I find it interesting, and ironic that this thread has been "Scythed" as it was full of "cutting remarks". Kind of really relates to the topic at hand!
I am grateful though because as a newbie I am trying to learn how to read the cards with a degree of accuracy, and so I want to learn how it works. Arguments and personal attacks over different schools of thought and opinion are not helpful for learning. I am so glad we are back to the topic
What I find confusing is that there are so many schools of thought depending on region, and I also find it confusing that the cards can speak on a very literal plane as well - sometimes the Dog is really just a dog, sometimes the Fish is really just drinking too much (drinks like a fish) and sometimes House means literally just that - staying at home. And sometimes a Scythe is really just a cutting implement, like a surgeon's scalpel or a knife in the kitchen.
I can see the Scythe as being positive in the sense that it removes obstacles sometimes, and also that it can remove something that is not very good for you, or end something unhealthy. So while it might hurt to be cut off, the cut is quick and so I guess less painful! And the cut can be quite healing!
I have also seen Scythe come up with Clover for some keys I lost that fell in deep clover in a field. We mowed part of the field where I thought they fell, so that might be Scythe, but didn't find the keys. A week later some friends went there and looked for the keys and found them in moments, an inch away from a mown section! So the Scythe could have been the mowing, and the Clover the luck in finding the keys, but how ironic that the keys fell in the clover! Hence why I see the Lenormands as sometimes being quite literal - this being but one example of many I have seen. Incidentally, the next day after the keys were found, the entire field was mown by the farmer!
Myself though I do wonder something about the Scythe, I was thinking a lot about the card in question yesterday, because I was wondering if Scythe + Tree was a death, or if it merely meant surgery, or if you had to have a lot of cards around that confirming one or the other in order to be able to know. Scythe can be a scary card in the sense that it mows things down, and so of course the life and living question is attached to it...or if it is beside Dog or Man, say, can that indicate a termination in a worse or more physically permanent way...?
Anyways that question might be off-topic. However I do want to know other's thoughts on that! The Scythe is a fascinating card indeed! It seems like one of the most powerful cards in the deck.