Tarot card meanings › Major Arcana
Death Tarot Card Meaning
The Death tarot card means endings, change and letting go. An ending that clears the ground.
Upright
- Endings
- change
- letting go
Reversed
- Clinging on
- fear of change
- a slow ending
Yes or no
No
Death is card XIII of the 22 major arcana.
What the card shows
A skeleton in black armour rides a white horse and carries a black banner with a white rose. A king lies fallen under the horse, a bishop stands praying, and a woman and child kneel. The sun shows between two towers on the horizon.
This is the card as drawn by Pamela Colman Smith for the 1909 Rider-Waite-Smith deck, which is in the public domain.
Upright meaning
Death is very rarely read as a physical death. It is the card of endings that make room: a job, a habit, a relationship or a version of you that has run its course. The sun in the picture is rising.
Death reversed
Reversed, it is read as holding on to something that is already over, or a change that is dragging because it is being resisted.
Yes or no?
In a yes or no question, Death is usually read as a no, often in the sense of not now or not this way. Readers differ on some cards, so treat this as one common reading. You can ask a yes or no question and draw a card for it.
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More Major Arcana cards
The FoolThe MagicianThe High PriestessThe EmpressThe EmperorThe HierophantThe LoversThe ChariotStrengthThe HermitWheel of FortuneJusticeThe Hanged ManTemperanceThe DevilThe TowerThe StarThe MoonThe SunJudgementThe World
‹ The Hanged ManAll 78 cardsTemperance ›
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