14
Death

50: Noun forms 'Aqarav

Keyword: Existential Life

Formative symbolism: Death is the Emperor in existence; life that began with Hay/5 at Aries is realized with Noun/50 in Scorpio with the mark of death.

Hay, Life, is condensed in individual existences as Noun.

[Tarot Index]

And so we arrive at Death, the most ironic card of the 22, except, of course, for the Devil. We may have forgotten by now that we originally set out from Aries, formed by Hay, 5. It is only at Noun, Scorpio, 50, that life is finally realized and factual. This realized life, of course, is marked by the sign of Death and feared in almost all interpretations. We must "die to every moment" to be really alive. Death is the projection of the archetypal Emperor/Hay/Life into existence -- Noun/existential life. What is the most appropriate symbol for life-in-existence? Death. The structure of 'Aqarav, Scorpio, shows indeterminate cosmic consciousness projecting through universal patterns and individual containers. "Life and death are very close," and there is the opportunity for wisdom in Mars' activity there (Hhokmah/Wise). Note that just as Hay/5, the Emperor, is in the center of the first row, Noun/50, Death, is in the center of the fully expanded alphabet and set of Tarot. This is the centrality of Life, the balance.