Death

Upright

A cycle that's already over in fact but not yet in your behavior. The thing you keep tending out of habit, loyalty, or fear of the gap it would leave. Notice the sun still rising behind the figure.

Reversed

Clinging. The ending is happening anyway; the resistance is just making it longer and more painful than it needs to be.

How it's usually misread

It does not predict a death. In years of reading it has never once meant that, and anyone who tells you otherwise is performing.

Knowing the card isn't reading it

Every entry on this site is free, and always will be — meanings are the easy half. The hard half is what a card does in a position, next to another card, for a real question. Learn to Read is the lessons for that, plus a practice partner that critiques your interpretations — $111, once.

Or read this card in your hand: the deck is all 78 drawn the way you see it above.