Friday Writer's Tarot

Well, my friends, it was inevitable. This card was going to come up sooner or later.

DEATH (from the Everyday Witch Tarot)

<Insert dramatic music here>

Key Words: Transformation, end of a cycle, transition, releasing old patterns, embracing change.

Let’s get this out of the way: I don’t use tarot as a tool of divination, so I don’t believe Death is a portent of a literal lose of human life.

Instead, I use tarot as an exercise in self-analysis. My reaction to the cards and their symbols tells me a lot about how I think about things and what’s under the surface that I haven’t acknowledged.

The Death card tells us that something is dying, but it’s more likely a metaphorical death. What pattern of thinking is no longer serving your highest good? What relationship do you need to let go of in order to grow? What parts of your identity need to be buried and forgotten?

Sometimes this death can simply be an image you’ve carried of your future self that doesn’t fit anymore.

Since this is a writer-themed reading, this could be a project you need to move on from or a pattern of behavior that’s keeping you from achieving your writing goals. Is it time to admit that you should be writing a different genre? Or do you simply need to smother the internal editor that sounds a whole lot like your overly critical mother? Heck, maybe one of your characters needs to die in order for your story to move forward.

Why does this death need to happen? So that another door can open.

That’s not to say that the process will be easy. Every death—literal or metaphorical—requires a grieving period. Grief is the liminal space between one state of being and a different one. Transformation happens in those shadows.

No, it’s not easy. But as one of my professors in grad school said, “If it feels uncomfortable that means you’re growing.”

I should point out here that this card isn’t usually a surprise. Instead, it’s a gentle nudge for your to acknowledge an ending that you’ve been avoiding. You probably already know what you need to release.

Notice in the card image, the figure of Death is using their sword to cut through the rope. It’s time to cut that cord, friends.

Death Playlist

Here’s some music to listen to while you work through the grief surrounding this change.

What do you need to release today?