The Garbage Collector Knows Everything

Archeology is not all marble carvings and mummies and jewelry and weapons and fabulous temples and elaborate graves. Archeologists dig into the kitchen middens of the distant past. That’s how they learn all about the people who used to live there. They learn more about everyday life from the household trash than they can learn from the temple. The temple is where people idealize themselves and their gods, raising them on high, covering them with golden paint. The trash is where they throw down a different form of truth.
 
In the Tarot, the cards for getting rid of things are The Tower, Death, Strength, The Hanged Man, the Page of Swords, and the Nine of Pentacles. So let’s look at these.
 
You’ve been holding on too long, resisting change, and it’s time to snap out of it. You’ve got The Tower now. If you won’t let go, circumstances will force you. And soon.
 
Clear the way for new things. Out with the old, bury it. Death makes space for new ideas, new people, new events.
 
The shadow living within the self, where we hide our trashy secrets, must be encountered with gentleness. To be persuasive and patient with oneself takes true Strength.
 
The Hanged Man surrenders to change. He submits to experience. He ends the struggle. He drops the rope in the tug-of-war with life. In that way he gets the ultimate victory, the spiritual reward. One who will not be hanged will not attain enlightenment, I say.
 
The Page of Swords insists that you embrace a difficult situation and meets its challenge. He demands your honesty, your ethics, your logic and reason, and your firm resolve. I never said he was easy to live with.
 
Rejecting whatever is coarse or offensive, pursuing greater refinement, and relying upon one’s own judgment is signified by the Nine of Pentacles. The self-discipline of this card is totally anti-hoarding.
 
I have a habit, which I think is a good habit, that I learned from my mother. Once a week or so I inventory my possessions and get rid of things. It’s not as if I look into every drawer and closet, ack no, but I cast a critical eye here and there and try to find something I can get rid of. It’s quite refreshing. Dragonfly says, "Let go! It's perfectly safe! Whee! Go free!"