by Stacie Ysidro

In astrology, your rising sign (or ascendant, the sign of your first house), is the starting place for your natal chart. The first house is the sign of self, it is said to be half of your personality and how you present yourself to the rest of the world and your first impression on people.

Closets are interesting, as much as they house our external presentation to the world, they also hold secrets and what cannot be seen on the outside.

Interesting that in astrology the 12 house represents aspects of yourself that are not seen, secret, even self undoing. After the 12 house you go back to the first house. the consecutive order of 12 back to one seems to intertwin perfectly with my concepts of closets. Closets seem to be a physical manifestation of the consecutive order.

Some people have their closets extremely organized, color-coordinated. They even rotate the items and colors as the seasons change. They’re constantly updating their wardrobe getting rid of the old making room for the new. Then there are those of us who haven’t thrown out a clothing item almost since the day they were born. Up until this past year, (how ‘bout them muscle gains from the gym!?) I could still fit into the same clothes that I wore in high school. As much as I have grown and transformed over time, I still have a hard time letting go of these clothing items regardless of the fact that they no longer define me (and don’t physically fit now). There’s thoughts that ‘oh I can give this to my daughter one day’ or fix the hole in this, or the item has memories attached- sentimental value- the excuses go on and on.

There’s a saying about how our physical environments reflect our internal workings and psychological states. When my room is in chaos I often feel like my life has been unmanageable, as far as my schedule being too busy to even put clothes away. When my office space is neat and organized I feel on point with my business. When my office space is a mess I can’t even find the bills I’m supposed to pay.

I have a Sagittarius ascendant. Sagittarius is the sign of the journey, philosophy, the adventure. It’s not a particularly disciplined and organized astrological sign, unlike my sun sign Virgo. Virgos are very analytical, detail oriented and yes, organized…although I have heard of Virgos maintaining an ‘organized chaos’ so to speak- meaning that when you look at it from an outside perspective, it seems like a hot mess. However they know where every single little thing is with in that mess.

My closet is definitely more consistent with my Sagittarius ascendant. There are clothes from my whole life! I have bins of clothes at the bottom, I have boxes of clothes on the top shelves, even a couple of bins in my garage. I some drawers that have some more clothes and I even have another location my apartment, that has more clothes in the closet and drawers!!

The honest fact of the matter is is that I really don’t wear any of that stuff that’s in my closet at home! I do have a habit of looking through all of it to ‘try to find something to wear’. Then I go to the clean laundry air drying (not in the closet) that I can actually fit into, at this point, and just wear those.

My fitness transformation this past year has brought me to a point where I am now surpassing the clothes that are the biggest size I have. I’m sure everyone has clothes from their lightest weight to their heaviest weight usually it’s within about 10 lb, so that’s understandable.

I remember getting to a point in my life at the salon when I was moving into management and being a shareholder, more of a leader within the company. I was no longer the youngest or the least experienced. I got to a place of a leadership position and none of my clothes matched my new position. I had to go shopping and look for some clothes that could reflect my new leadership role. I remember feeling slightly uncomfortable in them, although happy that I was getting a new look and transforming to that next level of my career.

There’s always a level of discomfort when it comes to change even if it’s change for the better sometimes there’s a sense of loss. In the bigger picture: it’s not a loss of ourselves, it’s an integration of a piece of our selves or a transformation.

When we pick up a piece of the puzzle it becomes our focus. We find its place and that is a big deal for a while. Sooner than later it becomes smaller, realizing all of the other pieces to the puzzle, we now see the bigger picture. We pick up another piece and the journey continues….

I’m at another Tipping Point in my life where big pieces have become small, items that seem to Define part of my journey now just seem to clutter my future.

I’m not really sure that I’m going to color coordinate my closet, mostly because 80% of my clothes are still black anyways (once a hairdresser always a hairdresser). I don’t know that I am going to have a winter and summer wardrobe, after all Florida has like a couple of days of winter and that’s it so what am I really switching out here?

I may keep some items that are within that 10 lbs. Ultimately, I think it’s about time for me to start releasing some of those old items that no longer define where I’m at. I may keep one or two sentimental items that symbolically tell the story of my journey, but I’m going to focus on who I am today and moving forward.

I will gladly accept the challenge of trying to find some clothes that are a better reflection of who I am today and moving forward. I may need to go shopping again and find some things that are in alignment with where I am at today. (I am not a big clothes shopper these days- I tend to spend on digestive enzymes or collagen rather than clothes)

I’ve been doing a lot of internal work, spiritual growth, behind the scenes. I am getting ready to show on the outside, the shifts and changes that have happened on the inside. Metaphorically, de-cluttering my closet, is symbolic of solidifying my commitment to my higher self in becoming the better person that I am and going to be.

How very Virgo and Sagittarius of me….the journey continues….

Note: I wrote this about a year ago- March 2018. I never posted it because I felt like there was a piece to the puzzle missing- if you read my last post “when de-cluttering becomes a Spiritual Practice” Feb 2019 you will see it has taken me the year to find that piece. I have learned to give myself time to be where I am at. Everything happen in Divine time. Have patience and compassion for myself in the process. Yes the journey continues but all we truly have is Today. More will be revealed.