Your Tarot Card of the Year: Death
If the digits of your birthday this year add up to 13, your Card of the Year is Death
What Death is All About
Few cards in the Tarot inspire more dread at first glance than Death, but here’s the truth: this archetype is far less sinister than its reputation suggests. Death is about endings, transformation, and release, not literal mortality. It represents the shedding of an old skin, the composting of what has outlived its usefulness, the necessary clearing that makes room for new growth. In the Major Arcana’s story, Death is a turning point. It ushers you into a stage of life where the lessons are more cryptic and subtle. Here, your journey can take you into deeper and deeper realms of understanding. If Death is your personal card, you may experience shifts that feel intense, but if you give them a chance, you’ll soon see their value.
How to Work with Death Energy
The key to working with Death is acceptance and trust. Instead of clinging to what’s passing away, honor it. Grieve it as much as you need to, then allow it to go. This message could apply to relationships, jobs, habits, or even identities that once felt essential but now weigh you down. By releasing, you make space for rebirth. Practices like ritual endings (writing a letter of farewell, decluttering your home, marking a closure with ceremony) can help you lean into Death’s transformative energy. Remember always that endings are part of life’s larger cycle. They’re natural and necessary. They’re not punishments. They’re not signs that you’ve messed up. What feels like a loss can become the fertile soil for something profoundly new, if you’ll let it.
Death’s Advice
“Let go so you can grow.”
As much as you possibly can, release your fear of endings and recognize them as sacred transitions. It’s a tall order, but you can do it!
If the idea of having Death as your card still feels too heavy, there’s an alternate path: you can reduce this card’s number, 13, by adding 1 + 3 to arrive at 4, the number of The Emperor. Feel free to adopt either as your guiding card this year. You have a chance to balance Death’s transformative energy with the Emperor’s sense of structure and stability. Whichever way you approach it, the message is clear: by allowing what no longer serves you to fall away, you create space for a more grounded, empowered future.
How does this year fit into your journey?
