Symbolic Representation

The personification of death has been done with a Skeleton riding a white horse. He is wearing a black armor, carrying a flag with a white flower on it. A rising sun can be seen in the background. Surrounding the horse are the figures of dead or dying. Other figures besides the feet of the horse are bishop, child and common men.

Tarot Story

Having left behind his dangling "avatar" and the tree from which he hung, the Fool moves on, and approaches a barren field. On this desolate ground, he watches in the rising with the sun, a skeleton wearing a black armor mounted on a white horse, approach towards him. He at once identifies it as Death. As it stops before him, the Fool asks meekly, "Am I dead?" to which the Skeleton answers, "It will not be completely wrong if I say, Yes. Because you gave up your previous world, your old identity, they are both gone and dead now."

Seeing that the Fool is sad on what just happened, Death continues to speak, what it feels will pacify him, making him more affirmative and positive towards his thoughts. "Yes" it says, "Your old self has died, but then, this is the only way to reborn."

"A sunrise is taking place", he continues to tell the Fool, "and it is bringing with it, a time of transformation, for you." Saying this, Death rides away, leaving the Fool to give its words a deep thought. And that is when he starts to realize how true, the words of Death were. He understood that only when you have been stripped away from your old self to a mere skeleton, can you then start building a new self, building new upon the naked foundations.

Tarot Connotation

The Death card signals change, in passage, in approach or in outlook. The Death card indicates a transition which could be from lower to upper to uppermost. This is a card of humbleness, telling the Seeker that he/she has been brought low, only to help them go higher than before.

Death is a gloomy, natural and yet, significant part of an on-going life cycle. We die so that we can reborn. It is a human tendency to appreciate what we have, only when we face a loss. The Death card signals a time for transformation, change and fresh starts. In other words, it signifies a time for ending, but at the same time, a time for a new beginning. The Seeker may feel gloomy, low and even bare, but this is the only way he/she will rise again, as Death is not the end, but a sign for renaissance.