Transformation vs Change
Image: Death from Llewellyn’s Classic Tarot
One of the wonderful things about tarot is that, if one wishes, it can provide a lifetime of learning. Working with the cards in readings and in personal reflection, our understanding of the cards deepens. The tapestry of our belief system becomes more complex, more nuanced. Sometimes we learn or experience things that cause us to rip former threads of understanding from our tapestry (often this is connected with Tower experiences, which tend to change fundamentals of our belief systems).
For me, I’ve noticed changes in my own understanding and interpretation of the Death card. When I first began learning the cards, I talked about Death, as so many people were back then, in terms of change and transformation. I focused on the new beginning inherent in Death, bringing a positive spin to the card.
Later, I felt that that approach did not honor the process of mourning or the emotions of the one facing Death (in whatever form it took: loss of a loved one, divorce, layoff, firing, break ups, etc.). So I shifted my focus to talk about the experience of going through a Death situation, and I still used the words “change and transformation.”
Now, I realize that change and transformation are not the same thing. Change is when something is made different. Transformation is a more specific type of change. Transformation is a quality of change that we cannot change back from. It is irreversible. It is a metamorphosis. There is a sense of painfulness to it. Our quintessential symbol of metamorphosis is the change from caterpillar to butterfly. The metamorphosis itself is a terrible experience (it seems to me). The caterpillar almost (but not quite) completely liquefies. The remaining parts are reused while the soupy liquid is recreated into something different. For the caterpillar, there is no changing of the mind partway through and going back to being a caterpillar. This is an important difference.
One could argue that all change is transformation because “you can never step in the same river twice.” But I don’t think so. I think there is a line that once crossed moves one from change to transformation. I’ve not worked out what that line is yet, but I’m working on it.
What do you think?
And I also agree that change is not necessarily anything new. The seasons change. The phases of the moon change. But they are consistent. We will inevitably see a beautiful harvest moon on a crisp fall evening again and again but it will never be the same night imparticular. Maybe thats where transformation takes place.
This is so true. I am wrapping up my “Death” tarot year card at the end of this month. Many changes have happened, all very intense, to bring me to a new way of life.
I think I could be somewhat proactive about recognizing what needed to end, but not completely. Of course, tarot helped immensely.
Yes, transformation and change, especially in the context of tarot, are not the same thing. Change is like deciding to cut your hair, or to wear something different to the office, or drive a different route.
Transformation represents the fundamental shift within as well as without.I tell my clients that it’s like putting a cat in a carrier: all four paws are splayed out, major resistance is put against the edges, and all energies are directed toward escape and going back. But then, once we make it through the resistance, and come out on the other side, we usually embrace the new way of being and wonder what all the fuss was about. Which brings us, philosophically at least, to the Temperance card: now that we’ve made it through to the “other side,” look what cool things we can do!
I agree there is a line that you cross that causes transformation, much like puberty the transformation become visible after the pain of growth. You don’t have much control with transformation but you can plan for a change. Transformation can be painful and you have to grow to accept and endure the experience.
[…] some of these thoughts down in a Facebook comment in response to Barbara Moore’s article, Transformation vs. Change, published on the Llewellyn […]