XII The Hanged Man

"Let not the waters thous journeyest wet thee. And, being come to shore, plant thou the Vine and rejoice without shame" Aleister Crowley

Colour: Blue
Element: Water
Herb: Sage

Hebrew: MEM - is the archetype of the maternal creative principle. Women or femininity. All that which is fruitful and creative. An image of passive action.

Rune: TEIWAZ - (Tyr the Sky God). Stability and ordering force. Self sacrifice. The world column. The Rune of socio-religious law (justice and duty). Troth, trust and justice in the face of hardship/adversery. Victory for wisdom. Ethics practiced are rewarded. Be methodical, analysis and mathematical principles are indicated.

Well, I have just gotten the Thoth deck and have not yet gotten to looking at the Hanged Man in detail. The things that stood out to me the most are the nails in the hands and foot. Definitely speaks of sacrifice. The green coming from the crown chakra in the shape of a triangle would speek to me of spiritual renewal.

Would speak of meditation, fasting. The Hanged Man makes me think of Ghandi.

hanged man

~kaz

For me, the first thing I saw was the ankh and the how the figure was hanging from it. Is this a possible symbol of being a victom of your own lifes actions? The snake below is in an elaborate oroborus, knotted and twisted in unusual ways. The blue background applies to emotional situations, perhaps out of the immediate control of anyone. The green atop the card is also an interesting choice, I have no ready analysis of this symbolisim.

I see this card as a messenger for the new aeon (started in 1904, some think;-)

The hanged man was born from above, and works down. So its the opposite of feet on the ground, head in the clouds. A grounded Hangedman has his feet in the clouds and his head on the ground (or malkuth).

To bring human examples of the hangedman, people who stand appart from the average life, and see things in a clearer way, people like Jesus, Budda, Martin Luther King , Newton, Einstein & Crowley spring to mind.

I would connect the snake with Kundalini.

I feel kinda sorry for this guy. I was just wondering how long he has to wait around; then I got to thinking. If there is another card following this in a reading, maybe they are the one that does it. Of course, Death, with his big scythe could be the one to do it, since he follows in the Major Aracana. Maybe his new life is what brings the Hanged Man out of this stagnation and regenerating position.

Apologies for this being a very basic interpretation. The Thoth, the Kabbalah and all of the other references are way over my head at the moment.

Yaboot

From the book – The Crowlley Tarot by Akron-Hajo Banzhaf

Thought I'd look this up and share.........

We see the Hanged Man stretched out with his head downward, crucified between lif and death. The snake of life winds around his left foot, binding him to the ankh that appears out of the white light. This ancient Egyptian tau cross embodies vital energy. Head and hands, however, are turned towards the snake of death that rests beneath him in the grave.

The background forms a lattice of small quadrants representing the table of elements, upon which all the names and symbols of the natural energies are listed. These quadrants and the crossed legs are symbolic of the number 4, always an expression of earthly reality. However, the circles upon which the Hanged Man is nailed have the symbolic value of the absolute and divine, just as the number 3 expressed by the 3 nails represents the divine.

This then reflects the most common form of crucifix where Jesus is nailed to the cross with 3 nails: the divine (3) is nailed to earthly suffering (4), hung between human basic values of life and death. The sense of this sacrifice is redemption.

On the level of depth psychology, the ego sacrifices itself in order to be resurrected to the divine self. The indispensable experience for this transformation is the encounter with death (the following card), the central theme of the initiation rites in all the mystery cults. The insight into one’s own narrow limitation allows the ego to become modest and entrust guidance to the Higher Self.



The Ankh –
The greenish horizon in the upper portion of the card is penetrated with white light rays of the crown (Kether), a sign of what is eternally following and inconceivable. The cross in the foreground is the symbol of the inconceivable that has become visible, and the snake, winding around the foot of the disciple and binding him to the ankh, is an image of the transformational power of creation uniting the Hanged Man with the vital forces.


Ruby Red Slippers

Is it just me, or does anybody else notice the clumsiness of this card?

extreme clumsiness

It looks like nobody is paying attention.

lampkin said:

Is it just me, or does anybody else notice the clumsiness of this card?

Click to expand...

I've always noticed it, even when I first started with this deck back in 1979. First the position of the legs struck me - just didn't work. There is a clumsy quality to most of Harris' human figures.

This is one reason I prefer the text of the Book of Thoth to the deck. I think a better one could be made, but unfortunately it could no longer be made under Crowley's supervision.

This is not to say that Harris' magickal designs don't work on many levels... they do, but her lack of skill in representation does get in the way some times.