Death is card 13 in the Major Arcana. Add the one and the three together and you get four, so I've always seen Death as one of the fours.

While I was illustrating the Minor Arcana fours and the Death card for Concertina Tarot, a strange symbol kept appearing. A literal thread, running between the cards. In true Concertina style, the art seemed to weave itself together, leaving subtle clues that bind these five cards to each other. The symbols holding them together are thread, fish and fruit.

There's a lot going on here, and to be honest this artwork is still pretty new to me. Sometimes it takes a while for me to understand what I've actually painted. Often, the images turn up first and the meaning catches up later, so let's delve into this mystery together.

What's in the cards

In Death, we see a blue grey woven tablecloth.

In the 4 of Cups, there's a fallen nest with bits of blue grey thread woven haphazardly through it.

In the 4 of Pentacles, a figure is scrunched precariously into a corner, bound tightly by a golden thread.

In the 4 of Swords, a sleeping figure rests beneath a blanket, and its threads wind out of the blanket and through the border surrounding her.

In the 4 of Wands, a group of four figures, bound together by celebratory bunting, return to their community having gathered food to share. They carry a basket of apples and a fresh catch of red fish. That's the same red fish you'll find in the Death card, stripped right down to its bones. The four figures represent the four seasons. The seasons are often interpreted as a cycle of death and rebirth. We're starting to get some themes here!

The thread

Throughout all of Concertina Tarot I've used imagery like zig zags and threads as a constant reminder that the cards are linked. Each one is its own illustration, but they all belong to the larger story of the tarot.

The threads in the Minor Arcana fours all have a certain unfinished quality. They're placed in pieces into a nest, hanging loosely from a blanket or wrapped around a person as a kind of bond. Nothing is done yet.

In the Death card, the thread has been turned into a complete object, a tablecloth. It's finished.

Why a red fish?

Perhaps the fish represent a journey from food to carcass. In the 4 of Wands they haven't been eaten yet. They still offer sustenance, something to bring home and share. In Death, the fish has been devoured and has nothing more to offer. Why the colour red? Sorry to tell you, I really don't know. Maybe it just looks good.

Sleeping, resting or dead?

There's also a connection between the figure in the 4 of Pentacles and the Death card. In the Pentacles, the figure is sleeping, rather uncomfortably, but sleeping nonetheless. The fish in the Death card has its eye wide open. It's not sleeping. It's well and truly dead.

And what about the figure in the 4 of Swords? I'm going to be completely honest here. I haven't decided if she's resting or dead, and I might never decide on that one. I like to let the meanings change, so maybe she's doing both.

Don't you hate it when artists give vague explanations of their work?

To sum it up

These are simply suggested meanings, and they're always open to interpretation. Personally, I love it when people come up with their own readings of the illustrations. It gives me a whole new perspective on cards I thought I knew.

Concertina Tarot is currently being printed. My excitement about this tarot deck is verging on inappropriate, and I hope you're all excited too! If you'd like to hear about it first, join my email list at the bottom of this page.

So tell me, what do you see in the 4 of Swords? Is she resting, or is she gone? I'd love to hear how you read these five cards together.