Meaning Of The Tarot Death Card

This has to be the one card in the Tarot deck that most, if not all, people fear seeing in a reading, and yet it isn’t as dark and macabre as one might think, which is why some Tarot readers have named this card ‘Transformation’ in their Tarot decks.

If I was to say ‘Oh look, you are about to experience a transformation in your life’ how would you feel? Would you be as spooked as if you simply saw the Death card as your outcome card?

I am in the process of creating the Lotus Tarot deck and I will be naming this card ‘Transformation’ because I believe it portrays the true meaning of this card far better and without evoking the chills that the title ‘Death’ card does.

When the ‘Death’ card appears in a reading, the most common thought is that it is predicting a physical death, that someone is going to die. This, in most, if not all, cases is highly unlikely.

I am not a medium or clairvoyant, but I do use the Tarot card books to help give men and women around the world some insights into their own situations and to look at their lives from a different perspective. For example, when we fall utterly in love with someone only to be rejected and left alone is one of the greatest blows any of us can receive, man or woman. Many of you may have had such an experience and it can feel like your world has fallen apart.

Such incidences can create transformational change within us, changing our outlook and our approach to love and relationships. For example, if someone, who didn’t love you, lets you go, it can open up a whole new set of circumstances and opportunities for you.

Many people who have been bankrupt and lost everything only to change course and tactics and go on to achieve great success.

For me, the end of something, whether it be a relationship, job, career or lifestyle is only the sign that it is time for something new to be created. I am free to pursue new love if I am no longer in that relationship. {I am free to look for a better job and so on if I have lost my job}.


The tale of the Phoenix sums up the meaning of the Death card quite well, where a bird dies in the flames only to emerge and fly out of the fire transformed into something far greater.

So when the Death card appears,don't fear it. It's the sign of something in your life may come to an end. As the end the transition may be challenging and comes to pass a new beginning will present itself.