ACCESSING YOUR INTUITION
Death and Scorpio Season
dicate the promise of a new day; or if seen as setting, symbolize endings. It is at night, through hours of darkness, when we sleep and allow the body to re- cuperate. The figures on the ground either fall, wel- come Death, or turn their heads away from it, depict- ing that Death comes to all. And from these figures, the ones that seem to welcome Death are the child and the bishop, illustrating the ease with which children welcome change; and how those with higher spiritu- al attainment understand the importance of trans- mutation. In the book Holistic Tarot: An Integrative Ap - proach to Using Tarot for
BY CINDY CARRASQUILLO
The Death Card in Tarot is numbered 13 in the M ajor Arcana. Death is my favorite Tarot card, but I will say, I am biased as a sun sign Scorpio born on the 13th. The astrological sign of Scorpio and Death are synonymous in many ways. Scorpio is a fixed sign stationed right in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere’s Fall season, when we start to see the beauty in death as the leaves change color due to the breakdown of chlorophyll, and the weather begins to cool. Day - light is reduced with the ending of Daylight Savings time. Plus, Scor - pio season welcomes Samhain, Halloween, and Día de Los Muertos — celebrations that venerate death. Having lived the last 12 years near mountains, I revel in the transitional beauty of this time of year. T he Death card is ruled by the sign of Scorpio, b oth known for change, rebirth and transformation. Scorpio, in turn, is ruled by both modern Pluto (who is also a god of the Underworld) and traditional Mars . Scorpio is associated with the 8th house in astrology, known as the house of Death, sex, and rebirth; this is fitting as Scorpio is associ - ated with reproduction and rules the reproductive organs. Clearly, the connections between Death and Scorpio season are numerous. And as someone who tends to get bored easily, I appreciate the relevance to change and the process of growth and evolution. These themes, and more, associated with the Death card are rep - resented in a variety of ways through the many versions of Tarot card decks available. One of the most popular and widely-used decks is the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck. When looking at the Rider-Waite Death card, the most prominent image we see is an armored skeleton rid- ing gallantly on a white horse. The figure carries a black flag — black is the color associated with Scorpio — emblazoned with a white rose emblem, signifying the purity of this process. The sun behind the two towers can be seen as either rising or setting. The sun rising can in-
Personal Growth by Benebell Wen, Wen discusses how A.E. White (creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck) was a “purported member of the Golden Dawn and drew extensively from astrology ”. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret society started in the 19th century in England, was known for its teachings of Tarot, practice of the oc- cult, and the metaphysical. Pamela Cole-Smith, the illustrator of the continued on page 26
PATHWAYS—Fall 24—25
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