Trump XIII - DEATH
Basic meaning: change.
Meanings: Death, ancestor, recycling, change, cult of the dead, saints, holy death, rot, decay, smell, mummy, autopsy, funeral, the end of time etc. Card XIII Death is also one of the most ditinct depictions of the mystery of time in Tarot. We had IX The Hermit, as instant time, or the moment of silence, even a very small amount of time- here and now, then X The Wheel of Fortune as all time of the Universe, while Death is the fatal moment of termination of time. Another kind of symbolism links this card with XIV Temperance and XV The Devil, with which it makes a triad skeleton-angel-devil in a row, which indicates the trinity of human nature. Death is here depicted as the seed of the future.
Aleister Crowley said that the image on the card is Osiris in Amenta, or the god of death in his ambient. Eliphas Levi sees a symbol of a special branch of magic in this card - necromancy, raising the dead and communication with the dead. According to Austin Osman Spare’s Alphabet of Desire, this card may be associated with disgust.
In Paul Foster Case’s cube of space The Death represents its southwestern upward face which matches my opinion since its astrological attribution is the sign of Scorpio. Thus The Death represents a line dividing the south (right) side of the cube-regeneration (XIX The Sun) and west (back) side of the cube-understanding the flow of things (X The Wheel of Fortune). Let us remind that the line which is located opposite of The Death on the northeast is also determined by the card which belongs to the cardinal sign (Taurus) and that is V The Hierophant, or memory. In Sparean manner, it is disgust opposed to fervor.
Attributes:
According to the Golden Dawn system, card Death is linked to the Hebrew letter Nun whose attribute is the sign of Scorpio, while in Christian system, the attribute of Death is letter M.
According to Agrippa, Latin letter which corresponds to the sign of Scorpio is N. On the Tree of Life, path that represents Death card connects sixth solar sephiroth Tipharet and seventh sephirot Netzah, whose planetary attribute is Venus. In microcosm, it is an imagined line which links left hip and solar plexus. Basic color of this arcana is bluish-green. The Death card can be connected with geomantic figure Rubeus whose basic message is „don’t hurry”.
Oswald Wirth connects The Death with the constellation Draco whose most important stars are Etamin and Alwaid.
