Unwilling Hanged Man?

Ligator

I would like to discuss that which has been discussed in the thread before. The concept of sacrifice.

Crowley in the Book of Thoth clearly says (i believe) that the normal (i.e. christian) view of sacrifice is "a misconception of nature", a "wrong idea"

But what kind of sacrifice is wrong. It seems that he mailnly critizices the idea of sacrifice meaning that humans have to sacrifice some things, like pleasure, etc, in order to reach the highest joy and development. "Every man and woman is a star"... Or... we are already so sacred so we do not have to sacrifice any part of our soul. Like "chastity". We are already perfect, i.e. "Gods"... Let therefore chastity be slain by extacy, he seems to say.

The old concept (christian concept) talks about sacrifices in order to become perfect. Crowley seems to say that we are already "perfect", or "Gods" or like God. "Every star possesses boundless wealth"...

But why the sacrifice then?

In order to improve the starlike quality of humans. Perhaps in the form of a self-imposed crisis that hits every part of your being but that you choose in order to improve as a human being!

He describes the card as the card of the "the dying God". What does that mean. It means that of Christ as being perfect and becoming more perfect. That of osiris. That of Thor.

The tower is then the crisis that hits you, but that you probably do not want..

The hanged man the crisis that wilfully "hit you", from within. That you create yourself in order to improve. (Giving up an idea. Choosing to develop. Choosing extacy instead of your old habits and life...)


Or what do you think?


/T
 

Aeon418

Ligator said:
But what kind of sacrifice is wrong.
The kind of sacrifice that has nothing do with the purpose of your life.

The philosophy of Thelema declares that, "Every man and every woman is a star". Everyone has a purpose in life that is unique to them alone. From this it follows that generalized ideals for all, like self sacrifice, lose their meaning. Why would any one want to turn their back on the very reason they chose to incarnate on this planet in the first place?

Self sacrifice may form a limited part of a persons individual Will. For example the self sacrifice of motherhood is symbolised on the Empress card by the pelican who feeds her chicks with her own blood. But is it every womans Will to be a mother? No.
Ligator said:
The old concept (christian concept) talks about sacrifices in order to become perfect. Crowley seems to say that we are already "perfect", or "Gods" or like God. "Every star possesses boundless wealth"...

But why the sacrifice then?
Why indeed?

The Old Aeon attitude to life and spirituality was of Spirit in opposition to Matter. The world and the flesh were seen as a prison for the Spirit. Redemption could only be achieved by renunciation and denial of the flesh and the world. The pleasures of the flesh and enjoyments of life had to be shunned so that the spirit could be purified of the dross of matter and be reborn in a higher state of existence, usually a heaven of some kind.

This view of life and spirituality follows the course of the Sun as it was understood in the past. Our ancient ancestors actually believed that the Sun was born at dawn and died at sunset, only to be reborn again the following day. From this they put 2 and 2 together and came up with 5. If they followed the course of the sun in their lives maybe they would be reborn after death. The religious cults that arose during this period of ignorance were obsessed with death and how to assure rebirth in the afterlife. They reasoned that the next life was more important than the life in the here and now. In order to attain the life to come, the present life had to be sacrificed.

The problem with this view is that the Sun never actually dies, and neither is it reborn. It's apparent daily death and resurrection is an illusion. The Sun doesn't die, it's just shinning somewhere else. The supposed "great tragedy" that has been idolised for the past 2000 years is little more than a defect of limited perspective. The New Aeon brings with it a wider perspective and indicates that human spiritual consciousness is evolving to embrace it.

Every man and every woman is a star. A star just like our own sun. A point of consciousness and life. An immortal star that willingly enters into an illusion called mortal life for the sake of experience. Rather than matter and the world being a foul prison that needs to be shunned and rejected, the world and the flesh becomes the play ground of spirit. It only seems like a prison when you fail to realize yourself as the Sun. Death is only the great tragedy of life when you are trapped in the illusion symbolised by the Hanged Man.
http://www.hermetic.com/browe-archive/achad/misc/Stepping out of the old aeon.htm
Ligator said:
He describes the card as the card of the "the dying God". What does that mean. It means that of Christ as being perfect and becoming more perfect. That of osiris. That of Thor.
The Hanged Man card embodies the illusory formula of the dying and resurrected sun. How can something that is already perfect become more perfect by sacrifice?
AL II,9: Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains.

This verse is very thoroughly explained in Liber Aleph. "All in this kind are but shadows" says Shakespeare, referring to actors. The Universe is a Puppet-Play for the amusement of Nuit and Hadit in their Nuptials; a very Midsummer Night's Dream. So then we laugh at the mock woes of Pyramus and Thisbe, the clumsy gambols of Bottom; for we understand the Truth of Things, how all is a Dance of Ecstasy. "Were the world understood, Ye would know it was good, a Dance to a lyrical measure!" The nature of events must be "pure joy;" for obviously, whatever occurs is the fulfilment of the Will of its master. Sorrow thus appears as the result of any unsuccessful -- therefore, ill-judged -- struggle. Acquiescence in the order of Nature is the ultimate Wisdom.

One must understand the Universe perfectly, and be utterly indifferent to its pressure. These are the virtues which constitute a Master of the Temple. Yet each man must act What he will; for he is energized by his own nature. So long as he works "without lust of result" and does his duty for its own sake, he will know that "the sorrows are but shadows." And he himself is "that which remains;" for he can no more be destroyed, or his true Will be thwarted, than Matter diminish or Energy disappear. He is a necessary Unit of the Universe, equal and opposite to the sum total of all the others; and his Will is similarly the final factor which completes the equilibrium of the dynamical equation. He cannot fail if he would; thus, his sorrows are but shadows - he could not see them if he kept his gaze fixed on his goal, the Sun.
 

rachelcat

Wow, this is a very deep thread. I wrote my study here before reading it through. So now I have even more to think about! But I'm still going to stick it in here just in case.

Hanged Man
Mem, mother letter, Water

The first thing we notice is the abstractness of this card. Above is a green sky? With white sun rays and an inverted ankh. Tied to the ankh with a snake is the hanged man’s foot. Behind him is a grid of blue lines. He is naked and his body and especially his face are abstract/cubist. It also accentuates the triangle of his arms and the ground/bottom of the card His other leg is crossed over the hanging one. His other foot and two hands are nailed to green circles. Below is a blue half circle covered by green rays from his head and a large coiled snake that looks like it’s underground. (I was talking about how the Thoth is not at all scary at a tarot society meeting. Just as I cut the deck to show a “not scary” card and the Hanged Man came up, someone said, “too many snakes”! Oh, wait, maybe it was Lust!)

I have heard these words bandied about. They sound like Crowley: Spirit crucified on the cross of matter. Crowley goes to great lengths to assure us that sacrifice nor chastity are required in the new aeon. Basically, if you give much spiritual authority to this card, you’re doing it wrong! “Redemption implies a debt.” And we all already have everything we need and don’t have to pay for it, if we just realize it.

But there are two rosy cross symbols concealed here: the ankh, but it’s inverted. And the triangle surmounted by a cross. Just looked that up in the Golden Dawn big book. A willing sacrifice brings the power and blessings of the supernal sephira to matter. Interesting to note that one cross is right side up and one is upside down. Maybe that means that yes, in the spiritual world of the new aeon, sacrifice isn’t necessary, but in normal everyday life sometimes it still is!

At least Crowley clarifies that most of the card is indeed under water, and the top is above water. He points out that green is the color of Venus/love. Rebirth after sacrifice.

He brings in ontology recapitulates phylogeny, kind of. We are conceived and grow within our mothers in water. He also brings in the tarot suits as grail hallows (sword that cuts off John the Baptist’s head, platter it sits on, spear that stabbed Jesus, cup of blood), which makes the point that the wand and cup are primary, sword and disk are secondary (Jesus over John).

He says the “grill” in the background are elemental tablets, I’m assuming he means Enochian tablets, which exhibit the names of the energies of nature. So not just Cartesian squares symbolizing matter. Hmmm.

AND (it’s amazing how much the BofT contains if you just keep reading and learning other stuff and then come back to it!), since the triangle formed by the arms and bottom of the ocean symbolize the top three sephira, the snake at the bottom is the child of the Father and Mother gestating in the Abyss. And THAT means it’s the savior of the new aeon who will live in Tiphareth when he comes into his own. So the old sacrificed savior and the new wise serpent/life energy/Sun savior are both on this card. The end of the old and the beginning of the new.

Whew! I always felt there was a lot going on in this card that I was missing. And the clue was, of course, the tree of life!

In a reading: You may be hung-up, held at a standstill in what you’re trying to do. Perhaps you need a different perspective! You may be called upon to make a sacrifice for the greater good, but that sacrifice may be a blessing in disguse—sometimes the greatest sacrifice is to give up an unsatisfactory/unskillful way of living and really live!
 

Aeon418

rachelcat said:
Maybe that means that yes, in the spiritual world of the new aeon, sacrifice isn’t necessary, but in normal everyday life sometimes it still is!
If circumstances deem it necessary and it is in accord with the individual True Will, then yes.

From Crowley's (un-edited) Confessions, chp.49:
Let us illustrate by single example how the ideas of The Book of the Law, utterly subversive as they are of our accepted morality, justify themselves immediately to common sense. Take the case of self-sacrifice, which we are accustomed to consider the high-water mark of social and ethical nobility. We must distinguish two cases.

In the first the man subordinates his own interest to those of the community; like Winkelried he sheathes an armful of Austrian spears in his heart, so that his comrades may break through "the dark impenetrable wood." In this case, he was a soldier. It was his True Will to risk his life for his country, and his action was like that of the cells of our bodies, which submit to metabolism so that the community may flourish. Winkelried's action was supremely selfish, and entirely in accordance with the ethics of Thelema.

In the second case, we have a sentimental idea of self-sacrifice, the kind which is most esteemed by the vulgar, and is the essence of popular Christianity. It is the sacrifice of the strong to the weak. This is wholly against the principles of evolution. Any nation which does this systematically on a sufficiently large scale simply destroys itself. The sacrifice is in vain; the weak are not even saved. Consider the action of Zanoni in going to the scaffold in order to save his silly wife. The gesture was magnificent; it was evidence of his own supreme courage and moral strength; but if everyone acted on that principle the race would deteriorate and disappear.
 

gregory

Is there any possible significance to the fact that the right foot is (anatomically) backwards ?

Or is that just a serious artistic oopsie ?

This is a serious question; I was discussing it with someone who really knows her Thoth just the other day....
 

terroin

Abandoned chrysalis?

The Thoth Hanged Man lacks identity; no clear face, no visible genitalia. To me he (it) looks like one of those abandoned insect pupa cases that you sometimes see attached to a tree or a fence.

The attachment (pinning) was necessary to enter the dormant phase by which the crawling creature passes on to the flying stage; a new stage, not just the Christian idea of resurrection in something like the same old body. That stage is passed. This is a "cenotaph" - an empty container for something that has now moved on elsewhere. Not to a resurrection which justifies the old Aeon, but to the triumph of the new.

This is perhaps the resolution of the paradox of being "sacrificed" (doing a holy thing - that's all it originally meant), being nailed down, yet being free to escape.

The shell is pinned to its old moorings but the inner being was always free to escape and now it has moved on.

T
 

terroin

Free to escape?

Really? If I tied you upside down to a tree by one ankle, would you consider yourself "free to escape"?

Where did this idea come from? Yes, it's a voluntary sacrifice, but I think someone else would have to be on hand to cut the Man down.

I've been browsing Stuart Kaplan's Encyclopedia of Tarot and there's an astonishing variety of Hanged Men - from a figure "hanged by the neck" from a tree in an undated deck from Modena (P55) to a curiously inverted one (Courts de Gebelin Tarot, P 139) standing upright on one leg wth his ankle loosely tied to a peg in the ground.

On many of the older figures, he's carrying two moneybags, which either act as additional weights or testify to his crime - often said to be gambling.

The "sacrifice" doesn't always look voluntary - or temporary.

But the Thoth version is a powerful new image. As I said above, a chrysalis, a sloughed-off skin.

The three nails and one tie is a powerful personal symbol for me. I am haunted by sets of four divided into three and one (like the three angels and one devil [Vi, XIV, XV, XX] I referred to elsewhere on this site).

But that's just "me telling me about me", as a wise man once said.

T