Was the Hanged Man hung as a traitor?

In terms of our considerations, Dummett says that 'we have no actual description of any game played with the Tarot pack from before the mid-seventeenth century' (p164) - this is different, of course, to records existing for Tarot being used for playing, such as by Rabelais in the early mid-sixteenth century.

What is of course also interesting is that there is always a presumption that a higher numbered trump (I am here referring to the game, hence 'trump' is probably a correct term) is superior to a lower numbered one in a game. This, however, may or not be correct, and have yet to see where it is stated as such.

For example, there are variations in which the content becomes more important, it seems, then the number. Certainly some early French games considered La Force to be of higher scoring value (and the rules generally speak in detail about scoring and other such things, but usually leave out the obvious, such as that 5 Batons outranks (but not outscores) 3 Batons). In Turin, the related game of Diavolo has it that if a player is dealt first off this card, he instantly wins (though one can see why if considering this a kind of bonus for what may otherwise be considered such 'bad luck', it shows that numerous variations, mostly unwritten, are there).

I shall have to look in more precise detail to find out if any early rules spelled out that a higher numbered trump wins over another lower numbered trump (and would presume that it in fact, as in the modern game, does). This, however, would only show what happens once a deck has acquired numbers, and not explain why the numbers were allocated as they have been (remembering that early cognate decks, such as the Visconti, were not numbered).

I've so much quoting lately.. I'm just going to say V2, Kaplan, 182. He says that the we might assume the numbering in the sermon is how it was played in that region at that time, but that we don't know for sure that there was a numbering sequence at first. It may have been that all trumps were equal value and the last trump played won the hand. He states that the desire for an orderly game may have caused number to appear on *some* cards where there was confusion once an order had been established. Eventually, Goefroy's deck in 1557 is the first we have with all the trumps numbered.

robert

jmd said:

I wonder which book it is that you have, however, that suggests what you are mentioning (of a 18th century pre-De Gebelin rendition of XII as made to be shown standing and named 'Prudence'). Perhaps either or both this book and Kaplan are basing their dates on each other, or a common source.

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The book I have is The Tarot by Richard Cavendish. He does not quote from Le Monde Primitif, just the picture is attributed to that book. I don't know if he had independant knowledge of the date "early eighteenth century" or just based this assertion on Geblins book. But if he did just badse it on Geblin then why not just write 1720 (as I believe someone here said he stated the card was from). Also there is no guarantee that it is the same card we are talking about as there is no picture in my book, just the one that I posted.

Love Fluffy

jmd said:

In terms of our considerations, Dummett says that 'we have no actual description of any game played with the Tarot pack from before the mid-seventeenth century' (p164) - this is different, of course, to records existing for Tarot being used for playing, such as by Rabelais in the early mid-sixteenth century.

Click to expand...

I suppose it depends on the definition of game - I presume Pr Dummet means games for gambling. But there are several descriptions of other types of games used in the 16th Century with the Tarot Atouts - parlour-games and the like - e.g. the one posted in the "pre-occult divination" thread, a game devised by Bertoni circa 1540 in Ferrara, for the brilliant court of Isabelle d'Este: the game seemed to have been a lively one, whereby the ladies of the court were all described using a Tarot Trump. For the Hanged Man - the Traitor (Il Traditore) we have: Lucia Forna. - Don't trust her, unless you have an hostage.Which gives us some indication of how that Trump was regarded in 16th Century Italy at least - not as a Martyr!

For the whole series, see: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=41639&page=1

I doubt this was the only one of such series. Given what we know of Renaissance courtiers' - and popular - love of allegorical and platonic games, parades and conversation, there must be other descriptions of "games" played or conversations had using the Tarot Trumps as props. In all probability some of these might be found in libraries in Italy and France. This particular one, I believe, turned up by chance while a scholar was looking for something else...

In such games, unlike gambling games, there would be no need for certainty in numbering. For many, the general order, based on the - by then well-known - Platonic progression of the soul, would have been obvious - and no doubt part of the game was finding the wittiest, most learned or most ingenious way to describe why this individual trump would be trumping that one.

The Sacrifice of Wisdom

The second series of seven cards, eight to fourteen, are bounded in the TdM pattern by the two virtues Justice and Temperance, with a third virtue 'Fortitude' in the middle. The four other cards are split into two pairs in between the virtues, the first pair concerns the temporal [hermit/time] and its mutability [Wheel of Fortune]; the second to death, unnatural [hanged man] and natural [death]. These four in representing the temporal, mutable and destructable elements of life we could take as corresponding to the 'body', and suggest the three virtues correspond to the soul, which reaps the rewards of virtue after death [and note that temperance, following death, is given wings]. This split is in keeping with numerological symbolism, in which the number three is related to the 'soul' and four to the 'body'.

It is possible I suppose that the 'missing' virtue Prudence/Wisdom has been put aside for the of maintaining such a numerological scheme. However it has been demonstrated that the three virtues Justice, Fortitude and Temperance were considered and represented as a group on their own [see thread on prudence/wisdom http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=24836, the full context of which is still to open to research; so that it is not necessary to view it as 'missing' at all, but is simply not included as is the case with other representations of these three virtues whose context is yet to be fully understood. It is perhaps relevant that they are the three pythagorean virtues as the three=soul and four=body is also founded upon pythagorean number symbolism.

However, let us for speculations sake imagine that the fourth Platonic virtue Prudence/Wisdom is present but 'hidden'. I think the apparently post de Gebelin allocation to the Hanged Man could be interpreted with reference to Plato in a manner that supports the association with self sacrifice and martyrdom. In his 'Republic' Plato writes:

quote
"Now imagine what would happen if he went down again to take his former seat in the Cave. Coming suddenly out of the sunlight, his eyes would be filled with darkness. He might be required once more to deliver his opinion on those shadows, in competition with the prisoners who had never been released, while his eye sight was still dim and unsteady; and it might take some time to become used to the darkness. They would laugh at him and say that he had gone up only to come back with his sight ruined; it was worth no one's while even to attempt the ascent. If they could lay hands on the man who was trying to set them free and lead them up, they would kill him."
end quote

Here Plato is obviously alluding to the fate of Socrates, in whom perhaps the neoplatonic Christian martyr Boethis found an exemplar while awaiting his own execution; during which time he wrote his neoplatonic treatise 'The Consolation of Philosophy' upon which Christianity drew so much.

quote

"In the world of knowledge, the last thing to be perceived and only with great difficulty is the essential Form of Goodness. Once it is perceived, the conclusion must follow that, for all things, this is the cause of whatever is right and goo; in the visible world it gives birth to light and to the Lord of Light, while it is itself sovereign in the intelligible world and the parent of intelligence and truth. Without having had a vision of this Form no one can act with wisdom, either in his own life or in matters of state."

"Then you may also agree that it is no wonder if those who have reached this height are reluctant to manage the affairs of men. Their souls long to spend all their time in that upper world.... Nor is it strange that one who comes from the contemplation of divine things to the miseries of human life should appear awkward and ridiculous when, with eyes still dazed and not yet accustomed to the darkness, he is compelled, in a law court or elsewhere, to dispute about the shadows of justice or the images that cast those shadows, and to wrangle over the notions of what is right in the minds of men who have never beheld Justice itself."
end quote

Again, a reference to Socrates, who was taunted for his inability to defend himself in court.

If we take the hanged man then as Prudence/Wisdom, we may interpet it with reference to Plato as the descent of wisdom or the wise from the realms of the higher world to the material. A descent that not only entails self sacrifice but the risk of being killed, a martyr of wisdom.

ref: 'The Republic of Plato' chapter XXV:The Allegory of the Cave.

May I also recomment the excellent online 'O'Neill' library at www.tarot.com. In relation the hanged man specifically:

http://www.tarot.com/about-tarot/library/boneill/hangedman

quote O'Neill on the hanged man
But seeing the Hangedman image as representing punishment (secular or religious) does not consider the full complexity of the symbolism. The contrast between upright and inverted figures was not simply associated with punishment since both upright and inverted figures appear in Figures 9 and 12. In many accounts, sinners in hell will be turned upside down (Gorevich 1988). But in Late Medieval imagery and drama, the viewer knew that a significant transition had occurred when everything reversed – it was a kind of dramatic device to alert the viewer that they were now seeing action in the afterlife (Palmer 1992).
The most important account of this inversion occurs at the end of Dante’s Inferno. Dante and his guide Virgil have descended into the depths of hell in an upright position. But at the bottom of hell, Dante is turned upside down and begins the ascension through Purgatory to Paradisio. To Dante, the inversion experience was a turning of values upside down – a conversion experience required for further progress. Thus, the later occultists interpretation of the Hangedman as a reversal of values and a pivotal experience was quite familiar to the 15th and 16th century card-player through Dante’s account.
This image of being inverted as a necessary step in a spiritual path may seem foreign to a modern reader. But it would not have been foreign to the 15th century viewer of the early Tarot. They would have been familiar with the idea of the Fool turned upside down (Davidson 1996). Bernard of Clairvaux described the experience of the spiritual aspirant who had experienced the reversal of values (James 1953): "We are like jesters and tumblers, who, with heads down and feet up, exhibit extraordinary behavior ..."
End quote

and also:
http://www.tarot.com/about-tarot/library/boneill/CT_Dante

quote O'Neill on Dante
Bousset (1913) points out that the Gnostic myth of the Anthropos depicts the “first man” as thrown headlong into material existence. The myth is explicitly referred to in the Gnostic “Acts of Peter” (James, 1924) where Peter explains one of the reasons why he requested that he be crucified upside-down: “For the first man, whose image I bear, thrown downward with the head.”

So, at a critical turning point in The Divine Comedy, there may be a reference to a traditional Gnostic mythic concept. Dante was an iconoclast (Bemrose, 2000). It is easy to envision him as giggling for weeks over slipping in a heretical Gnostic image! But, at the same time, a single reference in a huge epic drama cannot be given unsceptical affirmation. This is because the image may also have a simple orthodox interpretation.

The orthodox interpretation is in Plato’s Timaeus (43e). Plato describes the confusion and the disorder of the newly incarnate soul. The "circles" of reason and passion in the soul are disrupted when it is yoked to a mortal body: " The circles barely held together...their motion was unregulated, now reversed, now side-long, now inverted. It was as when a man stands on his head, resting it on the earth, and holds his feet aloft by thrusting them against something; in such a case right and left both of the man and of the spectators appear reversed to the other party" (Hamilton and Cairns, 1938
End quote

And on Neoplatonism:
http://www.tarot.com/about-tarot/library/boneill/neoplatonism

Kwaw

remembering that early co"the Visconti, were not numbered"

That statement is accurate JMD and those very expensive cards were likely not created for general use either. They were too valuable. Not only were they expensive to produce but also probably held a sentimental value if they commemerated an event or bore the likeness of friends and family in imagery.

We do, however, have evidence that 15th century cards bore numbering in the trumps.

Why would ANY cards of the period feature numbers?

I feel it's important to note that The Hanged Man, like several other trumps mentioned in the Steele Sermon share exactly the same number with the TdM.

kwaw, are you suggesting that the Majors show paths from a reasonless state through a Plato-like gnosis toward enlightenment?

The Allegory of the Cave in Plato's best-known work would certainly account for the position of Justice in the Steele Sermon, since his writings focus to such a great extent on the concept.

To many, in modern society, Plato seems over the top... the stuff for scholars but in the Renaissance, his writings were a driving force and probably more widely known and accepted.

kwaw

Those are very good links and much I read there deserves more careful consideration.

One of the things I have always associated with the hanged man is indeed a traitor, but one who spreads knowledge. As far as I have heard the traditional punishment for disclosing the secrets of freemasonry is to be hung upside down half submerged in water until you drown. The hanged man is often portrayed half submerged in water and is associated with water even if he is not actually submerged in it.

Talking out of school about Freemasonry can get us in deep water!

Indeed, myth and conjecture surrounds the order because of an archaic association with secrecy; however, there is a surprising amount of info on their symbolism at authorized sites, like the California Freemason.

I strongly suspect that the following ritual derived from Rosicrucian roots via the Golden Dawn right into the hands of Crowley; who published it.

RITUAL OF THE 4° = 7¤ GRADE OF PHILOSOPHUS
"The First Part" This Ritual is particularly attributed to the Element of Fire, and refers to the planet Venus, and the Twenty-ninth, Twenty-eighth, and Twenty-seventy paths of Qoph, Tzaddi and P‚.

The Adoration commences by the Hierophant saying: "TETRAGRAMMATON TZEBAOTH! BLESSED BE THOU! THE LORD OF THE ARMIES IS THY NAME!" To this all answer "Amen." The Hierophant then orders all present to adore their Creator in the Name of Elohim, mighty and ruling, in the Name of Tetragrammaton Tzebaoth, and in the Name of the Spirits of Fire. Then in the Name of TETRAGRAMMATON TZEBAOTH he declares the Temple open.

After the Adoration has taken place, the Advancement ritual of the Path of HB:Qof is celebrated. The "Hegemon" leads the Practicus through the pillars and then circumambulates the Temple. As they approach the Hierophant, he rises, holding aloft the red lamp, and says: {275}

"The Priest with the mask of Osiris spake and said: 'I am the water, stagnant, and silent, and still; reflecting all, concealing all. I am the Past! I am the inundation. He that ariseth from the great waters is my name. Hail unto ye! O dwellers in the land of Night. Hail unto ye! for the rending of the darkness is nigh!'"

The Hiereus says:

"The Priest with the mask of Horus spake and said: 'I am the Water, turbid, and troubled, and deep. I am the Banisher of Peace in the vast abode of Waters! None is so strong that can withstand the Strength of the great Waters: the Vastness of their Terror: the Magnitude of their Fear: the Roar of their thundering Voice. I am the Future, mist-clad and shrouded in gloom. I am the recession of the torrent, the Storm veiled in Terror is my Name. Hail unto the mighty Powers of Nature and the chiefs of the whirling Storm.'"


although Crowley reports he gained prominance in Masonry, it is highly unlikely. I do suspect he was cleaver enough to uncover their rituals. He certainly had access to GD rituals and what I've reproduced here is an example of the kind of thing that pissed Waite off. Waite blocked his ascendance in the Golden Dawn and being a respected Freemason, likely black-balled him there as well.

There's a ritual for another grade I'm currently hunting that will more closely relate to the Hanged Man and as Waite writes reveal its "sacred Mystery of Death" and "glorious Mystery of Resurrection."

With regards to Freemasonry, most rituals are published and easily available for those who wish to obtain them from a number of facsimile sites (such as Kessinger Publications).

If we look at the Hanged Man, I personally do not see any association with water (I realise, of course, that the Golden Dawn and its derivatives do make such a connection). In the historical, or at least the pre-GD inflenced depiction, I would claim that not only is there no depiction of water, but that the Masonic traditional cable tow being tied a cable-length from the water's edge where the tides ebbs and flows twice in the course of a lunar day becomes quite distinct from the depicted imagery.

One can, of course, make remote Masonic connections if one wishes. And various specifically more Masonically designed decks do just that.

With regards to early historical decks, however, the 'masonic' connection is precisely that - masonic: look at the carved stonework... on which I have yet to find a depiction of our pendu.