Tarot Of The Day July 4, 2018 - Day 16: The Raven’s Prophecy Deck - Death
I have begun the creation of an 89 day tarot course in a group I am a member of on Facebook ('A Kaleidoscope of Magical Perceptions' is the name of the group, please feel free to request membership - it is full of fun people and really great posts about all manner of topics) and I thought I would cross post the information here to this blog as well. Once the initial 89 days of the course have passed, it will start over using a different tarot deck. The text of the sixteenth session follows.
“And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. [...] And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. [...] And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. [...] And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”
Source: The Bible, Revelation 6:2-8, Speaker: John The Revelator
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, in particular Death, riding on his pale horse, is the inspiration for the illustration of the Rider-Waite Death card. We see Death, in the shape of a human skeleton in the black armor of a Knight, bearing a banner depicting a white rose on a black field, riding upon a white steed with red eyes - an albino horse. Behind Death on the ground is a dead or dying figure, old, with white hair, and a priest in papal robes is delivering the Last Rites. Even further behind Death, a river flows and a boat can be seen in the waters. Even further beyond him, high on a ridge in the horizon, are two towers, and the sun either rises or sets between them. In the foreground, a child looks upon the scene, either at death or through him to the figures behind him, while another young woman kneels beside the child, her head turned away and her eyes closed.
Each character sen here approaches Death, not the figure in the image, but the concept of Death, in a different way. The child with wonder and awe and curiosity, the youth with denial and fear, the elderly person with an assumed acceptance, the priest with the purpose of assisting the journey of the deceased’s soul on its way to Heaven, and Death itself as a herald of change.
Death is the card that many people fear, because they assume it is a card that indicates literal Death, that it prophesies that they ro someone they know is about to die - this is a fear encouraged by Hollywood and by the fear of youth - we all at one part of our lives fear the coming of the end of our lives. But the Death card doesn’t indicate actual Death (unless it does, and it CAN,) but change and endings, and how we deal with them.
The Rider-Waite booklet lists the following keywords for Death: end, mortality, destruction, corruption (upright,) inertia, sleep, lethargy, petrifaction, somnambulism (reversed.)
In Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven’s Prophecy deck, she depicts Death as a crowned skull. She writes: “If I had a pony for every single book or movie that featured an ominous fortune-teller turning over the dreadful Death card, I would have a herd of ponies and the world would be a better place. The Death card has a powerful, fascinating meaning, and I’m sorry to report (although you might be glad to hear it, if you just turned it over) that it is not really a warning that your loved ones should buy more life insurance. It stands for transformation: complete, utter transformation, where you will be unrecognizable on the other side. What better to stand for this han the act of dying? We move from one life into another at death. We don’t know exactly what the other side looks like, but we know it is nothing like this one. That uncertainty is what keeps us from willingly plunging into the transformation, even if we are in an untenable place in our life. We don’t want to jump without being sure that there is a ledge on the other side of the dark chasm. Otherwise, we’ll just stick to the reality we’re sure of, thanks, even if it's truly dreadful.”
Maggie’s Keywords for Death are change, transformation, and rebirth.
In my experience, pulling the Death card is simply an indicator that the person I am reading for has recently gone through, is about to go through, or is currently going through a time of major change and transformation. They may or may not have been expecting or welcoming of it, and the way it is going has to do a lot with how they are handling the change or the prospect of it. Sometimes the change was, in fact, a death, and their handling grief is the issue. Sometimes I have seen it come up as a literal representative of their fears for themselves or someone they care about. Sometimes it comes up as representative of a major life change like a job loss or getting a new job.
Tomorrow - Temperance
***TOTD will cover the entire 78 card Raven’s Prophecy Deck alongside the Rider-Waite deck for comparison. In order to not completely burn out, this course of lessons will be 89 days long, so that every Saturday I can break the lessons up by doing a practicum lesson. Practicum lessons will take the form of a layout or spread that I will walk you through the steps of interpretation for. After the first 89 day session ends, we will start over with a one day break for a poll to be done to see what deck everyone wants to see next round. ***
I have begun the creation of an 89 day tarot course in a group I am a member of on Facebook ('A Kaleidoscope of Magical Perceptions' is the name of the group, please feel free to request membership - it is full of fun people and really great posts about all manner of topics) and I thought I would cross post the information here to this blog as well. Once the initial 89 days of the course have passed, it will start over using a different tarot deck. The text of the sixteenth session follows.
“And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. [...] And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. [...] And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. [...] And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”
Source: The Bible, Revelation 6:2-8, Speaker: John The Revelator
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, in particular Death, riding on his pale horse, is the inspiration for the illustration of the Rider-Waite Death card. We see Death, in the shape of a human skeleton in the black armor of a Knight, bearing a banner depicting a white rose on a black field, riding upon a white steed with red eyes - an albino horse. Behind Death on the ground is a dead or dying figure, old, with white hair, and a priest in papal robes is delivering the Last Rites. Even further behind Death, a river flows and a boat can be seen in the waters. Even further beyond him, high on a ridge in the horizon, are two towers, and the sun either rises or sets between them. In the foreground, a child looks upon the scene, either at death or through him to the figures behind him, while another young woman kneels beside the child, her head turned away and her eyes closed.
Each character sen here approaches Death, not the figure in the image, but the concept of Death, in a different way. The child with wonder and awe and curiosity, the youth with denial and fear, the elderly person with an assumed acceptance, the priest with the purpose of assisting the journey of the deceased’s soul on its way to Heaven, and Death itself as a herald of change.
Death is the card that many people fear, because they assume it is a card that indicates literal Death, that it prophesies that they ro someone they know is about to die - this is a fear encouraged by Hollywood and by the fear of youth - we all at one part of our lives fear the coming of the end of our lives. But the Death card doesn’t indicate actual Death (unless it does, and it CAN,) but change and endings, and how we deal with them.
The Rider-Waite booklet lists the following keywords for Death: end, mortality, destruction, corruption (upright,) inertia, sleep, lethargy, petrifaction, somnambulism (reversed.)
In Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven’s Prophecy deck, she depicts Death as a crowned skull. She writes: “If I had a pony for every single book or movie that featured an ominous fortune-teller turning over the dreadful Death card, I would have a herd of ponies and the world would be a better place. The Death card has a powerful, fascinating meaning, and I’m sorry to report (although you might be glad to hear it, if you just turned it over) that it is not really a warning that your loved ones should buy more life insurance. It stands for transformation: complete, utter transformation, where you will be unrecognizable on the other side. What better to stand for this han the act of dying? We move from one life into another at death. We don’t know exactly what the other side looks like, but we know it is nothing like this one. That uncertainty is what keeps us from willingly plunging into the transformation, even if we are in an untenable place in our life. We don’t want to jump without being sure that there is a ledge on the other side of the dark chasm. Otherwise, we’ll just stick to the reality we’re sure of, thanks, even if it's truly dreadful.”
Maggie’s Keywords for Death are change, transformation, and rebirth.
In my experience, pulling the Death card is simply an indicator that the person I am reading for has recently gone through, is about to go through, or is currently going through a time of major change and transformation. They may or may not have been expecting or welcoming of it, and the way it is going has to do a lot with how they are handling the change or the prospect of it. Sometimes the change was, in fact, a death, and their handling grief is the issue. Sometimes I have seen it come up as a literal representative of their fears for themselves or someone they care about. Sometimes it comes up as representative of a major life change like a job loss or getting a new job.
Tomorrow - Temperance
***TOTD will cover the entire 78 card Raven’s Prophecy Deck alongside the Rider-Waite deck for comparison. In order to not completely burn out, this course of lessons will be 89 days long, so that every Saturday I can break the lessons up by doing a practicum lesson. Practicum lessons will take the form of a layout or spread that I will walk you through the steps of interpretation for. After the first 89 day session ends, we will start over with a one day break for a poll to be done to see what deck everyone wants to see next round. ***
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