Tarot Archetype: #13 Death
To embody the archetype of Death: grasp shears and revel in the rotting flesh that eventually feeds something new.
Please read about the Tarot Tracklist for my approach working with the tarot cards.
Content warnings: Talking about the representation of death and dying
The Death of a Caterpillar
When a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, the wings don’t simply sprout from the body. First, the caterpillar splits its skin open, shedding its former exterior. The outer skin hardens into a chrysalis, while the caterpillar digests itself into a formless goo. While key anatomy remains in tact, like breathing tubes, new elements are awakened, like the imaginal discs. The goo rebuilds its body from inside out. Eventually, a butterfly breaks out of the chrysalis, the last of its former vessel, and into the world anew.
This is metamorphosis.
This is #13 Death.
Introduction to Death
When I started Tarot Tracklist, I was looking forward to discussing Death, as it’s my favorite card in the tarot. When the time came, I met a silent brick wall of writer’s block.
And then at 12:52 a.m. on a Friday morning, minutes before my melatonin kicked in, I knew where to start: at the beginning.
Maybe not at the beginning beginning, where I arrive into this world under a Leo full moon. But the beginning as in 2017.
Fresh off my (*tucks hair behind ears*) gap semester backpacking through Europe, I met one of the closest friends I’d ever had. The kind of person who moves past best friend and becomes found family.
I could feel our friendship ending two weeks before it happened. Some people smell snow; I smell a friendship breakup.
On a weeknight in November,1 she sent me a long text message with a call to action to give her space. And I responded, telling her I loved her, I was sorry for the boundaries I had crossed, and that I would give her space.
We haven’t spoken since.
There were signs that the friendship was eroding, but I thought we were family, so we’d find a way. There ended up being no future for our friendship, and I had to mourn that.
“To accept the fact that you perish in time is a sort of victory over time.” - Carl Jung
Death is a lonely voyage, a personal experience. Part of Death’s call is deep, intimate work. Dante must travel through all nine realms of Hell. For me, I needed to examine my conscious and unconscious baggage.
Two weeks after that text message, I started therapy for the first time. Throughout the next year, I examined what I wanted to be true for myself, what kind of friend I wanted to be, and what kind of life I wanted to live. And throughout it all, I practiced tarot.
Tarot had been something we discovered together. We would do spreads and send each other lengthy video diaries, explaining the cards we received and what we thought it all meant. We both dove in. Astrology, tarot, spiral dynamics, human design, crystals, aura. I even got my Death card tattoo with her. We were both spiritually curious, seeking an echo of something more not found in the organized religions we knew.
Though impermanent, her friendship gave me a safe place to redesign. We could intentionally turn to goo and start remaking ourselves based on the pillars we believed in.
“Whatever parts of the old order that are still vital and useful will be incorporated into the new. Nothing in nature is lost.” - Sally Nichols
The Death tarot card does not mean you will die tomorrow. (Though you might. Every new day brings that possibility). Death is a reminder we’re able to break down our existence for the creation of a new one.
If it weren’t for that friendship, I wouldn’t have this relationship with tarot. I’m grateful to have found something that helps me communicate my spiritual life.
When you compost, you use wet ingredients (rotted or decaying produce) and dry ingredients (torn paper or cardboard), and mix them together. Over time its created a rich fertilizer that feeds and grows something new. Compost, discard, waste, can be useful if you know how. Matter is neither created nor destroyed.
I’m not sure I know what I’m becoming, but I know I am. And Death, much like the Wheel of Fortune, reminds me that nothing stays the same. To embody the archetype of Death, I prune the rot, so it may decompose into something new.
Who is Death?
“Blessed are they that mourn.” - Sally Nichols
If birth is the beginning, death is the only eventual end. No way over it, no way under it, no way around it and no way through it. It is a hard stop.
There are many who spend their lives running from death, and there are others who ground themselves in their temporary existence.
Did anyone watch the Chris Hemsworth Disney health show, Limitless? The synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes reads, “Chris Hemsworth is on an epic mission to discover how to live better for longer. With the help of world-class experts, family, and friends, he’s pushing himself to new limits to try to stop the diseases of old age before they take hold.”
So, I didn’t see any of the other episodes, but when I found out the last episode featured Alua Arthur and BJ Miller, I had to watch. In the final episode, the focus is on aging and mortality. Chris dons a contraption bodysuit that makes him move slower, tires him faster, and mimics the aged body. Then, at the end of the episode, he “dies.”
The immersive theatre of his death is probably one of my favorite bits of TV. It’s jarring and bright and scary and lonely and not at all peaceful. But it’s a great depiction of modern death.
It’s a reminder that one day, we’ll each meet Death, and life will fulfill its promise. This is an eternal basic truth.
Keywords/characteristics of Death:
Compost
Endings
Transformation
Profound change
Metamorphosis
Moving forward
Releasing attachments
Graciously surrendering
Dismemberment
Characters/people who embody Death:
Alua Arthur
Death doulas
BJ Miller
Snake shedding skin
Caterpillar in chrysalis
Dante’s inferno
Charon
Caitlin Doughty
Paul Kalanithi
Survivors of near-death experiences
Song for #13 Death
Metamorphosis - Infinity Song
Infinity Song is a sibling group that’s been making some great music lately. Metamorphosis is a song I used to hyper-fixate. It plays on repeat as I think of all the versions of myself that have been, that I’ve killed, and that others have killed.
The song switches after the second refrain. Death teaches that we have the power within to change. While the Wheel of Fortune connects to external forces, Death is personal. Death is something we go through individually. You can pick the rotting idea, throw it into the compost, and let it breakdown into something fertile.
Death is not a pretty process. Rot and decay are gruesome, but they hold so much potential. This song asks me what happens on the other side of change?
[Chorus]
And sometimes I don't like myself
Can I be someone else?
Someone who makes their dreams come true
And drinks from wishing wells
Someone that they call lucky
And I never seem to fail
But sometimes I don't like myself
Can I be someone else?
Death Tarot Playlist
Visual Intentions for Death
Final thoughts on #13 Death:
David Kirby by Therese Frare (1990)
Three books I recommend reading: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi; Opening Heaven’s Door: What the Dying May Be Trying to Tell Us About Where They’re Going by Patricia Pearson; Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? And Other Questions About Dead Bodies by Caitlin Doughty
“Do not be afraid; our fate Cannot be taken from us; it is a gift.” - Dante Alighieri
I didn’t get to the significance of #13 in this, but I absolutely will in the future.
Death is related to the astrological sign, Scorpio, and the friendship break up took place during Scorpio season.