Tarot Spread: Cleaning House

Is it time to clean house? You can use this spread to help you focus up and literally clean your physical space or to metaphorically clean up your personal inner space. Either way is fine by me.


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1. What must be gathered or cleared out to make room for this coming cycle?

2. What would benefit from a pause to let the dust settle?

3. What opportunities can grow in the stillness?

4. When new energy arrives, how can I direct it for greatest effect?

5. How can I prepare for the next cycle when it’s time?


With the New Moon in Aquarius this Thursday, a large portion of the world will be celebrating the Lunar New Year. I could be that it always happens in my first House or because of some latent Sinophilia, but I have felt the Lunar New Year strongly almost since first learning about it as a child. 

I no longer live near East Asian friends and acquaintances, so I don’t make bao or stuff red envelopes (and my face) with White Rabbit candy like I did once upon a time (things that are pretty easy and fun for outsiders to join in on), but I do still make a habit of cleaning my space and setting intentions with even greater purpose than I would with other New Moons. And for that reason, I wanted to make a spread for cleaning your space. 

I decided to use the structure of the five xing (the five “elements”) as the basis for my questions and layout, but because I’m not Taoist or really even all that well-informed on the philosophy behind the wuxing, I didn’t label the questions or positions with their inspirations. Someone who knows them can probably figure them out, but they’ll also probably find gross simplifications with them. 

The structure felt right even without the overt associations to its source because I think it’s a useful way of making sure that I had my bases covered, and it lets me encourage people to look into the system more if they’re interested. But I couldn’t pretend that I knew what I was talking about, so it’s entirely stripped of any signs of that source. I just felt keenly that it would be misconstrued (or correctly construed?) as appropriative and ignorant. If it inspires you to look into the wuxing, then that’s great! I hope you learn it from someone who can teach it to you properly.

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