The fifth ternary of the Major Arcana in Tarot is composed of XIII Death, XIV Temperance, and XV The Devil. In Papus’ ternary system, any triad expresses the dynamic of י (Yod), ה (He), and ו (Vau): impulse, receptivity, and synthesis. Not only that, but it exactly reproduces the zodiacal sequence of Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn, from the eighth to the tenth houses.
In this specific case, Death represents the י (Yod), the initiating impulse of dissolution, transmutation, and the symbolic death of the ego. It is aligned with the sign of Scorpio, the fixed and subterranean Water where all forms decay to release their essence. This is a destructive current governed by Mars, the nocturnal malefic, who feels at home when the Sun has set and shadow begins its reign. The eighth house of the Zodiac, a succedent house, is its natural dwelling: the house of death and regeneration, not merely of literal loss, but of the symbolic loss that allows rebirth. It follows the western point of the Zodiac, the Descendant, where the Sun sets and the night ascends.
Appropriately, the martial force of Scorpio appears in geomancy as Rubeus, the most violent and brutal of all the sixteen figures, embodying the energy of decomposition itself, where the only active element of the four is Water and where its element is Water itself. In the Tree of Life, Death corresponds to the Path of נ (Nun), the Fish of those putrid waters, ascending from Netzach to Tifereth, the passage through which the egoic desire perishes so that the Higher Will may arise.
This Yod-impulse finds its receptivity in XIV Temperance, the ה (He), the vessel that gathers what remains after death and gives it new proportion. It is the harmonising power that reunites what the previous card dissolved, joining opposites under the ministry of the Angel. Temperance is associated with the mutable Fire of Sagittarius, the first of the transcendent signs, ruled by Jupiter, the great diurnal benefic who orders the cosmos and restores balance to what Mars destroyed.
After the alchemical dissolution of Death, Temperance performs the coctio, the refining by mutable fire that blends water and flame into new equilibrium. It corresponds to the ninth house of the Zodiac, cadent, the realm of God, faith and vision, where meaning begins to emerge from the experience of loss. On the Tree of Life, Temperance is the Path of ס (Samekh), the arrow of the Middle Pillar, uniting Yesod (the receptive lunar soul) with Tifereth (the active solar consciousness). The Sagittarian Centaur perfectly expresses this union: the animal instinct that treads the earth and the human intellect that aims its bow towards the heavens.
In geomancy, Jupiter in Sagittarius is Acquisitio, the figure of Gain, associated with the Element of Air, the light and expansive current that restores movement and circulation after the still waters of Death. It stands as the direct opposite of the process of loss initiated by the Arcanum XIII, since what was dissolved in Scorpio starts to find meaning and direction in Sagittarius, where the Spirit begins to acquire wisdom from what was sacrificed.
Finally, synthesis is achieved in XV The Devil, the ו (Vau), the coagulation of the whole process. Feared and misunderstood, this card signifies the incarnation of Spirit into matter. It corresponds to Capricorn, the cardinal Earth ruled by Saturn, placed at the peak of the Zodiac – the angular tenth house -, the mountain’s summit leading to the Divine.
Capricorn is the densest and most gravitational of signs, but also the highest, since only what has known the weight of matter can be transfigured. The boundaries of Saturn, the diurnal malefic, such as time, body, and form, become instruments of reintegration and consciousness. After dying in Scorpio and being purified in Sagittarius, the initiate in Capricorn learns to work within form, not outside it; to act through matter instead of going against it. In the Tree of Life, the Devil corresponds to the Path of ע (Ayin), the Eye, linking Hod to Tifereth: the Eye that perceives the state of the Fall and understands the task of reintegration. It is the Eye that sees the prison of Matter itself, recognising that captivity as the very field of redemption.
In geomancy, Saturn in Capricorn manifests as Carcer – the Prison -, a figure of imprisonement related to the element of Earth. When rightly understood, the prison becomes the crucible of spiritual solidity. In this case, the initiate labours through lucidity and vigilance, embodying the Desert Fathers’ νῆψις (nepsis), the sacred watchfulness that transforms the prison of flesh into a temple of awareness.
The fifth ternary thus reproduces the zodiacal sequence Scorpio–Sagittarius–Capricorn, mirroring the eighth, ninth, and tenth houses: loss, meaning, incarnation. On the Tree of Life, the three paths – נ (Nun), ס (Samekh), and ע (Ayin) – all converge upon Tifereth, the solar centre of consciousness. Death purifies the minor desire in Netzach; Temperance elevates the lunar soul in Yesod; and the Devil opens the Eye in Hod, revealing the necessity of working through separation so that one may become pontifex, the bridge-builder between Earth and Heaven.