La Morte: Death
Verse
“The cosmic hourglass exists
at once full of promise
and devoid of mercy.
Like the wheel,
it is turned ceaselessly
by the hands of fate.
Inevitable endings
plant the seeds for beautiful beginnings.
We were born to transform,
decompose down to bare bones
then start again.
Time is an illusion,
and so are we.”
Keywords
Upright: Inevitability. Transformation. Rebirth. Transitions. Change. Letting go of old attachments.
Reversed: Resistance to change. Intense personal transformation. Fear of the inevitable.
Correspondences
Sign: Scorpio
Aroma: Blue Lotus, Rose and cassia
Description
The hands of Death or fate possess and control the cosmic hourglass. A white rose withers towards its inevitable end until it turns and it can be reborn again. In the Hermetic Tarot, this card is known as the “Child of the Great Transformers.”
In a reading, Death represents what follows the release and sacrifice of The Hanged One. It is a reminder that everything comes to an inevitable end, but also that every ending makes way for a new beginning. You may be going through a time of major transition or personal transformation. Let go of any old attachments that may be hindering your growth. Is there excess in some aspect of your life that is weighing you down? Change is sometimes difficult, painful, and hard to accept, even more so when it’s unexpected. Allow yourself to mourn for the old ways, the plans you had, or who you thought you were, and move on to better things. Accept your fate.
The reversed may represent an unhealthy resistance to change. Your fear and avoidance of the inevitable are holding you back in a big way. The time has come for an intense personal transformation. Really look at yourself and do some mental and spiritual spring cleaning. Plant new seeds for your own growth.
Design
The concept of death and time are inextricably linked, so I thought the hourglass would be fitting. I based it on a faceted hourglass I have in my collection that I thought fit into the world of the cards beautifully. An hourglass is made to be flipped and restarted endlessly, everything that ends begins again. I’ve also always loved hourglass imagery because the sand inside reminds me of a tiny desert of time that you could get lost in. Instead of sand, I chose to put a rose in this hourglass, its petals flowing from one end to the other as they fall and reform. There is a softness and gentleness to the way the petals fall that I hope eases the idea of death for the reader. The skeletal hands of time are ready to flip and tilt it as needed. The galaxy in the background is Andromeda.
Key Symbols
Hourglass: The passage of time.
Rose: The beauty of fleeting moments, growth, rebirth
Skeleton Hands: Death in the literal sense
Color Theory
Blue: Truth. Clarity. Communication.
Purple: Intuition. Spirituality. Psychic energy.
Red: Severity, Strength, Grounding, Focus, Support
Orange: Creativity. Identity. Pleasure. Passion. Desire. Inspiration.
