This week, the card that has come to us is Death…
In the image, we see a skeletal figure holding a scythe, standing in what looks like an old cemetery or a place in ruins. Around it, we can see the remains of the past… a broken sword, a broken crown, a broken clock. Everything that once had a form, an identity, a purpose or a certain power has reached its end.
And this is what the card represents… the complete ending of something in our life that we were identified with.
In existence, things are constantly appearing and disappearing. Parts of us are born, they grow, they transform and eventually they fade away. But what really creates the experience of death is not simply that something disappears… it is that something we were identified with disappears. Something we believed was part of us, something that helped us understand who we were.
When I picked up this card, what I felt in this space, in this field that we all create together, is that some processes of death are already happening. Some things are already beginning to disappear, to fade away or to reach their conclusion… and I feel that this is why the card has come to us today.
1. Death Is Inevitable
The first thing to understand is that death is inevitable.
This experience can happen internally or externally, but of course, we usually notice it much more when it happens outside of us. A relationship ends, a friendship breaks, a job disappears, a chapter closes, something material is lost… or perhaps an identity that we have carried for years can no longer continue.
When something like this happens, many times we blame ourselves or we blame someone else. We think that something went wrong, that somebody made a mistake or that things should have happened differently.
And of course, sometimes a situation can be repaired. We can apologise, change our behaviour, talk to each other or find a solution. But when something has truly reached the moment when it needs to end… it ends. When something really needs to leave, it leaves.
Not necessarily because somebody failed, and not necessarily because you did something wrong… but because its cycle is complete.
Death is existential. It is everywhere in creation. Everything is born, everything changes and everything eventually disappears or transforms into something else.
And it also has a purpose.
Even when we cannot see that purpose, even when we do not understand why something is happening, and even when it feels painful, unfair or completely confusing… there is still a purpose behind it. Maybe an important purpose, maybe a higher purpose, maybe something that we will only understand much later.
So this is the first invitation of the card… to look at what is ending and contemplate whether you can see it as something inevitable, as part of existence, and as something that may have a purpose even if you cannot see it yet.
2. Something Ends So That Something New Can Begin
The second thing is that Death always comes to close something so that something new can open.
And this is something that can really help us when we are moving through a process of loss… remembering that something new is coming. Maybe we cannot see it yet, maybe we cannot imagine it, maybe we are still too focused on what is leaving… but something new is coming.
And it is even possible that this new thing is something that we ourselves have asked for.
Many times, we ask for a new life, a new love, a new connection, a new awakening, a new direction or a new version of ourselves. We ask for change… but we do not always understand what change really requires.
Because for something new to enter, something old normally has to leave. There has to be space… living space, emotional space, energetic space, existential space.
Maybe what is leaving your life right now is creating exactly the space needed for what you have been asking for.
Sometimes we ask for a new dawn, but we resist the night that comes before it.
So when you are moving through one of these processes, try to place part of your attention on what could come next. Not to escape the pain, and not to force yourself to be positive… but simply to remember that this ending is not the whole story.
What could come after this? What new life is trying to open in front of me? What different, exciting, expansive or unexpected experience could be on its way? What am I making space for?
Death does not only announce an ending… it also prepares the ground for a new birth.
This also connects very deeply with the journey we have just experienced in Tibet…
In the Tibetan tradition, there is a word for this space between an ending and a new beginning. That word is bardo.
A bardo is an intermediate state… a passage, a space of transition between one form of existence and another. The best-known bardo is the passage between death and rebirth, and it gives its name to one of the most famous texts of Tibetan Buddhism, the Bardo Thödol, commonly known in the West as The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
The teachings of the bardos help us understand how to navigate these transitions with greater awareness and balance… so that we do not become completely lost or trapped in what has disappeared, and can gradually find our way towards the other shore, towards what comes next.
And although these teachings speak very directly about physical death and rebirth, I feel that the same wisdom can also be applied to the many smaller deaths we experience throughout life.
When a relationship ends, when an identity falls away, when a chapter closes or when something we depended on disappears… we also enter a kind of bardo.
The old life is no longer there, but the new one has not fully appeared yet.
And perhaps this is one of the most difficult parts of any transformation… learning how to remain inside that uncertainty without trying to return immediately to the past, and without forcing the future to arrive before it is ready.
Our recent journey through Tibet reminded me how important these spaces of transition are in spiritual traditions. Transformation is not only about allowing something to die, and it is not only about celebrating what will be born next…
It is also about learning how to cross the space in between.
3. Make Space for the Pain and Confusion
The third thing is that many parts of our being resist death.
Because of our conditioning, because of karmic reasons and because of the way we have learned to survive and hold on to things, there are parts of us that do not understand this reality. Parts that cannot relax, cannot trust and cannot simply allow things to happen.
Because of this, even when the process is necessary, even when it has a purpose and even when it is preparing something new… it can still hurt a lot. It can bring confusion, fear, anger, sadness and a lot of emotional intensity.
And all of this is normal too.
We need to make space for it. You do not need to feel good immediately, you do not need to understand everything, and you do not need to move on quickly. You do not need to transform the pain into wisdom on the first day.
Sometimes you simply need to feel it, breathe, observe and allow the process to happen.
The emotions that appear do not necessarily mean that something is wrong. They may simply be part of the natural process of letting go.
And this card speaks very strongly about this… allowing, surrendering, accepting and observing everything that is happening inside of us and around us while the transformation takes place.
So this week, I invite you to observe whether there is something dying in your life. Maybe a relationship, a friendship, a chapter, a belief, an identity, an expectation, a habit or an old way of seeing yourself… something that no longer has the same life it once had.
And perhaps you can ask yourself… Is this inevitable? Is it possible that this is nobody’s fault? Is it possible that its cycle is simply complete? Is it possible that this ending has a purpose? Is it possible that it is creating space for something new?
And is it possible that everything I am feeling is simply part of the process… not a sign that something is wrong, but a sign that I am letting go?
If there is nothing clearly ending in your life right now, you can still work with this card. You can remember things that have already left your life, things that once felt impossible to lose and things that changed you… or you can contemplate the things you are afraid of losing.
Because sooner or later, everything changes. Everything transforms. Everything we hold on to will eventually take another form.
And when that happens, remember… there will be a purpose. There may be pain, confusion and a journey of great intensity, but at the end of that journey, you will find yourself standing at the gates of a new life.
Death can look like a frightening card, but in reality, it is one of the cards with the greatest potential in the whole deck. It takes us to the places where the deepest transformation can happen… where old identities can fall away, where new decisions can be made and where a completely new life can begin.
The chat is open for anything you feel called to share… and we are here to support each other through these processes.
May you have a beautiful week of death and rebirth ❤️🔥
Teiwaz
