Death

[dreamoftheiris]

Great stuff.

Just to add to the discussion of the Death archetype:

I think the Death card also symbolizes the "Death of the Will".  Jakob Boehme says, “There is no other path to God than a new mind of the soul.”  The Transformation of the Body can be seen then as the transformation of the will influenced by the lower, into the will influenced by the higher.

I think you are correct here but I would attribute this aspect to the Hanged Man, which precedes Key 13. Because the Hanged Man intimates that the human personality is completely dependent on the One Life. Our will is essentially the creator’s will. The death archetypes effects changes in bodily structure and force which make it an effective vehicle for this higher type of bodily transformation. Which depends on the conscious realization of self surrender to the cosmic will. The belief in a personal will is shattered (meaning that we have free will, but that free will does not originate in us.) this, then, allows for higher states of consciousness to be experienced.
After Death, is Temperance, the tempering of the personality. Opposing forces are brought into harmony and achieves a state of order. (14– the powers of 4 (order) expressed through the agency Of self consciousness.)

Great comments! Please excuse my ignorance... I am studying the Keys but I do not know them perfectly yet. These discussions help in developing understanding. You are free to disagree and challenge anything I say. That’s how we grow

A last comment: I’ve been told from my teachers that this Key, Death, has an important practical secret of occultism hidden within its design. I cannot speak on this because I haven’t learned it yet. I believe it has to do with transformation of the body. Actual minute, physical changes in the structure of body, the chemistry of the blood, the functioning of the organs. Paul Foster Case quoted Boehme in one of these lessons.

Very interesting. I definitely agree.

I tend to think that the Death archetype also somehow represents the etheric or indigo body. The etheric can be thought of as a type of "scaffolding" upon which the physical universe is formed. The etheric body also supports, regulates, shapes, and animates our bodies.

Perhaps the skeleton figure represents this scaffolding somehow. Maybe it's the etheric body becoming fully transformed by the Divines presidence over the lower -represented by the figures of what appears to be the head and hands of royalty. Those people in those positions tend to have strong "personalities" completely separate from any notion of a God (as they tend to think of themselves as God).