Death – The Sacred Alchemy of Letting Go
The Death card, numbered XIII in the Major Arcana, is one of the most misunderstood cards in the tarot. In pop culture, it evokes fear and finality. But for those of us who walk the spiritual path, Death is a holy portal. It is not about physical demise alone; it is the card of endings, transformations, and sacred release. Death is the quiet, potent force that strips away illusion, clears away what no longer serves, and prepares the soul for a rebirth.
As a medium, I have walked hand in hand with the Death card for as long as I can remember. I have witnessed the thin veil between this world and the next. I have held space for grieving families, spoken with those who have passed, and lived through my own cycles of ego death and surrender. But the memory that always comes back to me when I contemplate this archetype is from the turning of a year—an old journal entry titled The Year of the Spider from 2010.
In that journal, I wrote:
"The Spider holds the energy of the feminine, the Goddess; of creativity, thoughts and ideas. Spiders represent beauty and fear, danger and grace within their small bodies and their ever-expansive webs. We too, spin a web. Each action, each word, each choice in our life is one strand connecting us to the next experience."
The spider became my Death totem that year. It was a reminder that we are always weaving our lives—and that we can also unravel what no longer aligns. Death is the moment the web falls apart. It is the dissolution of the false self. The crumbling tower. The quiet whisper from the soul that says: this part is over.
In the darkness of that year, I began to see that endings are not punishments. They are passages. Like the spider, I learned to unspin the old threads and create from a place of deeper intention. That was the year I stopped trying to hold it all together. And in that surrender, I discovered a new kind of power.
The Deep Symbolism of Death
In most tarot decks, the Death card shows a skeleton on horseback, often wearing black armor and holding a flag with a white rose. People lie at its feet—kings and peasants alike—because Death comes for all. But in the background, a river winds toward the horizon and the sun rises between two towers. This is the real meaning: where something ends, something new begins.
Some of the key symbols include:
The Skeleton: The bare truth. Death strips away everything but essence.
The White Rose: Purity, surrender, and the promise of renewal.
The Rising Sun: The light beyond the darkness. Rebirth always follows loss.
Fallen Figures: Ego, identity, control—nothing can escape transformation.
The Horse: The vehicle of transition, movement through the unknown.
Death is associated with Scorpio, the sign of transformation, mystery, sexuality, and psychic power. It is ruled by Pluto, the underworld god who destroys in order to regenerate. On the Tree of Life, Death corresponds to the Hebrew letter Nun (נ) which means "fish" and signifies potential within the womb of the unknown.
The Role of Death in the Soul's Evolution
In the journey of the Major Arcana, Death is a turning point. After Justice (truth) and The Hanged Man (surrender), we reach the sacred funeral. The old self is buried. The old stories no longer apply. We are reborn.
This card teaches us to:
Let go of control and embrace the mystery
Honor grief and allow mourning
Accept the impermanence of all things
Trust the process of transmutation
Welcome the void as sacred ground for creation
As I wrote in The Year of the Spider:
"We will surrender all that we thought we knew. Some questions will go unanswered and others will be revealed. We will take on new identities and tear down the walls of our old 'Selves'."
Death is the holy dismantling. It is the archetypal compost pile, where we lay down our withered beliefs and wait for something fertile to emerge. It is the place where we lose ourselves so that we may find our soul.
Carl Jung and the Archetype of Death
Carl Jung did not shy away from the darkness. He believed that death—both literal and symbolic—was a crucial part of the individuation process. The Death card represents what Jung would call the Shadow Encounter: the confrontation with the parts of ourselves we try to avoid. To truly grow, we must allow the old forms to die.
Jung also described death as an initiation into the Self, the archetype of wholeness. The ego resists death, but the soul knows that every transformation requires a death before the resurrection.
In Jungian terms, Death invites us to:
Embrace the shadow without fear
Dismantle the false self and outdated roles
Pass through psychological "night-sea journeys"
Cultivate depth and presence in the face of endings
In many ways, Death is the great liberator. It ends what must end. It prunes what no longer bears fruit. It opens the door to depth, mystery, and renewal. Jung would argue that without death, there is no rebirth. Without letting go, we remain stuck in a loop of ego and fear.
Conclusion: The Sacred Web of Surrender
To live the Death card is to become comfortable with endings. It is to trust the invisible hands that unravel the old so that we can spin something new. It is to bless the compost and tend to the seeds.
In 2010, I named the year The Year of the Spider. I did not know then that it would be one of the most transformative years of my life. That I would lose parts of myself I had clung to. That I would mourn and surrender and grieve. That I would learn the sacred art of spinning again—this time, from intention.
The Death card is not about fear. It is about grace. It reminds us that the void is not empty. It is full of potential. Full of Spirit. Full of the feminine power that creates through destruction.
So ask yourself:
What are you ready to release?
What web are you unraveling?
What new self is waiting to be born from the ashes?
To live the Death card is to walk barefoot into the unknown and trust that the next thread will appear. It always does.
And when you find it, you will begin again—not as who you were, but as who you were always meant to become.
