78 Weeks: Hanged Man

[The Guided Hermit]

VIA Tarot

Card name—The Hanged Man

First impressions—The VIA Major XII (The Hanged Man) follows the VIA’s design convention: the center line and the goblet. The card is comprised 9 major design elements.

From the top of the card, a downward funnel of light descends in 9 rays of yellow-white light, forming the background to an open winged sea eagle. The eagle looks down at the hanged man below. The eagle holds an upside down Ansate cross (Ankh) in its talons. The loop of the cross is the point of contact for the Hanged Man—his left foot is held in the cross.

The Hanged Man is nude but lacking genitalia. As stated, his left foot is held in place in a cross rather than the typical rope seen in RWS themed decks. In addition, it is the left leg that is extended rather than the right. In the VIA, right leg is bent at 90 degrees, crossing behind the left.

Looking down the Hanged Man’s body, what is readily apparent is the figures musculature. The artist also applied two pairs of thin red lines that converge over the Hanged Man’s body. One set of lines meet between his legs; the other meet above his navel. These lines add to the strong angular aspect of this Hanged Man.

The Hanged Man is looking upward towards the eagle, however there is no indication that he wishes to escape his situation.

With his arms spread wide, the Hanged Man’s hands are nailed to the Earth. His head is suspended a short distance from the ground while two drops of blood fall into a blood filled open lotus. The lotus is guarded by two curled green snakes.

Background images include a partial sphere of fire that is in line with the bottom of the sea eagle’s wings. From the outer edges of this sphere of flame emerge flowing arcs of turquoise and yellow striped light. Immediately below the sphere, beams the thick and some thinner white light take shape, forming a square that rests on top the elemental sign for Water. This Water triangle dips into the blood filled lotus beneath the head of the Hanged Man.


What the CREATOR says —Enforced sacrifice, punishment and loss. Viewed in a more balanced way, the card is one of transition and renunciation, elements of upheaval and dramatic change.

Traditional Keyword Meanings (Bunning)—Letting go; reversal; suspension; sacrifice

Images and Symbolism—
• The Hanged Man is suspended in the posture called “The Sleep of Siloam” where the body is in the shape of a triangle.
• The Hang Man’s shape represents the descent of redeeming light into the darkness of matter.
• As the element of this path is water, two elongated water hexagrams form the backdrop to the image.
• The red disc behind the sea eagle is that of Geburah*
• The blood that drips from the head of the Hanged Man into the lotus chalice is in accordance with the demand of Our Lady Babalon(1) that we offer “Last drops of our blood into her cup of universal life.”
• The two coiled snakes, along with the eagle, are animal correspondences of the Mem(2) path.



*The fifth of the Sephirot of the tree of life, and it is the second of the emotive attributes of the Sephirot. Gevurah is known as "strength, "judgment", "power", and "concealment".

(1) Through the twists of research, this refers to The Whore of Babylon or "Babylon the great"—a Christian allegorical figure of evil mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible.
(2) The element of water and the path between Geburah and Hod on the Tree of Life.


Spirit – How I relate spiritually to this card:
I relate to this card as a chance for spiritual advancement and a key that opens the gateway to personal enlightenment. This is a beautiful card for someone with a mature, spiritual outlook.

Emotional – How I relate emotionally to this card:
The concept of hanging upside down isn’t a pleasant one. However, there is great reward in the act. Once it is realized that one need to literally hang upside down to obtain the rewards symbolized in the card, the card has a very strong pull on my emotions, and a favorable one at that. I see the “self-sacrifice” of card as something deep and profoundly personal on the spiritual level of oneself. I think it is beautiful.

Physical – My physical connection to this card:
I suffer from claustrophobia. I’m grateful that I don’t need to be tied down to reach enlightenment!

Beneficial – I feel the most beneficial aspect of this card is…
The opportunity this card affords.

Problematic – I feel the most problematic aspect of this card is….
A potential for stagnation if the Querent does-not apply what this card suggests.

What the card means to me—I see this card in a very favorable light. I see it as a card of tremendous opportunity for growing in one’s inner silence. This card allows the Querent to let the speeding world speed by. It takes the rat out of the race. This is a time to see the world in a new manner and in looking at the world as a tightly defined and stationary position; it allows one to see the bigger picture. This card tells the Querent to stop and take a closer look at what is happening within and around them. This is a card that grants one the freedom to say no to the outside world and to evolve by doing so.

 

[Llynn]

78 weeks: The Hanged Woman – The Shining Woman Tarot

Arising from the sea of the collective unconscious grows a tree with many branches. Within those branches are the stars of heaven. Is this tree the ‘axis mundi ‘(the world axis) – the centre of the threefold universe? With its roots in the Underworld, the trunk in the Middleworld, and its branches in the Overworld, this tree is the Tree of Life which unites and stabilizes all three realms of the Cosmos. If this is so, then the ornaments dangling from the tree’s branches or resting upon them show us that reality, as we know it, cannot exist without this inexhaustible source of the life-force.

But could it also represent a personal tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Each of us harbours the unknown, our subconscious; from it we grow our private tree of knowledge, nurtured by all of our thoughts, words and deeds. We say that we strive to grow heavenward, to become an enlightened being; to reach our own star. If this is the case then this is the moment when an individual chooses to be different from the crowd: to really examine the state of their soul, to recognize where there is still much work to be done. The unconscious is willing to help – a fish pops its head out of the sea (according to Jung fish symbolize the nourishment provided to the conscious by the unconscious – the lead that must be turned into gold).

The ship that approaches the woman hanging from the tree brings cargo from other parts of the world, which could include ‘more things in heaven and earth ... than are dreamt of in’ her philosophy. She must reflect and decide whether or not she will live a life without lies, where truth restores the quality of her life. If she does decide to unburden herself then she will become a traitor to many of her fellow human beings – she has rejected their way of life in no uncertain terms and will be punished by them – being held up to ridicule could be the least of her worries. (USAGE In modern English hang has two past tense and past participle forms: hanged and hung. Sometime after the 16th century hung replaced the earlier form hanged in general contexts, as in they hung out the washing, while hanged was, as it still is, retained for use in reference to execution by hanging, as in the prisoner was hanged. ~~AskOxford.com)


But all may not be lost because flying amongst the branches is an angel – the messenger from the higher realms (from heaven or from her inner divinity). However, the message he brings is not an easy one to hear: personal sacrifice may be needed in order to achieve those higher goals. How committed is she?

 

[Sinduction]

Vargo's Hanged Man

Now this card is miles away from my favorite version of this card, which shows a cocoon. Here we have a vamp hanging upside down. He is quite far into a physical transformation from human to..... something more bat-like with wings and clawed feet.

While I get the sense of metamorphosis, of stasis, of non-movement while things are changing. The sacrifice of his humanity but with a reward of immortality. It really is another great gothic take on the traditional card. I very much enjoy it.

 

[yirabeth]

Gilded Tarot

The Gilded Tarot, by Ciro Marchetti

Card name - The Hanging Man

Card Image - http://s377.photobucket.com/albums/oo211/Yirabeth/Gilded Tarot/12TheHangingMan.jpg

My impressions - In this card, the man hangs from chains wrapped around his ankle. These chains are not very tight, and if you look closely you can see that by merely unwinding the chain he could be free. The other leg makes the traditional numeral 4, although he appears to be swaying rather than just dangling so this 4 is off-center. There isa sun on the center of the bar that holds the chain. His arms are not tied behind him as most RW decks, instead they are loose, searching..I'm not sure if they're flailing or not? This seems contrary to what the card is supposed to stand for.

What the CREATOR says - The creator likens this card to The Fool, but points out that there's a difference - he has come through some challenging times and gained a sense of peace and understanding. The sun represents his vision of himself and his place in the universe. He is willing to sacrifice society's approval in order to be true to himself.

Traditional meanings(Thirteen's ebook) - This is a time of trial or meditation, selflessness, sacrifice, prophecy. The Querent stops resisting; instead he makes himself vulnerable, sacrifices his position or opposition, and in doing so, gains illumination. Answers that eluded him become clear, solutions to problems are found. He sees the world differently, has almost mystical insights.

Keyword Meanings(J.Bunning's ebook) - Letting go, seeing from a new angle, pausing to reflect.

Further Thoughts - Perhaps the arms are not flailing, it's almost as though he is dancing...having learned the dance of life that inspires him? Another thought - perhaps in this card he is JUST starting to stop resisting, just beginning to come to rest. Perhaps the beginning of the Hanged Man not the end when he's already figured it out.

In "Tarot Wisdom" by Rachel Pollack, she likens this more to The World than The Fool. If you look at these two cards turned so the feet point the same direction it is easy to see. (In traditional RWS decks). Much food for thought that actually makes me somewhat discontented with my chosen deck right now....

 

[Wendywu]

Ironwing

Trance (The Hanged One)

This is a card that is always easy to interpret in a reading because it is loud, but it is not so easy to work with as the subject of a card study, because it is a fascinating mixture of images that provide many wildly different avenues of thought.

The woman stands in an iron tree and we are told it is decorated with strips of white cloth. I see bushes and trees with strips of cloth tied to them in my area. They are usually fairly close to the road and to me it is one more indication that the old ways still persist. My husband spent many years living on the Black Isle in the Highlands of Scotland. There is a tree there, near the Clootie Well, that folk come to visit. It’s a wish tree and they tie strips of rag or add other decorations. My husband worked with one man who would stop the car every time they went past the tree, as to just drive past it would be a dishonour to the tree. I find that deeply heartening. (image attached)

I never read Lorena’s page on this book before doing this study and I always saw the white strips of cloth in this card as bells. I guess in future I’ll have two options. As bells they work extremely well – different voices clamouring for the attention of the woman in the Tree (you, me?). Each bell could be a different claim on her time and attention but when a few or all ring at the same time – how can there be room in life for Spirit too? I found this out the hard way for three weeks lately when my work was so pressing and insistent that it over-rode all other considerations.

I ended those weeks with a cluttered and very unquiet mind. I was worrying and stressing about small things throughout – little bells kept ringing in my mind and totally distracted me from the task in hand. It was good when the project was done – I had achieved our aim and given myself a salutary lesson in the process. Now I know that when things become pressing and threaten to take over my life (for however brief a period) it is more essential than ever that I take time out for Spirit. That sounds daft – like I am making an appointment – “Oh look – it’s 3.00 pm – time to be spiritual” but it’s more like finding time to focus entirely on something connected to my spiritual life, and thus enhancing it and helping my future growth. If I let the day to day tasks of life overwhelm me, the neglect of my spiritual self is obvious almost immediately.

So – back to the image. Here is Trance (me/you/whoever) in the Tree. The star in her tummy indicates that she is pregnant. This does not means a physical pregnancy because otherwise an awful lot of us would find no meaning here. No, she is pregnant with – take your pick – hope, an idea, a project, love, anything that fills her with anticipation and that she needs to wait and grow for, so that eventually some sort of fruit is born.

Aside – Billie Holliday singing “Strange Fruit” as the lynched men swung in the breeze. Hanging from trees. And I think of hanged men taking the place of the strips of cloth – or bells – and following that line of thought I start to burn with the injustices done – being done – to be done. Because many trees bear the strange fruit of the song, and the tears fall from the sky at what it is forced to witness.

We are told the tree itself is made of iron. Iron has such a distinctive smell. Standing in the cleft of the tree like that her whole world at the moment is iron, the feel of it, the smell of it, its strength supporting her. And so I took time to think about iron. How we get it, how we use it – but most of all the fact that it comprises 70% of this world’s core. And for some reason I find that really amazing. And then I think “How odd that she shares it with us so freely, when it’s her actual heart”. When I bleed I smell the iron in my blood – even there she shares herself with me. Smelling the heart of the Mother. Must be absolutely overwhelming when you burrow deep into her warm and secret places.

I remember when I was a nurse and was hanging up a plastic blood bag to replace a drained bag for one patient. I was in a white uniform apron and it was visiting time. In those days we had long wards with beds side by side. I drew the curtains and went into the patient’s cubicle and started to hang up the bag. It burst. I was drenched in blood and had to walk the length of the ward soaked in blood to go and get a bucket etc. to clean up. Those poor visitors! The horror on their faces”. What I chiefly remember though is the smell and the rich redness of it.

Back on track lol. The woman stands in the cleft of the Tree, pregnant with something. I am happy she is naked. How could you stand so close to the Mother and be in any way hidden or hiding? And the nakedness is symbolic of that total exposure.

The bottom of the Tree shows two paths leading to different areas of the Lower World. At first glance I just see them as two labyrinths. Look again and the differences between them are glaringly obvious. The difference means that she stands in the Tree with choices either side of her. The labyrinths are such good features – in readings they can be so very many things. The outward similarity – but fundamental difference – is illustrative of so much. I tend to think mainly of people because to me the labyrinths resemble brains, and the similar-but-different thing really works with people as the subject.

I enjoy the word “labyrinthine” – long and tortuous, like the paths themselves . We are told little about the actual labyrinths which I think is good because it leaves me free to roam around the word in my mind and find what I see/feel when I come across the images. I found an absolutely fantastic link for labyrinths. A small part of the page linked to says, and I quote “ As a unicursal (one way in, one way out) a labyrinth is teaching and showing centredness. This differentiates it from a maze which has many paths and deadends leading to confusion. Like life and destiny a labyrinth may be a long journey but it has a specific beginning and a definite end. Like mandalas, a labyrinth offers a holistic route (meandering radius) from the periphery to the center. A labyrinth imprints a “royal groove” – a ceremonial pathway designed according to principles such as Harmonic Proportion and Alternance of Energy. For instance the clockwise (sun) and anticlockwise (moon) spins of the meanders (winding paths) map out a balance between the left and right hemispheres of the brain”.

Do follow the link and read the page it points to – it’s absolutely fascinating. I never knew that the seven circuits of the classical Cretan labyrinth correspond with the chakras, and make musical patterns! This gives such added depth to the card!

Amongst other things we are told in the linked article that prehistoric labyrinths would have served as paths for ritual dances, and/or traps for unwelcome spirit visitors. Labyrinths have been constructed worldwide – from Java, native North and South America, Australia, India and Nepal. I particularly appreciated learning the difference in meaning of maze and labyrinth, which were to me of very similar meaning. Now I understand the vast difference between them. So vast as to mean they are opposites!

Thinking of the Classical Cretan Labyrinth somewhat naturally I think of Theseus and the Minotaur (click me for the myth). We are told that the Minotaur was half bull, half man and was the son of the wife of King Minos of Crete). We are further told that he was a crazed, enraged being and ate the flesh of young people who were sacrificed to appease him. (Odd how it’s always the young and/or helpless who are the sacrificial victims in cases like these).

I actually feel quite sorry for the Minotaur – kept prisoner within the dark labyrinth which he isn’t quite bright enough to escape from. Nothing to do, nowhere to go. I once tried spending a day in my bathroom (I know that sounds odd). No radio, laptop, TV, phones or books, blinds drawn, and as little sensory input as possible. After a while spent meditating, a bit of time just drifting and a nap – it gets bloody boring. Poor Minotaur. Poor young men and women – sacrificed to appease another victim. And from there I went to modern victims of circumstances beyond their control. Are they victims? Or evil bastards when they act out their rage against the society that somehow eludes and/or revolts them? I offer no answers here – just questions to think about. Is it OK to feel sorry for the Minotaur in his desperate anger – but not OK to feel sorry for the serial killer who is a modern minotaur? Theseus killed the minotaur and was hailed a hero. He killed a being too dim to be able to escape his own prison – was it really heroic? Questions …… no answers.

The Tree itself – the roots extend in two directions forming a shape that looks like a 60’s hairdo One side is all gnarled wood. The other is striated and we are told that this effect is caused by the reaction of the soil and wood together over time. Gradually they change form – the wood is slowly changed and the soil enriched in the process. Given enough time and enough wood, we get the fuels that have for centuries powered our own development. This illustrates, once again (and very neatly) our dependence on the living beings around us. Even their death and decay is necessary to our survival. Lorena says the striations in the wood eventually become almost metallic in appearance. That’s really interesting. I love that the oldest trees join (even if just in appearance) with the iron that is at the heart of the earth.

The bird in the little underground cave is new to me. Apparently it is a Poor-Will and it is the only bird known to hibernate! They don’t live in my country at all which I am hoping excuses my dreadful ignorance. They apparently doze through the worst of the winter in holes or cracks. What really strikes me as odd is the fact they do so upside down. And here, given the card I am studying I think immediately of the Hanged One. Upside down, and dormant for a period. Who knows what goes on in the Poor-Will’s tiny brain during that period? A trance like time. I think of my own meditations – to all the world I am in a trance like state. It isn’t actual trance but it comes fairly close at times (I don’t hang upside down though lol). And it is at these times that my brain does its best work. Not necessarily its most productive from an outside point of view, but from mine it is the richest of fishing-grounds where I find the ideas that help me grow.

The Poor-Will is a special bird – the Hopi call it “the Sleeping One” in recognition of its unique habit. It is tiny, and its small size serves as one more reminder that lessons can come from the humblest of sources. In this case the bird’s face is used as the image for a shamanic mask, showing that the qualities of this special bird are such that they deserve exploration and celebration.

Trance (The Hanged One) has always for me talked about self sacrifice. Or the sacrifice of self. Two different things? Consider self sacrifice – where one lives a life for others, attending to their needs and wants before one’s own whereas sacrifice of self implies a deliberate breaking down of the ego – a necessary part of the journey of spiritual growth. But the two are not necessarily the same at all. For instance the daughter who sacrifices her life to her parents’ needs might be a towering mass of spiritual pride because of her consciousness of that sacrifice. And the successful businessman could be the humblest of people. Which – for me – is the most desirable? I think the latter.

One thing we learned a lot about during one phase of my life was spiritual pride. It is insidious, and never ever stops trying to flourish. I defy anyone bar the humblest (and therefore greatest) of people to say they are without it. And of course such truly humble ones would assume they wore the stain anyway….. We used to carry out an exercise regularly, designed to see where pride-in-self was flourishing within us. Oddly it can be very humbling to realize how full of self pride on actually is… And if I trace my finest achievements to their roots, did I really do it alone? Every step of the way right from the word go – with no help, support or encouragement at all – not even the Goddess?

I have a favourite card in the Solleone deck. In it I gasp at the sacrifice this Hanged Man is about to make. Not some time out of his life, not his money or his work. He’s about to sacrifice his whole life. But now I look at Ironwing’s Trance and I think about self sacrifice, and sacrifice of self. Of course the two can be combined. I think of the parents automatically going without so their children can have. (Although some parents never ever stop reminding their poor kids about it …).. I think of the adult going to work day in, day out for years to a job she really doesn’t like, but there is a need for food on the table and a roof over the head.

Then – there is the shaman in this card – whose sacrifice is of her “self” as well as her time, her effort and her heart. Without gradually chipping away at that ego she can’t grow and become the shaman that she is called on to develop into. This is an enormous sacrifice that very few would care to try and make whereas I know that most of us would lay down our lives in a heartbeat for a loved one….



The linkages, paths and correspondence sin this card give it enormous potential. It covers shedloads of ground and is amazing..

 

[gregory]

Thoth - Hanged man

Card name: The Hanged Man

First impressions
I am always hung up (!) by the right foot here. It is so VERY wrong and draws my attention from everything else. It is unusual for Frieda to be totally anatomically impossible - but there it is, in my face.
Otherwise – it feels very watery and green, like slimy algae. I think the man himself looks like the ankh from which he hangs; the serpent around his feet and the larger one below his hear sort of match one another. I never understand why his hands are so splayed out around the nails holding them. But that does give five sort of points… The chequered background looks like swimming pool tiles - I think that is part of what makes it feel so watery, to me. Above a sun, green as if seen through water. Because his face is stylised, he does not appear to be suffering, but the nails – a la crucifixion – make him more “tortured” than most Hanged Man cards. He looks more like someone doing yoga – till you see the nails…
There is a sort of spray of green lines against black, almost like furrows, emanating from his head….

From the Book of Thoth

This card, attributed to the letter Mem, represents the element of Water. It would perhaps be better to say that it represents the spiritual function of water in the economy of initiation; it is a baptism which is also a death. In the Aeon of Osiris, this card represented the supreme formula of adeptship; for the figure of the drowned or hanged man has its own special meaning. The legs are crossed so that the right leg forms a right angle with the left leg, and the arms are stretched out at an angle of 60˚; so as to form an equilateral triangle; this gives the symbol of the Triangle surmounted by the Cross, which represents the descent of the light into the darkness in order to re deem it.

For this reason there are green disks-green, the colour of Venus, signifies Grace-at the terminations of the limbs and of the head. The air above the surface of the water is also green, infiltrated by rays of the white light of Kether. The whole figure is suspended from the Ankh, another way of figuring the formula of the Rose and Cross, while around the left foot is the Serpent, creator and destroyer, who operates all change. (This will be seen in the card which next follows.)
…
In the former Aeon, that of Osiris, the element of Air, which is the nature of that Aeon, is not unsympathetic either to Water or to Fire; compromise was a mark of that period. But now, under a Fiery lord of the Aeon, the watery element, so far as water is below the Abyss, is definitely hostile, unless the opposition is the right opposition implied in marriage. But in this card the only question is of the “redemption” of the submerged element, and therefore everything is reversed. This idea of sacrifice is, in the final analysis, a wrong idea.
“I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.”

….
This card is beautiful in a strange, immemorial, moribund manner. It is the card of the Dying God; its importance in the present pack is merely that of the Cenotaph. It says: “If ever things get bad like that again, in the new Dark Ages which appear to threaten, this is the way to put things right.” But if things have to be put right, it shows that they are very wrong. It should be the chieftest aim of the wise to rid mankind of the insolence of self-sacrifice, of the calamity of chastity; faith must be slain by certainty, and chastity by ecstasy.

In the Book of the Law it is written:
“Pity not the fallen! I never knew them. I am not for them. I console not: I hate the consoled and the consoler.”
Redemption is a bad word; it implies a debt. For every star possesses boundless wealth; the only proper way to deal with the ignorant is to bring them to the knowledge of their starry heritage. To do this, it is necessary to behave as must be done in order to get on good terms with animals and children: to treat them with absolute respect; even; in a certain sense, with worship.

….
Note on the Precession of the Aeons. “The Hanged Man” is an invention of the Adepts of the I.N.R.I.-J.A.O. formula; in the Aeon previous to the Osirian, that of Isis (Water), he is “The Drowned Man”. The two uprights of the gallows shewn in the Mediaeval packs were, in the parthenogenetic system of explaining and ruling Nature, the bottom of the Sea and the keel of the Ark. In this Aeon all birth was considered an emanation, without male intervention, of the Mother or Star-Goddess, Nuit; all death a return to Her. This explains the original attribution of the Atu to Water, and the sound M the return to Eternal Silence, as in the word AUM. This card is therefore specially sacred to the Mystic) and the attitude of the figure is a ritual posture in the Practice called “The Sleep of Shiloam”.

* * *

The Alchemical import of this card is so alien to all dogmatic implications that it has seemed better to deal quite separately with it. Its technical qualities are independent of all doctrines soever; here is a matter of strictly scientific bearings. The student will be prudent to read in connexion with these remarks Chapter XII of Magick.

The Atu represents the sacrifice of “a male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence”-these words were chosen with the utmost care. The meaning of his attitude has already been described, and of the fact that he is hanged from an Ankh, an equivalent of the Rosy Cross; in some early cards the gallows is a Pylon, or the branch of a Tree, by shape suggesting the letter Daleth, Venus, Love.

His background is an unbounded grill of small squares; these are the Elemental Tablets which exhibit the names and sigilla of all the energies of Nature. Through his Work a Child is begotten, as shewn by the Serpent stirring in the Darkness of the Abyss below him.

…..

It is most necessary for the Student to go round and round this Wheel of symbolism until the figures melt imperceptibly the one into the other in an intoxicating dance of ecstasy; not until he has attained that is he able to partake of the Sacrament, and accomplish for him- self-and for all men!-the Great Work.

But let him also remember the practical secret cloistered in all these wind-swept corridors of music, the actual preparation of the Stone of the Wise, the Medicine of Metals, and the Elixir of Life!

Images and Symbolism
Frieda Harris says in her essays:

13 XII. The Hanged Man or Dying God. The posture at the drowned or hanged man is of the greatest significance. The legs are crossed so that the right leg forms a right angle with the left leg, and the arms are stretched out at an angle of sixty degrees, so as to form an equilateral triangle. This gives the symbol of the triangle surmounted by a cross, which represents the descent of the light into darkness in order to redeem it. The whole idea of sacrifice is a misconception of nature, and the element of water to which the card is attributed is the element of illusion

Also:

The Hanged Man or Dying God.. Water. Mem.
This figure is Osiris or Christi and shows redemption through suffering. He is drowned in the waters of affliction, the attitude is traditional and involved a right angle and a triangle. His foot is bound to the Ankh of Immortality by the serpent of life. The complete symbol is a triangle and a cross.

The snake above him, around his foot, is the snake of life, that keeps him from dying, I assume. It links to the white light above and ties him to the ankh. The background – my swimming pool tiles ! – apparently represents the table of the elements. The legs are crossed exactly in that position to represent the number four, the expression of earthly reality. But he is nailed to three circles – a trinity – representing the divine – both their shape and their number. He sacrifices himself in order to be resurrected. (and the next card IS death !) He has no choice here.
Waite hangs his man by the right foot. Crowley has used the traditional pose, as shown in the Marseille decks, hung by the left foot. Banzhaf says this expresses the idea of unconsciously stumbling into learning processes rather than consciously looking for them.
As he writes in BoT:

The legs are crossed so that the right leg forms a right angle with the left leg, and the arms are stretched out at an angle of 60˚; so as to form an equilateral triangle; this gives the symbol of the Triangle surmounted by the Cross, which represents the descent of the light into the darkness in order to re deem it.

The cross and the triangle thus placed form the emblem of the Golden Dawn.
He is in a condition of absolute devotion, totally exposed and totally defenceless.
Banzhaf also says that he is totally shaved, suggesting that he is prepared to suffer the condition of childhood on a conscious level.
The latticed table represent the narrow social patterns that release human beings from individual responsibility for their actions, because they use social constructs as excuses for whatever they do. Because he is sacrificing himself, the Hanged Man works against this pattern. He opens up to personal responsibility. But he has not done so entirely voluntarily – he has been nailed in place by someone/something else.
The snake below is the snake of death, says Banzhaf; it combines with the snake of life above to complete the circle. In the inner centre, he can accept reality for what it is. Which is odd, as BoT says:

Through his Work a Child is begotten, as shewn by the Serpent stirring in the Darkness of the Abyss below him.

– I can’t quite reconcile this with the snake of death.
DuQuette suggests that Crowley believed the Hanged Man, as historically and traditionally understood, is now obsolete in the New Aeon. He actually says:

This card is beautiful in a strange, immemorial, moribund manner. It is the card of the Dying God; its importance in the present pack is merely that of the Cenotaph.

And he also says (and Frieda repeats) that “the whole idea of sacrifice is a misconception of nature…”
While DuQuette does see the card as representing the decent of the light into the darkness to redeem it – he also says that the word “redeem” no longer implies an existing debt that needs to be repaid, but the duty of the enlightened to share their enlightenment with other less fortunate souls.
There is no gallows in this card, as there is in most – this does remove the suggestion of punishment.
The “furrows” at the base are 18 rays drawn from the hanging Adept’s head to the centre of a womb – so the furrow appearance is quiet neat for fertility !

Traditional meanings –
Cribbed shamelessly from Wasserman
Redemption through sacrifice. Enforced sacrifice. Suffering. Ill-dignified: Punishment. Loss. Defeat. Fsilure. Death
From the Book of Thoth:

Let not the waters whereon thou journeyest wet thee. And, being come to shore, plant thou the Vine and rejoice without shame.
Enforced sacrifice, punishment, loss, fatal or voluntary, suffering, defeat, failure, death.

My impressions (appearance of the card):
He is more stuck than most Hanged Men – and the table of squares almost looks like a cage – which fits the suggestion of social constructs – which, while used as excuses, also limit. He almost seems, though, to hang away from the light – is this almost an additional sacrifice ? I don’t see this particular card as suggesting taking time out and thinking about things, as so many XII cards do. He seems almost totally closed in.

My take (what I make of it/what I might see in a reading where I drew it)
I would see this card as suggesting being stuck, rather than thinking about things. Held down by forces you cannot easily control – which fits the social construct thing well. Nailed down, waiting. He will have to see things rather differently to get out of this. He will also need help to change things. I can’t see him as being that enlightened here, to be honest…

 

[jackdaw*]

XII The Hanged Man (Rider Waite Tarot)

First Impressions
The Hanged Man is so happy. He (at least I think it's a he; Pixie's androgynous characters strike again) has a serenely daydreaming and faraway look on his upside-down face. And a halo or glow behind his head. Even upside down he seems to be "above it all". Maybe it's the halo. His hair is blonde and a little long; hanging upside down as he does his hair falls to a peak and leaves his face clear. He wears a blue tunic, short with long sleeves, with a red belt and tights, and yellow shoes like ballet slippers. He hangs upside down by one ankle, the other leg is bent so that that ankle is behind the straight leg above the knee, forming a kind of number 4. His elbows stick out straight from his sides, hands behind his back. This posture has survived from the old Tarot de Marseille and similar decks, and so must mean something.

The tree he hangs from is strange. Instead of the typical frame made of a straight horizontal beam between two uprights with branches roughly lopped off - as per le Pendu, the Visconti deck and similar - it's a T-shaped and still living tree. The Hanged Man dangles straight down across the centre support.

As I go through this deck on a card-by-card basis, I find that more and more I prefer the Marseille version to the Rider Waite. This isn't the case here. I like this Hanged Man. He's happy without being silly (Dodal Marseille, etc.) or bland (Conver) or alarmed (Minchiate; a class of its own with the coins spilling from his money bags a la Judas Iscariot). And happy but not too happy.

The background is pretty much the only aspect of this card that doesn't please me. Well, that and the ballet slippers, but if I can live with them on half the people in the Robin Wood Tarot I can live with it here. But the sky. So blah, a gray like an overcast day. I would have preferred blue, to represent the spiritual Water element. But hey, at least it isn't yellow!

So what does this card mean to me? Suspension and inaction, obviously. A time of hanging around, swaying gently in the breeze. Letting it all wash over you. It's very calm, very Zen. But the biggest symbolic figures people typically relate this to are Jesus and Odin - self-sacrifice for a higher purpose. Resurrection. Is this calm, Zen?

Creator's Notes
Waite says in the Pictorial Key to the Tarot:

The Hanged Man. This is the symbol which is supposed to represent Prudence, and Éliphas Lévi says, in his most shallow and plausible manner, that it is the adept bound by his engagements. The figure of a man is suspended head-downwards from a gibbet, to which he is attached by a rope about one of his ankles. The arms are bound behind him, and one leg is crossed over the other. According to another, and indeed the prevailing interpretation, he signifies sacrifice, but all current meanings attributed to this card are cartomancists' intuitions, apart from any real value on the symbolical side. The fortune-tellers of the eighteenth century who circulated Tarots, depict a semi-feminine youth in jerkin, poised erect on one foot and loosely attached to a short stake driven into the ground.

See, what'd I tell you More Prudence. The Etteilla decks were really big on it.

And also ...

The gallows from which he is suspended forms a Tau cross, while the figure--from the position of the legs--forms a fylfot cross.

The tau cross I get. Wikipedia says: "As with Christianity, other ancient societies who used the "Tau" symbol also expanded upon its symbolism to include life, resurrection, reincarnation, and blood sacrifice". A fylfot cross, which I'd never heard of before, is what apparently some call in England and Scandinavia a "good swastika" - a cross that is very like the swastika in appearance, but at right angles rather than seeming turned and with the four arms at the ends of the cross truncated. Good old Wikipedia says: "Odinic Rite (OR), a Germanic pagan organization, use both "swastika" and "fylfot" for what they claim as a "holy symbol of Odinism". The OR fylfot is depicted with curved outer limbs, more like a "sunwheel swastika" than a traditional (square) swastika or heraldic fylfot." So I wonder if Waite is tying thisto the Odin association? Personally I don't see the shape in this card, but maybe I don't understand it very well.

There is a nimbus about the head of the seeming martyr. It should be noted (1) that the tree of sacrifice is living wood, with leaves thereon; (2) that the face expresses deep entrancement, not suffering; (3) that the figure, as a whole, suggests life in suspension, but life and not death.

All very valid points for Waite's connection of this card to self-sacrifice. The Hanged Man is letting go of it all. But not in suffering and pain - easily, willingly, even joyfully.

It is a card of profound significance, but all the significance is veiled. One of his editors suggests that Éliphas Lévi did not know the meaning, which is unquestionable nor did the editor himself. It has been called falsely a card of martyrdom, a card a of prudence, a card of the Great Work, a card of duty; but we may exhaust all published interpretations and find only vanity. I will say very simply on my own part that it expresses the relation, in one of its aspects, between the Divine and the Universe.

He who can understand that the story of his higher nature is imbedded in this symbolism will receive intimations concerning a great awakening that is possible, and will know that after the sacred Mystery of Death there is a glorious Mystery of Resurrection.

Well, of course all of the significance is veiled. And God forbid anyone but Waite understand it. This is as helpful as his "for reasons that concern myself" spiel on the Strength/Justice mashup.

Others' Interpretations
Waite says:

12. THE HANGED MAN.--Wisdom, circumspection, discernment, trials, sacrifice, intuition, divination, prophecy. Reversed: Selfishness, the crowd, body politic.

Symbols and Attributes
The modern association of this card from an astrological standpoint is to tie the Hanged Man to the planet Neptune. But traditionally (or at least earlier) it was linked to the element of Water. Normally I prefer elemental attributes, but from what I've read Neptune fits this card very well. From a website whose references escape me at the moment: "Troublesome Neptune transits can lend a dreamlike quality to life, lack of focus, confusion and ambiguity. Good transits can be 'Dreams Come True,' flashes of insight, and inspirational dreams or encounters." All of the stuff about transits and houses and such are lost on me, but this quote made good sense. Being so far out from the Sun, its rotations around the sun take a long long time, which also suits the Hanged Man's inaction. Neptune is ruled by the element of Water, with its emotional and intuitive, passive and spiritual nature. It also suits this card's esoteric title, the Spirit of the Mighty Waters. Water is reflective; a still pool becomes a mirror. It speaks of time to evaluate, to look at oneself.

Key symbols for this card include the Hanged Man's posture, his clothing, his halo and the tree from which he hangs.

A man hanging in general is a common image for sacrifice, for what Robert O'Neill referred to as the dying god myth. Odin hung from Yggsdrasil to gain knowledge. Jesus was hung on a cross to save mankind from their own sins.

But why upside down? Some have figured it to represent a traitor, a traditional punishment in Italy at the time of the first Tarot decks. And again, I think this is reflected in such historic decks that show the Hanged Man clinging to money bags - going back to the "original" traitor Judas Iscariot and his thirty pieces of silver. But the traitorous label doesn't seem to fit this card here. So we look elsewhere, to St. Peter who was martyred by being crucified head down on a cross. Apparently this inversion is the first step of a mystical journey. In the Acts of Peter, Peter describes it himself:

I beseech you the executioners, crucify me thus, with the head downward...and the reason wherefore, I will tell...Learn ye the mystery of all nature, and the beginning of all things... For the first man fell head downwards and showed forth a manner of birth such as was not heretofore; for it was dead, having no motion. He, then, being pulled down...established this whole disposition of all things, being hanged up an image of the creation wherein he made the things of the right hand into left hand and the left hand in the right hand, and changed about all the marks of their nature, so that he thought those things that were not fair to be fair, and those that were in truth evil, to be good. Concerning which the Lord saith in a mystery: Unless you make the things of the right hand as those of the left, and those of the left as those of the right, and those that are above and those below and those that are behind as those that are before, ye shall not have knowledge of the kingdom.

Now this confuses the crap out of me. But so far as I can tell he is saying that by inverting himself and his view, by seeing everything differently, he can understand and gain knowledge. An interesting parallel to the Odin myth, and a far cry from the more traditional version that St. Peter asked to be crucified head down so as not to die in the same way as Jesus.

With the way the Hanged Man's arms are bent behind him, and his leg bent at the knee to cross the one that's fully extended, his body must form some kind of symbol. I've heard it likened to the alchemical sign for Water, which would make sense; I've also heard the symbol for sulphur, which is alchemically associated with the Emperor. And this is puzzling. But look at how his legs form an inverted number 4, the number of the Emperor: a number of stability and solid foundations, he's saying that he is a lot more stable than he appears. Despite his seeming helplessness, he is in fact in control. Look how serene he is, he's chosen his fate willingly and knows exactly what he's doing. With his feet in the air, I've also heard it said that his feet are rooted in the heavens.

His tunic is blue, the colour of his ruling element Water. But why the red tights? Well, seeing the previous bit about the Emperor and the number four, it might be a further tie to the fiery Aries of the Emperor. Or it might not be. A red cross surmounting a white triangle is a common Golden Dawn symbol. The red legs are crossed, the arms form a triangular shape of his upper body. If right side up it would have been the alchemical symbol for Water - tied with the blue colour this could also explain this.

The halo is pretty simple, it relates back to the various gods and saints and martyrs I've mentioned already. The connection to the Divine, the sacrifice, the resultant enlightenment. There's also a theory out there that ties it to the Golden Dawn's initiation into the First (Outer) Order; in which the oath includes "...teach him the value of self-sacrifice, so that he shrink not in the hour of trial ... I accept the Bonds of Suffering and Self-Sacrifice". If that's the case, then the initiate is essentially following in the footsteps of saints.

I've mentioned the Tau-cross on which he hangs already. The fact that the tree is still living and sprouting leaves may refer to the spiritual growth he will undergo. Another idea is that the human will in the form of the man is subservient to the divine will represented by the cross-shaped tree.

My Interpretation
Obviously, I see this card as representing self-sacrifice. Not for any fiddly little reason, this is a big one. It's to achieve salvation, or enlightenment, or knowledge, or to be in touch with the Divine. It's definitely a mental, spiritual and intuitive card. Not one of activity or action, because it's kind of hard to get out there and physically do anything all trussed up like that. But once you let go and accept that fact, then it's amazing what you can accomplish. So if I saw this card in a reading I'd accept that now isn't the time for action. Sit back, take it easy, and try to look at things a little differently.

Recolouring
Am far behind, will be getting to it, I swear! I will be keeping the red leggings, but the tunic will be white. And the background will be blue to represent the spirituality and Water element.

 

[linnie]

Finally... I've been something of a Hanged Man myself this past fortnight!

ATU – XII – The Hanged Man – Thoth

The Spirit of the Mighty Waters

Elemental Trump of Water

Hebrew Letter – Mem (water)

Tree of Life – Path 23, joining Geburah, 5 (Severity) with Hod, 8 (Splendour)

Colours – Deep blue, sea-green, deep olive green, white, flecked purple.


First impressions:

Cold, life-less. In a morgue-like setting, a figure hangs suspended from an inverted ankh, the sky distinctly lacking any of the Sun’s usual warmth. All is seen through a cold, wet filter… untouchable… nay… beyond touch… as though stored away in a permafrost locker, or similar, simply biding time, curing. I keep feeling cryogenics here… erk…

At both the head and the foot of the figure is a serpent, and the figure appears all-but crucified, with 3 limbs nailed to what looks like pentacles. The Earthy/material life is somehow associated with Spiritual downfall, or an energy other than Spirit.

There is a sense that this is a story about the different levels of Being and being… A Spiritual Being juxtaposed against the man from a material world, although in this instance it appears the Spirit, rather than the physical vehicle, is decaying. While the body still looks alive (albeit distorted, with the right leg seemingly dislocated at the knee and the feet, reversed) the Soul here is suspended…. Physical, not spiritual… cold, cold, cold…

Beneath the head of the figure, rays radiate out over the semi-disc (bowl-like) area containing the serpent. Beyond that, in the layer beyond, an inverted hemisphere is visible.

Colours: Pale green, greenish white, pale mauve, flesh, eau de nil, deeper mauve-blue… colours entirely of the cooler spectrum.

LWB:

“Let not the waters whereon thou journeyest wet thee. And, being come to shore, plant thou the Vine and rejoice without shame.

Key words: Enforced sacrifice, punishment, loss, fatal or voluntary, suffering, defeat, failure.”

DuQuette: Begins with “Atu XII is not your Aeon of Osiris Hanged Man.Neither is it the Hanged Man of the Aeon of Isis.” … He then quotes Crowley, “This card is beautiful in a strange, immemorial, moribund manner. It is the card of the Dying God: its importance in the present pack is merely that of the Cenotaph”. DuQuette then notes that “A cenotaph is a tomb or a monument erected to honour a person whose actual body is buried somewhere else”, which quite sums up the Hanged Man, I think. 

From Crowley’s Book of Thoth: “I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.”

It is uncertainty, an ambition of ‘faith’ that leads to the turpor of Man. Understanding that Life extends beyond the limited earthly experience is what will bring us Crowley’s “unimaginable joys on earth”.

“This card is beautiful in a strange, immemorial, moribund manner. It is the card of the Dying God; its importance in the present pack is merely that of the Cenotaph. It says: “If ever things get bad like that again, in the new Dark Ages which appear to threaten, this is the way to put things right.” But if things have to be put right, it shows that they are very wrong. It should be the chieftest aim of the wise to rid mankind of the insolence of self-sacrifice, of the calamity of chastity; faith must be slain by certainty, and chastity by ecstasy.”

“Who was it that first demanded obsequience in all that we do? That this card’s importance “is merely that of the Cenotaph” suggests that the false God is the one that we must overthrow and sacrifice. The “Idea of sacrifice is, in the final analysis, a wrong idea”. We have created for ourselves a colourless, cold, lifeless world where everything screams of constraint, of a lack of the joy de vivre.”

“Redemption is a bad word; it implies a debt. For every star possesses boundless wealth; the only proper way to deal with the ignorant is to bring them to the knowledge of their starry heritage. To do this, it is necessary to behave as must be done in order to get on good terms with animals and children: to treat them with absolute respect; even; in a certain sense, with worship.”

As, potentially, one of the ‘stars’ that Crowley speaks of, in order to bring life back into Life, we need only ‘be on good terms with animals and children”… those who have not become adult-erated by social convention, religious laws, Self-restraint. Behave as innocents behave, in order to become pure of Spirit in ourselves, for “Through his Work a Child is begotten, as shewn by the Serpent stirring in the Darkness of the Abyss below him”.

Images and Symbolism: Harris: The Hanged Man’s posture “is of the greatest significance. The legs are crossed so that the right leg forms a right angle with the left leg, and the arms are stretched out at an angle of sixty degrees, so as to form an equilateral triangle. This gives the symbol of the triangle surmounted by a cross, which represents the descent of the light into darkness in order to redeem it”.

“There are green disks-green, the colour of Venus, signifies Grace-at the terminations of the limbs and of the head. The air above the surface of the water is also green, infiltrated by rays of the white light of Kether. The whole figure is suspended from the Ankh, another way of figuring the formula of the Rose and Cross, while around the left foot is the Serpent, creator and destroyer, who operates all change.”


Water is this card’s key element, and “The whole idea of sacrifice is a misconception of nature, and the element of water to which the card is attributed is the element of illusion”.


My take: on how I would read with this card should it come up in a reading:

And so, to return to that place from whence we started (which happily sums up this card, too ) “Let not the waters whereon thou journeyest wet thee. And, being come to shore, plant thou the Vine and rejoice without shame.
Enforced sacrifice, punishment, loss, fatal or voluntary, suffering, defeat, failure, death.”

"Enforced sacrifice" sits comfortably with me only if it is enforced by Self. “Let not the waters whereon thou journeyest wet thee. And, being come to shore, plant thou the Vine and rejoice without shame”. Yes… my understanding of this card is that this person is stuck in the material world, with Spirit dampened down by the necessary constraints of physical limitations. “Don’t let this earthly life dampen your spirit”, bids this card, “but allow yourself to die to limitations, and, with that death, be reborn into a limitless world, where the Spirit, like the Vine, may thrive”… yep!!! This dude is just coming to terms with the fact that all is not as it seems… that this “life”, even with all the earthly ‘elements’ to distract, remains limiting, and it is Self-Respect, rather than Self-sacrifice, that is required if redeeming himself is his aspiration… yep!!! .