The Death Card

How did support worker and I get on to the subject of spirituality yesterday? It was as he sat on a clear space on my sofa surveying the utter mountain of mess in my flat. He offered to help me tidy up. I told him only I could do it but had honestly set my mind to doing so after reading about the Death Card in Spirit and Destiny last week. Just life got in the way.

Spirit and Destiny are running a masterclass in Teach Yourself Tarot. In this month's issue they were looking at The Hanged Man and the Death Card.

You may or may not know that the Death Card means a symbolic death, not a literal one. In life, the old must die to make way for the new. Clarissa Pinkola Estes describes it as the life-death-life cycle in her book Women Who Run With The Wolves. Something must end in order to make way for the new. (I always thought space would save my relationship with the foca, for example, time away to think, then come back and make it work. He didn't agree.)

To describe how to connect with the card in Spirit and Destiny's Masterclass, the teacher, Michele Knight, uses her own experience. I shall transcribe it for you. If you have a burning desire to move home, it may say something to you, as it did to me:

"Get de-cluttering! As I write this, I'm planning to move house. My wife Margi and I haven't yet found our new home, but we've already begun sorting through our stuff and have sent a message to the universe that we're serious and expect to find the dream home that I've cosmically ordered. And to prove even I'm not immune to the wonder of magic, I'm amazed at how the energy round our current home has lifted. So be as ruthless as Death himself and scythe through whatever's adding weight to your journey. That goes for behaviour and habits too. Cleanse your home and cleanse yourself, and when you're done, walk about, clapping your hands (a fantastic way of dispersing energy), and burn some sage, which is also great for clearing."

I've been thinking of giving it a go, hand clapping 'n' all, and really should do now. But I have to go into Camden. My son's got two birthday parties , today and tomorrow, so I've got to scour that Catalogue of Laminated Dreams which is Argos. I do love Argos but how I miss Woolworths - Camden's only one-stop-shop for children.

Afterwards, or before, depends when I get there, I'm meeting Milly for a coffee. The de-cluttering can't wait, but it's just going to have to!