DEATH/TRANSFORMATION “Without an ending there would be no beginning.” - Craig D

DEATH/TRANSFORMATION

“Without an ending there would be no beginning.” - Craig D Lounsbrough

Death is very much not about an actual physical death, so don’t get worried when you see this card come up in your reading! Instead, this is a card about changes, transformation and the new life that you can find after the old you passes away. It’s about allowing pieces of yourself to metaphorically die so that the rest of you can flourish and grow strong. This is a time of rebirth, when you can find a new identity and become like a Phoenix rising from the ashes. I’ve chosen to call this card ‘Transformation’ in my Fangirls’ Tarot Deck because I feel the card’s original name carries too much of a negative connotation by now and I’m hoping people can start to see past what they once believed about it, so it’s kind of like a rebirth of the card itself, ushering in its new transformation.

::Who’s Who On This Card::

1.Memory!Erased Connor from Angel - On the show, Connor was Angel’s son who was brought into a hell dimension and suffered a great deal before coming back to Earth and acting out his pain and psychological torment on those around him. His whole life was fraught with suffering– until Angel made a deal with the Higher Powers that Connor would have his memories erased and be magicked into a new family, one where he would have a new identity and a sort of magical amnesia to forget the old Connor that once lived before. In essence, he had to die to be reborn into a happier life. This is the message behind the Death card, sometimes the old must pass away so you can create a happier, healthier new self.

2.Regeneration Scenes in Doctor Who - The first time the show wanted to switch actors that played the Doctor (going from the first Doctor to the second Doctor), they were faced with the dilemma of having to explain to the audience why there was a whole new actor playing this character. Thus they added the idea of 'regeneration’ to the mythos of the show. When the Doctor reaches old age or gets injured, their old self transforms into a renewed newer body, causing a complete physical and often psychological change. It’s the same character, but different in many ways, the same and changed, and healthy enough to continue the story line. When Death appears for us in a reading, it often feels like this change has taken place for you, casting you forward into a whole new life.

3.Frank Cross from Scrooged - My favorite Scrooge of all the Scrooges that could be placed on the Death/Transformation card! Props to Billy Crystal! By the time Scrooge, in any form of the story, wakes up on Christmas morning, he’s been visited by three ghosts who have helped him eliminate what wasn’t working to create a new version of life for himself. He’s gone through the psychological process of accepting change and parting ways with his crotchety old self.  

4.Ru Paul - Basically any transgender person could be used for this card, since many do go through a very big transformation when they decide to start expressing themselves as a different gender and often cast their old identity aside, even going so far as to call their birth name their 'dead name’ because it no longer feels like them. This new change can be a new lease on life for them. Ru Paul seems to have brought transgender identity and drag culture to the masses though, so they get a mention.

5.Ariel from The Little Mermaid - When Ariel finally gets her human legs and goes through that permanent change at the end of The Little Mermaid, it’s the end of the old way of living as a mermaid for her as she steps into a new beginning with Eric as a human. This physical transformation brings an ending of a life lived under the sea so that she can embrace the world above. The Death card often asks us to embrace that change, like she did, because there is so much more for us waiting after this chapter closes.

6.Georgia Lass from Dead Like Me - On the show Dead Like Me, Georgia actually did die.. but after that, her unlife got even stranger as she was turned into a grim reaper, still stuck on Earth, unrecognizable to her old family and friends and made to take on this new identity and job. It was quite the change for her, one that she didn’t always enjoy and one that took a lot of getting used to, but she made a lot of friends and new discoveries despite her gripes. Death is not always pleasant, but if you embrace it and don’t resist this transition, you may find you make just as many new discoveries as you cut away from your old life and start down your new path.