XIII-Death

I know this too shall pass

This highly revered card does not signify physical death. It heralds the death of a particular situation externally, or part of you internally. Like all major transitions it brings with it substantial amounts of grief, anxiety, hopelessness and fear. The end of a chapter in life can be hard to accept, but accept it you must if you wish to move on.

Death depicts the ghostly resonance of an inhabited skeleton floating in space. An abstract environment with golden mathematical patterns, nature, numbers, flowers and other symbols indicate transformation. The skull and withered leaves denote death and decay, the life and juice sucked out of form. The brilliant and seductive orchid blossoms represent regeneration – virility, sexuality and fertility, the potent visual, sensory, language of flowers.

Death and Birth are twins, intimately linked. We can’t have one without the other, they work together. One leads to the other and the presence of one calls to the presence of the other. In a very real sense, we are living the cycles of death and rebirth all the time. Every night we sleep we experience a mini death, the dissolution of awareness of the physical body makes way for the mental dream body, which then dissolves to enter deep sleep, silent, empty awareness.

On his deathbed the great philosopher, Socrates exhorted his followers to practice dying as the highest form of wisdom. The Tibetans don’t view life as a straight line from a to b like we do in the West. Rather it’s seen as a full circle where birth and death connect with one another like an electricity circuit that conducts energy.

According to most branches of religion and mystical tradition, it is the soul, the repository of integrity and neutrality as witness, that continues or transmigrates beyond death. Mind with its memories, ideas and values are left behind with the body at death.

Death indicates that sudden and unexpected change is eminent. The ending of a major phase or aspect of your life is to be trusted. Death is the master cleanser. If you surrender to the process of dissolution, the letting go of situations and ways of being that you have outgrown, allowing it to unfold naturally, there will be much new growth, new life. We can use death as a catalyst to awaken life.  Ponder for example, how you would live life if you knew you were going to die in a year’s time? What authentic risks would you take, what conversations would you have? A Year to Live by Stephen Levine suggests that we don’t wait for a death sentence. With every breath you take, someone in the world dies. Death, darkness and difficulty are needed as much as light, ease and flow.