Scorpion

“I went to The Woods because 

I wished to live deliberately, 

to front only the essential facts of Life, 

and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, 

and not, when I came to die, 

discover that 

I had not Lived.

I did not wish to Live 

what was not Life, 

Living is so dear; 

nor did I wish to practice resignation, 

unless it was quite necessary. 

I wanted to live deep 

and suck out all the marrow of Life, 

to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout 

all that was not Life, 

to cut a broad swath and shave close, 

to drive Life into a corner, and 

reduce it to its lowest terms.” 

— Henry David Thoreau

TEMPLE artefact #16

XIII. DEATH

KEY WORDS – 

MAJOR CHANGE. 

ENDINGS AND BEGININGS. 

DEATH.

Death is unlucky Trump 13 

of the Major Arcana.

Death is some say, a card 

of Change, not to be feared...

Colours are RED, PURPLE, 

BLACK and SILVER.

Our Death, like that of Jim Starlin 

and Neil Gaiman in the comics, 

is a female gothic figure, voluptuous 

and fetishistic in that inevitable intertwining 

of Sex and Death that followed 

when some opportunistic eukaryotes moved on from fission cloning.

This is The Empress Death, 

Mother of Skeletons, 

who also culls in 

endless abundance 

what she brings forth.

In many Death cards, 

our POV is at a safe remove, 

watching Death at work in a field, culling Kings and commoners alike.

In ours, there is no doubt 

that the figure is advancing 

toward us, taking all 

the time she needs.

She is approaching, implacably, 

step by step, her huge scythe swinging like a pendulum, 

she gets closer, change by change, 

moment by moment.

In the meantime, on her way, she can be a card of Radical Change, 

a harbinger of Transformation 

and personal growth!

On her head, she wears 

a bishop’s fish-like mitre 

(the fish is related to Death 

via the Hebrew letter NUN attributed to this Card, 

the fish swimming in the ‘underworld’…) 

with an armored VISOR 

pushed up at the front as if 

from a knight’s helmet.

On the mitre we see 

the astrological sign 

for SCORPIO with its 

hooked tail.

A weblike VEIL draping down from the mitre and the raised visor to her shoulders, covering her head. 

Under the mesh we can tell 

there is no face, 

only the sockets and 

grin of a SKULL.

Otherwise, she has a Burlesque 

pin-up body – waist cinched tight 

by a strappy leather corset.

In her black-gloved hands 

she wields a big and formidable 

scythe sweeping back for the cut. 

The angle of the scythe makes a diagonal slash across the centre of the image suggestive of 

a falling guillotine blade.

We can tell where she’s been 

by the swathe of cut blooms 

and floating flower heads 

in the swirling wake behind her.

A GIANT SCORPION 

clings to Death’s back, 

so that see only its 

legs and pincers wrapped 

around her body like some nightmare couture. 

These articulated scorpion legs clenched around her midriff resemble the bones of a corset. The huge, upraised PINCERS at either side, like ghastly wings. 

The thorned venomous tail 

curled up behind.

Death wades through the brackish waters of a LILY POND that come up above her knees to her thighs. We can see the tops of tight thigh boots and fishnet tights above.

Flaring out either side and dragging on the water a SKIRT.

RED HEART-SHAPED LEAVES on black branching nervous systems, we see flowers with black stems and red heads growing from the bloody acrid waters –under the surface in the red swamp water, we can see skeleton fishes swimming among the stems of flowers.

Seen through the misty gloom that fills the background above the lake -

A BOAT - simple punt belonging to 

CHARON boatman of the dead, moored at a rundown wooden jetty.

A forest of five 

SQUARE CHIMNEYS bristle in background. Cremation smoke rising in straight lines from each.

Cypress and weeping willow add to the mournful landscape.

A red, smoky sun simmers behind Death’s head, setting into the miasma. It seems to be held between the upraised pincers of the scorpion riding on Death’s back. 

In the sun can be seen 

the skeleton of an EAGLE.

7 of 9, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix-01 : 

There is only ONE course of Action : 

DESTROY Them FIRST. 

• My subspace link to The Collective has been weakened by the interdimensional rift. 

• We CANNOT signal for Help. 

• We ARE alone. 

We must construct a compliment 

of biomolecular warheads 

and modify Your Weapons to launch them.

Acting-Captain Cmdr. Chakotay : 

I've got a better idea — Why don't you open that rift again and take Us back?

7 of 9, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix-01 : 

If I did THAT, 

• You would NO-LONGER cooperate.