Death Card: Clearing the Clutter

Today I pulled Ariadne (Death in RW) for the Card of the Day (from Chrysalis Tarot) for my Facebook page. The Chrysalis version of Death, like most of its other imagery, is a lot lighter in spirit than the traditional less welcoming images of skeletons and scythes. While Death rarely indicates actual death, it's not a card that many people want to see in a reading because at the very least, it indicates change in some area or areas of one's life. That area can be deduced by noting Death's position in the spread (past, present, future, etc.) and the cards surrounding it.

Change can be a welcome development and seems even more welcome if we call it transformation. To transform has a positive spin to me - a changing into something more, or better. Though the word seems to have a strong resonance and Death is a Major card in the tarot (vs a minor card), change or transformation can be on any level and about anything. Death can indicate a major life change - the end of a cycle, relationship, career, job, etc; but it can also refer to outmoded attitudes, beliefs, negative habits, old resentments, unhelpful behaviors, and even material objects that have outlived their usefulness and are taking up space - all things that need to be let go of. Holding on to what no longer serves us creates heavy anchors in our lives, not allowing us to grow and move forward.

I applied the card's advice to myself today and considered what I'd like to change or transform in my life. Interestingly, the first thing I thought of was literally physical clutter - stuff I have sitting on shelves or in closets that I don't use or want anymore. While I periodically do go through some areas or things (clothes for example), I realized there are the "no man's land" areas where I feared to tread because I wasn't sure what I'd find and how big the clearing job might be. Would there be lots of dust, loads of items to sort through and organize, things I wouldn't know what to do with, and so on? I was tired before I even moved towards the first area needing attention (my kitchen cabinets)! I'm sure I"m not the only one to react this way when it comes to cleaning/clearing house. So what about clearing the deeper stuff, the inner blocks, the outmoded thinking, etc?

I think many of us will do whatever we can to avoid facing our issues - the Minotaur in Ariadne's labyrinth in the above Chrysalis card. We will find justifications, distractions - anything besides facing our baggage and moving it out. The Death card is a reminder to look around, look within and see what we need to let go of. A good place to start is the clutter in our closet, then take it from there!

---