The traditional title of the Transformation card is Death. This title is a blind because this card actually illustrates the opposite: immortality. The skeleton in the picture represents our soul that transmigrates along the stream of its incarnations (the river) toward enlightenment (the rising sun on the horizon). On its way, it reaps wisdom, understanding, and empathy. Mind that the blade of the scythe has the shape of a crescent moon, which is a symbol of memory. As we evolve our consciousness, we remember who we truly are: immortal souls.
“No human ever steps in the same river twice,” said Heraclitus. The universe is constantly moving and transforming. Transformation is the only thing we can rely on one hundred percent.
Stagnation is deadly for economies and businesses. If businesses don’t adapt to change, they perish. This is true for relationships, too. Stagnating water becomes foul. Consciousness that doesn’t transform corrupts.
But many people like changes only when they’re bored. The card pictures our movement toward the future, symbolized by the rising sun on the horizon. The future is unknown. We fear the unknown. And we fear change. That the skeleton doesn’t look in the direction it moves, but back into the past, shows the fear of transformation, which an inauspicious Transformation card may indicate.
As a faculty of consciousness, transformation is controlled change — of a mindset, a person, a relationship, a business, an industry, or a society.
Transformation involves the sacrifice of an old form for a new one, leaving its essence untouched. That the Sacrifice card preceded the Transformation card signifies this. This sequence also implies that reversals kick off transformations.
Transformation doesn’t necessarily mean evolution, however, if used correctly, it promotes evolution. Enlightenment practitioners use the power of transformation to evolve their consciousness.
On a side note, the Transformation card holds the secrets to longevity. Our body is engaged in a continuous transformation. It replaces all cells every seven to ten years. When bodily transformation processes don’t work properly, we get cancer. This applies to mental transformation, too. Every time we resist mental transformation, we age a little. Dying a little death (transforming) every day delays the ultimate death. Longevity is also the result of a reversed use of sexual energy. The natural use of sexual energy perpetuates our species, but we can transform sexuality so that it perpetuates our lives.
An auspicious Transformation card may indicate that transformation is a key ability that will allow the querent to overcome her challenge. This is the mechanism: karma shows us what works and what doesn’t → we reverse and sacrifice false opinions → we transform.
The Transformation card calls for adaptation to change while remaining true to oneself and one’s mission. It may also call for evolutionary transformation, meaning to take something to a new level.
An inauspicious Transformation card may indicate that the querent fears change, failed to adapt to change, and/or resisted transformation, which caused her challenge.
Lack of change leads to boredom, which an inauspicious Transformation card may also suggest.
Last but not least, it may indicate an unconstructive use of sexual energy.
On the Tree of Life, the path of the Transformation card connects the spheres Higher Self and Creativity. The 6→7 direction personalizes the higher self’s inspirations through imagination. This is why ageless wisdom assigned the epithet imaginative intelligence to this card. Imagination is the highest mental power that rules and transforms desiring, thinking, feeling, and emoting.
The titles and the five core meanings of the Transformation card are:
Enlightenment Tarot title: Transformation
Traditional title: Death
Power of consciousness: Transformation
Constructive use: Progress, improvement
Unconstructive use: Regress
Auspicious state of mind: Metamorphosis
Inauspicious state of mind: Stagnation, boredom
On the spiritual-intentional level, the Transformation card calls for spiritual transformation.
On the creative-feely level, the Transformation card signifies imagination. An inauspicious Transformation card may call for the transformation of a competitive lifestyle to a creative lifestyle.
On the intellectual level, the Transformation card stands for cognitive transformation. Cognitive transformation is a psychological procedure that fosters desistance — abstinence from breaking or bending rules (5’s). The intellect is prone to manipulation and breaking or bending rules. After a person becomes self-conscious (6’s) of her rule-breaking, she transforms her means of fulfilling her desires (7’s). Instead of fulfilling her desires at the expense of others (abuse), she strives to fulfill her desires creatively (7’s). Desistance embraces the following two principles: a) the recognition that coping with adversity leads to new opportunities (and transformation), and b) that the evaluation of traumatic experiences promotes mental growth/transformation. A Tarot reading helps with the latter.
On the bodily-practical level, the Transformation card signifies bodily transformation. That includes movement, which is the foundation of health, fitness, and longevity.
Movement is medicine. – Robin Arzón
On this level, an inauspicious Transformation card may indicate health issues that result from a lack of movement or from malfunctioning bodily transformation processes, e.g., cancer, immune deficiencies, or autoimmune diseases. An inauspicious Transformation card may also indicate, particularly in children, sensitivity to the following afflictions: sinusitis, nasal polypi, adenoids, nasal catarrh, diseases of the womb and ovaries, various venereal diseases, stricture, enlargement of the prostate gland, painful and irregular menstruation, sexual dysfunction, leucorrhea, rupture, and renal stones and gravel (see body zone below).
More Attributions:
Number: 13
Letter: Nun, meaning fish. According to ageless wisdom, a fish symbolizes sexual energy.
Astrology: Scorpio
Color: Blue-green
Body zone: reproductive organs, bladder, urethra, rectum, the descending colon, prostate gland, and the nose.