next time you get the Death Card in your reading don’t freak out, with every inevitable ending comes an even better beginning!

Love you. Mean it.

Brittany

Xoxo