Well no wonder so many fear this card. I don't know if I have really ever paid attention to the fact that Death in this depiction is yellow faced and and the hands too. Wonder what that is all about, since everything in the card has a meaning? The Sun is Yellow as is the bishop's robe, the sunny lands that lay beyond, flowers in the girl's hair. So maybe Death though definitely an end of something also has something good to offer with the transition.
Maybe every cloud does have a silver lining, except, there are no clouds on the dawning sunny day.
Let's find out what happens today.
The Rider Waite-Smith Tarot
on the now defunct tarot forum there were pages and pages to the thread "something I never noticed before" where the cards were blown up and fine combed. I remember the Death card someone pointed out there is an arrow on the foot that points to the cave on the bank.
ReplyDeleteI think it is just part of a spur, but Waite put tons of symbology into his vision for the paintings and many times a cigar isn't just a cigar.
A lot of the reworked from the original have kind of smoothed over and cleaned up the cards without realizing they are taking away from the thought.
I wish I could find the thread
Well if you do run across let me know the address so I can read it as well.
DeleteFrom Victoria Finlay's book "Color" (from an old AT thread):
ReplyDeleteNo colour has a neat unambiguous symbolism, but yellow give some of the most mixed messages of all. It is the colour of pulsating life – of corn and gold and angelic haloes – and it is also at the same time the colour of bile, and in its sulphurous incarnation it is the colour of the Devil. In animal life, yellow – specially mixed with black is a a warning. Don’t come near, it commands, or you will be stung or poisoned or generally inconvenienced. In Asia, yellow is the colour of power – the Emperors of China were the only ones allowed to sport sunshine-coloured robes. But it is also the colour of declining power. A sallow complexion comes with sickness, a yellow of leaves in autumn not only symbolizes death, it indicates it.
Thats a lot of yellow symbolism, My day, complete; I have learned something new. Thanks
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