Tarot Cards Explained - Death Card
71Different tarot packs
Different tarot card decks
There are many different types of specialized tarot cards and packs but all contain the key cards that can be used to predict the future. People fear them as there is an unknown element to having one’s future told. You need to be able to judge if the practitioner, usually someone with psychic abilities, is experienced at reading and fortune telling. One telltale sign might be if the card pack was brand new as this would indicate that the owner / user had used them very infrequently.
Tarot explained
Cards tarot protection
The best psychics will have familiarity with the cards because they must be closely linked to their cards and have them completely within their control. They should have them shuffled really thoroughly and some of the cards should be randomly inverted within the pack. The pack should be protected and bound, if possible, in silk wrapping and most import of all nobody else should use / read the cards as this would interfere with the psychic source.
Tarot card of death
Tarot Card Packs
 | Amazon Price: $14.25 List Price: $22.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $13.24 List Price: $19.95 |
Tarot cards meaning
Tarot meaning of The Death card
Major Arcana Death
‘Behold a pale horse and the name that sat on him was death’ is a quotation from the Bible and some tarot packs show a skeleton riding a white horse. The death card never signifies death during a reading but instead will signify a major change of some sort. If this Tarot card is inverted when dealt it can mean the loss of a friendship or an enforced change. The meaning of the death card is dependent upon the cards that were dealt alongside it. The influence of these supporting cards will further clarify the meaning.
Storing Tarot cards / Tarot card packs safely
Black silk wrapping is preferred and then placement in a wooden box. Using both the silk and box would be best to enhance the psychic power. Only when the psychic feels completely at one with their cards and can sense the psychic power present in the cards can they accomplish readings of any merit. A regular deck of cards contains 52 cards but the tarot deck has an extra 22 cards known as the Major Arcana. These are in addition to the Minor Arcana which effectively are the tarot versions of Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades and are the minor cards of the pack.
Deadly fear of the Major Arcana
These 22 cards do not belong to any suit but are individually named such as ‘the Fool’, ‘the Hermit’, The Devil’, ‘Death’ and so forth. Death is an interesting tarot card because so many people fear death and if during a psychic session they were to select this card they would be panicked by it.
Tarot books
 | Amazon Price: $13.40 List Price: $21.95 |
 | Amazon Price: $12.22 List Price: $19.95 |
Tarot Card layout
Simple Tarot Card layout
Beginners Tarot
By far the simplest layout is the 3 card layout which places 3 cards directly between the psychic and the person receiving the reading. The 3 cards signify the Past, the Present and the Future. Meanings will be attached to the cards but any inverted card will usually have the opposite meaning. If for example the future card was ‘The Sun’ this could signify a warm country holiday with happiness in the air. An inverted sun however might signify some hiccup along the way to the dream holiday.
Tarot Kits
 | Amazon Price: $29.20 List Price: $40.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $12.00 List Price: $24.95 |
 | Amazon Price: $19.95 |
Advanced Tarot Card layout
Complex Tarot Card layout
Expert Tarot reading
A more complex layout involves 13 cards. 12 of the cards are placed in a circle like the numerals on a clock face with the 13th card in the middle. This middle card has a sometimes general or overriding influence on all of the other 12 cards. The 12 cards can represent the months of the year which will be known as the Calendar layout. This layout will also be used for the horoscope layout representing portions of your life. In these layouts the 1st card is at nine o’clock, the 2nd at eight o’clock, the 3rd at 7 o’clock and so on in anti-clockwise fashion until the last card (12th at ten o’clock)
Major Arcana Magician
Reading Tarot Guide
Small Tarot cards
The 1st card concerns your personality
The 2nd card concerns your financial aspect
The 3rd card concerns your siblings or travel
The 4th card concerns your childhood
The 5th card concerns your fun loving side
The 6th card concerns your health and employment
The 7th card concerns your relationships or partnerships
The 8th card concerns your sexuality
The 9th card concerns your religious beliefs or philosophy of life
The 10th card concerns your direction in life
The 11th card concerns your friends
The 12th card concerns your secrets
Tarot history
 | Amazon Price: $8.21 List Price: $16.95 |
Historic Tarot Cards
Tarot Card History
Tarot cards first appeared in Europe in the early part of 14th century, their first appearance being in Italy and then later spreading to Germany and France. Today’s playing cards are a watered down version of the original tarot pack. Modern packs have 52 cards plus 2 jokers but the Tarot pack had 78 cards. Tarot cards are believed to have a spiritual significance and can serve as a means of predicting one's fortune.
Tarot card 13 Death
 | Amazon Price: $10.04 List Price: $10.95 |
Cards and tarot
- Tarot Meaning
Tarot meaning There are many different types of tarots and tarot card readers but they are little understood by ordinary people. But finding a tarot meaning is simple as the cards can be viewed in many... - Psychic Power
The word psychic refers to an ability to know information that is hidden from others. There is a mystical quality to power of this nature. Psychic power can come in many guises such as Clairvoyance, Faith... - Psychic Mediums
Firstly I need to define medium and in particular in relation to psychic mediums. Medium is a means of transporting data or information similar to the Internet. A happy medium is a position one will... - Bridge card game
The Bridge card game is the most facinating card game that one can play. It is so skillful and can take a lifetime to master. Bridge is a tactical game of cards between 4 people. It can be played for pleasure...
vote upvote downshareprintflag
- Useful (1)
- Funny
- Awesome
- Beautiful (2)
- Interesting (1)
Tarot Comments welcomedLoading...
Thanks, Good luck to you too as a fellow new hubber.
This is not a very good piece on the subject of Tarot cards. There is no mention here of the fact that Tarot cards were used for card games long before they were used in divination and that people in countries such as France and Italy play card games with a Tarot deck. Contrary to what this article says, playing cards existed prior to Tarot cards. One thing I dislike most about those promoting the use of Tarot for divination is their denial of any Tarot culture besides Tarot card reading and this article appears to be an example of it. The false impression that Tarot cards are only used for divination is harmful to cultural diversity. More of us should be aware that Tarot cards are also used in games.
Oudler is correct there are card games utilizing tarot cards and some date back to medieval history. There is another game especially good for writers suffering writers block. lay out 3-5 cards and look at the figures what they are doing the mood or setting in the card and make up a story. Sometimes that is enough to get your story back on track. As far as using it for divination when the person you are reading for selects the cards I have them lay the cards face down so they do not see the cards until i do the reading. The death card most time means an end to something in order to allow something else to begin. But to say it never means physical death would be inaccurate. where the card is found in the layout along with other cards in the reading are all important.
Thank you both for your insightful comments on tarot cards, divination and card game history.
interesting hub.. so are you a practitioner of this?
Thank you for your comments and fan mail. Like you, I have worked in IT which is an odd combination with Tarot cards. I have done readings but my real interest is in numerology.
I am forced to disagree with the statement that the "Death" trump never refers to physical death. I once had a querent who wanted to know about her parents' health. When I laid out the standard Celtic Cross spread, the first card that caught my attention was "Death." I was dismayed at this since it seemed to me to be a literal death and I had always thought I had an "agreement" with the cards that I would not receive catastrophic news without some advice on how to avoid the calamity. After a bit of beating about the bush to avoid addressing the presumably distressing news, I finally expressed the tentative possibility that the querent's mother would soon pass away and her father not long after.
To my astonishment the querent's response was, "Oh, thank God!" Then, she hastened to explain that her mother had been very ill for many years now and was in constant, often severe pain. And the querent had put her own life and career on hold to care for her mother. Her mother's death would be a release for both of them. And yes, her parents had been so close that the family assumed her father would follow his wife into death shortly after the mother passed on. So my fears of delivering a very unwelcome message proved to be unnecessary. But, it seems that the Death card can and sometimes does refer to actual death, but this is rare and not a sign of unavoidable tragedy. It may possibly have something to do with the reader's relationship with his or her deck, but that is still an assumption on my part.
The truth is that we still are guessing about many things that seem "psychic" and we seldom know any more than the experiences we have had and are guessing at the theory behind those experiences. Still, isn't it enough to know that there are things we can count on, even if we have no idea why they work. Flip the switch and the room lights up, whether or not we understand how electricity works.
I should add that the querent then revealed that another reader had told her exactly the same thing and that she had asked me for a reading to confirm the information.
With love under will,
Bob, Adastra,
The Wizzard of Jacksonville
Many thanks for your comments which I appreciate. Very insightful. I see that you have yet to write a hub so perhaps a hub from your own experience with Tarot cards, and in particular, this most interesting 'Death' card would be of benefit to all hubbers. I look forward to reading your hubs. Thank you again, Bob.
Some people fear things that are beyond their control. if you seek out knowledge that is likely to frighten you then you are foolish indeed. Its better to not know at all.
Thank you both, Jonathon and Nellie, for your comments and points of view. Tarot reading requires a great deal of study for one to become comfortable with what they read in the cards. It can be daunting at first but is worth persisting with, Good luck to you both in your endeavors.
Lovely, lovely sets to work with.
Thank you, Brendan, for your comments on this Tarot Card article. There are some beautiful card sets now available where the artistic work is splendid. Many are collectible for the artistry alone even if they are never used in a predictive capacity.
LViddamoy 2 years ago
Great Hub Mark,keep up the good work!