Most Tarot decks contain the card of Death. After all, death is a part of life and Tarot contains all aspects of living, including dying. In the portrait style cards, the #13 card displays a skeleton often with a scythe. He is the harvester of the grain planted in the spring. Corresponding to the Hebrew letter Nun, death takes on the connotation of Transformation. The letter Nun is 14th out of 22 letters, but it represents the number 50. The historic meaning of Nun includes "fish, snake & time." Modern meanings are "to continue, offspring & heir." The earliest form of this letter resembled a seedling. Fifty days after Passover begins, a Jewish festival is celebrated, in honor of the single most important event in Israel's history. The Greeks called this festival Pentekoste, meaning 50, translated to Pentecost in the English Holy Bible. This festival is mentioned in the Old Testament (Books of Moses, ie., the Torah) several times and is called Shavuot. Initially, it was harvest time that was celebrated. After the Exodus from Egypt, Shavuot commemorated the event of God giving Moses the Torah (the Law) on Mt. Sinai. It was during a celebration of Shavuot that the disciples of Jesus were visited by the Holy Spirit and they spoke in tongues, according to the New Testament. Christians adopted Pentekoste as a time of celebration commemorating the act of the Holy Spirit descending upon the followers of Jesus. Hence, we have the Pentecostal Church, which is a fundamentalist institution espousing the divinity of speaking in tongues and we have the Christian holiday of Pentecost. The number 50 also represents the year of Jubilee in Judaism.
On the Path of the Fool's Journey, you can see how the card of Death follows The Hanged Man. In the Adept's Tarot, the Hebrew letter Mem is The Hanged Man. Mem is a mother letter, in the middle of both the Hebrew and the English alphabets. Mem means "boundless water & probation." I associate this card with the element of water and the power of Vishnu Energy ~ the preserver of mankind ~ the great comforter ~ a.k.a. the Holy Spirit. This great Friend of Man descends to earth, as if a dove, bringing the Transformation found in the Death card. Death of one kind is birth of another kind. Food is transformed into our bodies. Cycle & Rhythm of Life is Transformation. Mem is water. Water holds memory. Mem is Binah ~
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