“We are all dead men on leave.” (Eugene Levine)
This introductory voyage through the Major Arcana reaches Death, which according to the esoteric system of the Golden Dawnis associated with the sign of Scorpio.
The sign of Scorpio is traditionally
associated with Death, the thirteenth Major Arcana in the Rider Waite Tarot and
most decks. The card depicts a skeletal, grim reaper figure wearing
a full black suit of armour and riding a white horse, similarly to Revelation 6:8 “And I looked, and behold
a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with
him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill
with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”
The skeletal appears to ride slowly,
bearing a black banner with a mystic rose, symbol of life, and stepping over
the body of a king, while a child and a maiden fall before the horse, and a
bishop stands and awaits his end with clasped hands. Despite their diversity
all human beings are here united by a common fate of death, which is a theme,
known as the Dance of
Death, graphically depicted in many initiatory medieval churches, such as Rosslyn Chapel,
in which death was shown equally triumphing over individuals of every class and
age. The sun rises in the background of the card between two pillars, which is also
a feature of the following card, the Temperance.
Death, together with sex and other
Scorpio topics, is definitely the most misunderstood of all experiences.[i] It
is also the most significant element of any shamanic initiatory processes.
Despite the abundant flowering of courses and training on shamanism, the crucial
and sine qua non teaching in this realm develops solely through the direct
connection with Spirit, which is usually brought about by a confrontation with
death through severe illness or other life threatening situations.
These
experiences work as initiatory tests, massive release processes, which can also
be ongoing and occur throughout the shaman’s life. When the apprentice manages
to survive such ordeals, the next step involves being trained by Spirit
directly. Yet, there is no way this can occur unless the trainees accept to die
to their previous identity and fully face the archetype of Death. This leaves
such individuals with an exclusive mark, which can be perceived and understood
by kindred souls, although it generally causes fear and other unfavourable
reactions on ordinary folks.
The ordinary world and
all realities ruled by the ego hate death since it marks the annihilation of
all their forlorn dreams. Death and illness can be painful, yet, as Alan Watts writes “what
makes them problematic is that they are shameful to the ego. This is the same
shame that we feel when caught out of role, as when a bishop is discovered
picking his nose or a policeman weeping. For the ego is the role, the ‘act’,
that one’s inmost self is permanent, that it is in control of the organism, and
that while it ‘has’ experiences it is not involved in them. Pain and death
expose this pretense, and this is why suffering is almost always attended by a
feeling of guilt, a feeling that is all the more difficult to explain when the
pretense is unconscious. Hence the obscure but powerful feeling that one ought not to suffer or die…”[ii]
Death, which is also linked with number 13 and the related Triskaidekaphobia, is often perceived as a most terrifying card. Yet this is only so when we abide by an illusory perception of reality based on denial and ego conditioning.
Death is part of a major natural process cyclically manifesting in all aspects
of life, and bringing about transformation, renewal and healing. The Death card
simply heralds this. It may mark a time for something to be completed, which
also includes the emergence of new things to begin. This reminds me of Mike Scott’s song
traditionally played at the end of the Findhorn Foundation Experience Week,
which says “this is not the end, it is just the start.”
The Death card announces an imminent
radical clearing out, the conclusion of a routine or familiar mode. Rather than
the process of transformation itself, this trump indicates the exact moment
when we release old patterns and open up to transformation. This can be
apparently harsh or devoid of any plea, yet it is often a blessing in disguise,
capable of bringing about a major transformation in life, a luminous rebirth
that the subject would have never experienced without the intervention of a
drastic situation.
The white rose on the banner is a representation of rebirth
and is there to honour the act of letting go, release, forgiveness. This card
provides major support in dissipating any harmful or predatory force which
blocks the advancement of the soul on her luminous journey. It is a card of
trust since it involves surrendering to a major change and apparent loss, while
confiding in a greater good that will come as a result.
Meditation and shamanic
journeying on Death can allow us to gain more awareness on the above,
intensifying the healing of the release process and getting us ready to welcome
the gifts that will follow.
“The shaman in you lives daily with
the sense of death, while the rest of you fight the depressing thought that
life will soon be over. I think it is as the shamans say: Only the sense of
imminent death shakes you loose from your momentary attachments and fears, from
your interest in the programs you have set up. And so the sorcerer welcomes
death as the end to a lifestyle that has long since run out of steam. The
shaman finds transformation and ecstasy - not tragedy or failure - in death”.[iii]
Death challenges us to stop and
expand our horizons. This is often brought about by times of adversity, when we
are basically forced to break off certain mechanical patterns in life. The
major focus in everyday life is on doing. We keep running around doing until we
are forced to stop by illness or death. This is why for many people the only
chance to stop doing and start being is when they are confronted with
life-threatening situations. What is paradoxical here is that beyond the tragic
and scaring ordinary perception of death, there is a space were things get much
simpler and peaceful.
If we die or are faced with an imminent death all our
responsibilities and obligation immediately fade away. We stop and focus on
being, while the world continues to be busy doing. By taking time to die on
purpose, while we are still living, we become more alive in the present. For
example, you can try stopping right now, becoming aware of your breath, as if
you were drawing your last breaths.
Taking regular time to meditate or
shamanically journeying allows us learn the healing art of dying, to stop and
connect with our multidimensional nature, which is indeed the only bit in us
that can go trough death, that continue to live while everything else fades
away. Hence Death always comes as a tester of our thoughts, emotions and intentions,
since AFS Bogus says, “only the in the face of death does not sneak away, is a
veracious one”.[iv]
[i] The quote in this note does not necessarily relate to
the article, yet I believe it is ok, considering that only 1% of readers look
at notes. "Death is one of the few things that can be done as easily as
lying down. The difference between sex and death is that with death you can do
it alone and no one is going to make fun of you." Woody Allen
[ii] Alan
Watts, Psychotherapy East and West,
Pantheon Books, 1961
[iii] Arnold
Mindell, The Shaman’s Body: A New
Shamanism for Transforming Health, Relationships, and the Community,
Harper, San Francisco, 1993, p. 157
[iv]
AFS Bogus, “Letter to Francesko Saint”, 2
November 1986 in Provordo
Etnai Pratinindhe Pradhikara Southern
Europe Archives, year
1986.
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