Sacrifice

In order to know the infinite mind beyond the personality one must sacrifice or surrender the ego-self to the higher-self. In many mythologies, there is a quest for knowledge beyond birth, death and rebirth. Access to this information is brought back via a tribe's appointed shaman. Jesus hung on a cross, Odin hung on the tree of knowledge - the theme of sacrifice by hanging is ancient, as are the forms of the fylot (crossed leg) the cross or the tau. In the Norse myth, Odin hung on the world tree Yggdrasil (which means “Ygg’s horse”). The horse is a symbol for the gallows, and the fylot (the crossed leg) could be a metaphor for Odin’s horse Sleipnir who had eight legs as “the word [Fylfot] is Scandinavian and is compounded of Old Norse fiël, equivalent to the Anglo-Saxon fela, German viel, "many", and fotr, "foot", the many-footed figure." — quoted from George Waring, "Ceramic Art in Remote Ages"; John B. Day, London; 1874 In the myth, the hidden knowledge Odin acquired was that of the Runes. Already being the god of war, Odin knew that the only thing that could defeat him was knowledge. Therefore, he sacrificed himself to acquire that which could defeat him, becoming the god of knowledge as well.
In a modern context, and illustrated brilliantly by a single phrase, Franklin D. Roosevelt said in 1933, at the height of the Depression in his first Inaugural Address “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”, and this is what we must seek to conquer within ourselves.
Each of us throughout our lives plays out the notion of a fleet sacrificial death and resurrection; we renew of commitment to our diet, our relationships, our art, trying to kill off our old selves to become reborn as whom we really believe we are. Yet the true quest is to sacrifice our personality in favor of finding a deeper understanding of ourselves, and our place in the universe, by finding God, the common man, or the bodhisattva within ourselves.
To heed the call of this card is the formidable task of 'letting go and letting god'. Or put another way, becoming comfortable in the 'wisdom of insecurity' as Allen Watts called it, and trusting you have nothing to fear.