Hebrew Name: Nun (fish)
Nun means "fish". As a verb it means "to sprout, to
grow", and conveys the ideas of "fertility, fecundity, productiveness,
generative power, [...] origin, source, mainspring, groundwork, [and]
leaven."1 Life springs forth abundantly as it transforms
itself from the old to the new. This transformation only seems like a
"death", when one is attached or focused in the past or on the old
outworn form.
The sense or function of Motion is attributed to Nun. "All motion is change, transformation, modification, variation. [...] Change is the basis of manifestation."2
Qabalistic Intelligence: The
Imaginative Intelligence
All transformation and change is the result of changes in mental imagery
(creative imagination). "It is not our imagination to which this path
refers, but how we use that imagination."3
Astrological Correspondence: Scorpio
"Scorpio governs the sex organs and is therefore closely associated
with reproduction."4 Astrologically, Scorpio is the ruler
of the House of Death and Inheritance in an astrological chart. "In
Scorpio, then we have two apparently opposite concepts, death and reproduction,
or birth. This is a hint [...] that death and birth are essentially
aspects of one process - Life."5
Number: 13
The Power of 3 (Desire / Creative Imagination) operating through the agency
of 1 (Self-Consciousness). Love (3) in action (1) results in reproduction,
growth, transformation and change.
Color / Note: Blue-Green / G
Symbolism:
(Summarized from "The Tarot", by P.F. Case)6
The Scene: A skeleton on a pale horse culls the dead as a new day dawns on the horizon. "The forces of change which result in physical death are inimical only because we misunderstand and fear them."
The Skeleton: A symbol of death. It is also the basis for all movement in the human body. Similarly, change or transformation is the framework which supports all phenomenal experience.
The Man & Woman: They fall before the Dissolving power of the Life-Power. Dissolution is a time to reap Understanding (the woman) and Wisdom (the Man) from our experience.
The River: The river of consciousness and of evolution. It flows towards the East to indicate that the entire movement of consciousness is towards the dawn or rising of life ...not the cessation of life.
The Sun: Rising in the East to indicate the dawn of a new day. ..the beginning of new life.
The Child with Flowers: The seeds of life walk hand in hand with Death. What we call death is really transformation and change ...a continuance of life in another, newer form.
The Pope: Symbolizing the end of the Piscean Age.
White Rose: The purified desire of spiritual imagery. "Evolution is carried forth by desire. The basic desire in all life is to reproduce forms which will perpetuate evolution. It is this same desire to reproduce that trained spiritual aspirants use to produce images which alter and enhance not only their personal evolution, but that of humanity in general."7 This is also the same rose carried by the Fool. The Fool, or incarnating soul, carried this rose to signify the purity of desire that the incarnating soul set out to bring into the life cycle. Upon physical birth and the advent of self-conscious awareness (the Magician), the rose becomes colored (red) by personal desire and subjectivity. Returned to white in Death, the flower intimates how the death experience clears and purifies our consciousness so that our perceptions are again impersonal and unified into the single desire for truth. The rose is also a symbol of love. It is through love that the driving energy behind sex, union, and reproduction brings us spiritual experience, illumination, and union with the Higher Self. It is therefore essential that we change our attitudes about sex to an attitude of "Unity with Life".
The challenge is to consciously apply the Law of Transformation to everyday life:
 | Dissolution / Transformation: You are not going to die. You are going to change! As a result, you dissolve old worn out forms, reap the experience, and grow in new ways. |
In "Living
the Tarot", Amber Jayanti
provides some suggestions for integration and application of Transformation:
| The Imagery of Death can be used to:8 let go of an untenable way of relating. give in to something that you might not like but that is for the greater good. become more accepting of death. [Not fear death, for it is the change that brings new life.] |
| Ask yourself the following questions:9 What do I desire to transform or eliminate? Where am I afraid to let go or move forward? How might I direct my sexuality or creative energies in new ways? What death am I denying? What do I need to mourn? What transformation am I preparing for? What part of my life or another's is dying in order to be reborn? What do I most wish to be remembered for after I die and what am I doing towards this end? What are some of the things I fear most about my own death? |
Illustrations from the Universal Waite Tarot Deck reproduced by permission of
U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT 06902 USA. Copyright ©1990 by U.S. Games
Systems, Inc. Further reproduction prohibited.