In honor of the Virgo new moon, I've been giving the heave ho to boxes and boxes of stuff...some of it dating back 30 years or so.   Today it was all going smoothly---until I found three letters dating  back to 1991, all written by my first true love, after we split up.  I was shocked, because about 10 years ago I threw out old pictures, and other items that had marked our years together, including tons of love letters.  I couldn't believe I still had some left.  I set them aside and felt my stomach tighten and my heart clutch..  amazing how old feelings of longing and love can still exist all these years later.   A couple of hours later, I read those letters, and I am absolutely convinced I hung on to them for precisely this moment in time.   Here's why:

He apologized.  They were heartfelt, detailed apologies.  His words were true and loving and really empowering.   I thought, why didn't these words sink in the first time?  When that relationship ended, I felt guilty.   I felt inordinately to blame for--everything.  I felt like a failure, and I carried it around for years, and it colored every single relationship I had after that.   All the while, here were these letters, letting me know something else entirely... that I wasn't solely responsible.  How could I have missed them?

And here's the real kicker.  I found out this past week that my most recent ex is getting married this fall, and I felt that same old tug, the pang of regret, and loss.

Who knew, that I would find three old letters that offered such healing? 

I have venus in aries 7th house,  square saturn in capriicorn 4th house.  Chiron in 5th house.   I think this new moon offered me up a miracle.

So, my question is:  do you throw out old love letters written by ex-flames?   Why, or why not?  

Depends.

I keep a lot of stuff like that.  I had a card my great-grandfather had given me on my first birthday until it was ruined in a flood a few years back.
Once I no longer feel anything, good or bad, from thinking of, looking at, or handling the objects, it's time to go.  Unless it's something of value or something I'd like to pass on, it's gone.

Keep them. Imagine what you'll feel when you read them again at age 80.

Once, maybe 15 years ago, I threw all old love letters out, and also just letters, old school poems etc. big cleaning. I thought I might regret this later, but I haven´t. I do keep letters from my parents and my daughter.

I have a stash of letters from an old boyfriend's mother.  She hated me, so I wrote her a letter trying to make amends.  Somehow we struck up a penpal-ship. They remind me of a bunch of intense growth experiences I went through. 

Maureen,

I also have Venus in Aries  in the 7th squared by Saturn in the 4th in Cap (Chiron in Pisces in the 6th though).....and I have saved all the love letters, ever.  I look through them once in a blue moon and like you, sometimes I have realized more, later.

There are cycles of reflection later on down the road, and I think letters are meaningful this way.  Also, through the act of preserving  you  give the experience value.  Even if it was painful, you loved and you grew from it.     Personally, I would save them, but preferable in an attic, storage or a place where you can visit on a rainy day. 

I'm glad for you with the healing experience.  

Preferably I would throw them away. How about emails and text messages?

I'm sort of mulling about what to do with them right now. Hmm.

Oh I have my diaries from elementary school, so I save it all.  Reading something that was actually written by hand, nowadays, when everything is digital, makes it all the more precious to me.  But of course, if keeping it is negatively affecting you, than you should probably get rid of it.

I have in  in the 8th.  When it's over, it's over.  When I've made the decision to move on, I don't look back.  My husband has never written me a love letter, but I have the cards from every time he's sent me flowers.

I used to keep EVERYTHING.

I did a massive purge some years ago (it actually took a few years to do).

Now I keep pretty much nothing.

My naked skin and what lies within is all I carry forward.

My fiancee and I were talking about this yesterday. When we move in together (into a house that is new to the both of us), I will be starting FRESH -- I don't want to carry forward my past.

I prefer to keep love letters/even some emails if I can..... even if I never look at them again until spring cleaning.....

I don't keep them but pictures, ALWAYS.

If you want to move on with your life, (esp. if you are in a new relationship), the Feng Shui of it is to unload the old love letters. I especially like burning them as it's sorta a purification ritual. It's better then shredding. I have kept cards from my family, (my dad, mother and other beloved relatives are gone) and i like seeing their handwriting & also being reminded that I was much loved and cherished. I always keep pictures unless it is of someone that i have particularly unpleasant memories then I burn them.

PS: I am a certified Feng Shui practitioner.