R’d Death + 7 of Swords/6 of Wands: Birthing Our Change With Calm Acceptance

Ready for a change? a big change? Judging from the three cards I drew today from the Samurai Tarot, change is on the way, and we need it — but we also have to help birth it.

Everyone worries about the Death card, but I rarely draw it. When it appears, it’s a sign of dramatic change — not necessarily a physical death, but perhaps the death of something else, such as a way of life, a business, a project, a relationship. Sometimes the death of our illusions (and “illusion” is the word the Samurai Tarot associates with this card). It’s not necessarily a negative card, though any death is likely to be difficult, because death leads to rebirth. But today something is blocking this change — Death is reversed today. Notably, though, the cards I drew with it are a 7 and a 6: which together add up to 13, the number we see on the Death card.

So what do we have to do to release this block so that the energy of change can flow through? The Seven of Swords looks like a struggle — and it’s different, in this respect, from the Rider-Waite Seven of Swords, which shows someone running away with an armful of swords. Here we see a samurai facing a man with a bo (a long stick weapon). Which person on this card represents us? The Samurai Tarot book advises that this card represents extravagence, and notes, “You cannot carry out large undertakings if your spirit does not accept a touch of folly. If you think too much, or hesitate, you might miss your opportunity.”

The Six of Wands, however, shows a person walking calmly through an arch into an unknown future. (And do you see how the clouds on this card are also reflected on the other two cards for today?) The word this card makes me think of is this: acceptance. Which is really what death requires of us, whether we like it or not.

Are we ready to fight and struggle for a future that we can’t see? A future that will call upon our capacity for calm acceptance? Maybe that is extravagence. It’s still a choice, by the way: walk through the arch or don’t walk, but do so with a spirit as calm as a vast ocean. (Even in a hurricane, an ocean contains calm depths, doesn’t it?)