I wanted to answer Never, but that wouldn’t be totally accurate. I read tarot in San Francisco during the AIDS crisis. I also affirmed for one client that her elderly ill mother would probably die soon. These were more acknowledgements of what people knew than predictions, but you didn’t offer that as an option. In 53 years it’s an almost never. I have never made an absolute out-of-the-blue prediction of unexpected death. This card can represent endings of all kinds.
One of the interpretations that I relate to the XIII Death card is of the need not only to let go, but to grieve. Part of that is thinking about what has been and acknowledging the sadness that it is or will be no longer. If someone were to die, having done some of this reparative grief work could only be a positive. So, if for whatever reason I really felt the Death card indicated an actual death (though this has never happened to me) that's how I would frame my interpretation. Hopefully, this would help the client be in a better place to greet death, without any of the concerns about self-fulfilling prophecies etc.
Wendy Hagelgans - 13 years ago
[continuation from cut-off]
...that cannot be solved without a major change in one's perspective. I believe that to advise a person that they are facing physical death based on Tarot cards instead of or in addition to physical evidence is a great disservice and entirely unimaginative at the same time.
Wendy Hagelgans - 13 years ago
Besides the possibility of a negative self-fulfilling prophecy already mentioned in the poll, some people, readers and questioners alike, believe very strongly in the validity of any given impression of a Tarot spread. Since this type of faith exists or has a potential to exist, I think that it is unethical to predict a physical death for the same reason that it is considered illegal for people to make death threats to one another. I'm not saying that predicting a death is the same as making a threat, but to encourage someone to feel that they or their loved ones are facing imminent mortal danger with any intention or for any reason is a psychological attack in my opinion.
I believe that our culture is fearful of death to an irrational degree and I wish that this weren't the case. But if a person is extremely ill, isn't death already an obvious possibility? Isn't it a physician's job to predict the chances of life or death for a patient based on the physical evidence at hand? If a questioner asks about physical death, isn't it most likely because they are desperately hoping for a symbol of life in which they can take strength in order to promote health and healing in their minds, rather than to be told that they should instead spend their energy preparing for the worst as if they weren't already afraid enough? I'm not saying that a questioner should be doled out an insincere assurance of life just because that's what they're looking for; I'm saying that anyone who asks this type of question is desperate, psychologically fragile and potentially deeply hurt by any such physical prediction by a reader.
Card XIII Death is notorious for its literal interpretation despite what any standard Tarot explanation text will say about it, which is that in almost all cases the meaning is purely figurative. The poll lists other 'dire' cards that could be interpreted as giving weight to a physical meaning behind XIII, but I believe that none of these cards can justify a literal interpretation over the figurative one just because they appear together in the spread. On the contrary, I think that the presence of any of the cards listed (10 Swords, XVI Tower, 5 Cups) could actually be used to shed more light on the mental schemes giving rise to XIII Death in a positive and constructive manner, and I'll explain each of these situations as I see them:
If the 10 of Swords appears with XIII, that could point to a transformation in which a person has been overwhelmed with a futile conflict for so long that they have already lost everything that they had hoped to save or gain through the argument in question. XIII Death is a good card in this context because it implies that the mental war has reached its end and now that the ashes have settled on the battlefield, it is time for the person to let go what they have lost and start again on a better path now that they are empowered with the knowledge of their mistakes.
If XVI The Tower appears with XIII, this could mean the destruction of an old ideology leading to a spiritual rebirth. XVI The Tower is a card that describes a system built on questionable foundations, so it would follow that it is natural and correct for it to be destroyed. Paired with XIII Death, I would interpret this as a positive sign that the necessary destruction is complete and that a new foundation is being laid in its place.
If the 5 of Cups appears with XIII, this could indicate a significant disappointment that leads to the redefinition of a source of pleasure in the person's life. Perhaps a relationship of some type was not all that they expected it to be, and rather than let this emotional evidence go ignored, the paired XIII signifies that it is taken seriously as a reason to make a change of course.
In all of these cases I think that it is arguable that XIII Death redeems each one of these so-called dire cards as a permanent solution to an existing ongoing problem that cannot be solv
I wanted to answer Never, but that wouldn’t be totally accurate. I read tarot in San Francisco during the AIDS crisis. I also affirmed for one client that her elderly ill mother would probably die soon. These were more acknowledgements of what people knew than predictions, but you didn’t offer that as an option. In 53 years it’s an almost never. I have never made an absolute out-of-the-blue prediction of unexpected death. This card can represent endings of all kinds.
One of the interpretations that I relate to the XIII Death card is of the need not only to let go, but to grieve. Part of that is thinking about what has been and acknowledging the sadness that it is or will be no longer. If someone were to die, having done some of this reparative grief work could only be a positive. So, if for whatever reason I really felt the Death card indicated an actual death (though this has never happened to me) that's how I would frame my interpretation. Hopefully, this would help the client be in a better place to greet death, without any of the concerns about self-fulfilling prophecies etc.
[continuation from cut-off]
...that cannot be solved without a major change in one's perspective. I believe that to advise a person that they are facing physical death based on Tarot cards instead of or in addition to physical evidence is a great disservice and entirely unimaginative at the same time.
Besides the possibility of a negative self-fulfilling prophecy already mentioned in the poll, some people, readers and questioners alike, believe very strongly in the validity of any given impression of a Tarot spread. Since this type of faith exists or has a potential to exist, I think that it is unethical to predict a physical death for the same reason that it is considered illegal for people to make death threats to one another. I'm not saying that predicting a death is the same as making a threat, but to encourage someone to feel that they or their loved ones are facing imminent mortal danger with any intention or for any reason is a psychological attack in my opinion.
I believe that our culture is fearful of death to an irrational degree and I wish that this weren't the case. But if a person is extremely ill, isn't death already an obvious possibility? Isn't it a physician's job to predict the chances of life or death for a patient based on the physical evidence at hand? If a questioner asks about physical death, isn't it most likely because they are desperately hoping for a symbol of life in which they can take strength in order to promote health and healing in their minds, rather than to be told that they should instead spend their energy preparing for the worst as if they weren't already afraid enough? I'm not saying that a questioner should be doled out an insincere assurance of life just because that's what they're looking for; I'm saying that anyone who asks this type of question is desperate, psychologically fragile and potentially deeply hurt by any such physical prediction by a reader.
Card XIII Death is notorious for its literal interpretation despite what any standard Tarot explanation text will say about it, which is that in almost all cases the meaning is purely figurative. The poll lists other 'dire' cards that could be interpreted as giving weight to a physical meaning behind XIII, but I believe that none of these cards can justify a literal interpretation over the figurative one just because they appear together in the spread. On the contrary, I think that the presence of any of the cards listed (10 Swords, XVI Tower, 5 Cups) could actually be used to shed more light on the mental schemes giving rise to XIII Death in a positive and constructive manner, and I'll explain each of these situations as I see them:
If the 10 of Swords appears with XIII, that could point to a transformation in which a person has been overwhelmed with a futile conflict for so long that they have already lost everything that they had hoped to save or gain through the argument in question. XIII Death is a good card in this context because it implies that the mental war has reached its end and now that the ashes have settled on the battlefield, it is time for the person to let go what they have lost and start again on a better path now that they are empowered with the knowledge of their mistakes.
If XVI The Tower appears with XIII, this could mean the destruction of an old ideology leading to a spiritual rebirth. XVI The Tower is a card that describes a system built on questionable foundations, so it would follow that it is natural and correct for it to be destroyed. Paired with XIII Death, I would interpret this as a positive sign that the necessary destruction is complete and that a new foundation is being laid in its place.
If the 5 of Cups appears with XIII, this could indicate a significant disappointment that leads to the redefinition of a source of pleasure in the person's life. Perhaps a relationship of some type was not all that they expected it to be, and rather than let this emotional evidence go ignored, the paired XIII signifies that it is taken seriously as a reason to make a change of course.
In all of these cases I think that it is arguable that XIII Death redeems each one of these so-called dire cards as a permanent solution to an existing ongoing problem that cannot be solv