When the Hanged Man is REALLY Hanged!

[Sophie]

Actually, the original meaning of the card has nothing to do with Waite's inventions - these are later extrapolations to fit his view of the world and of tarot.

The original meaning of the Hanged Man is treason and punishment. Hanging people upside down was a form of punishment in Renaissance Italy, where the tarot originated, and yes, it often does result in death, but not necessarily - it depends how long you are left hanging there.

The Golden Dawn meaning - of self-sacrifice and illumination - came later. It's perfectly defensible - after all, it is often in punishment and pain that we break through spiritually. However, the Hanged Man in Tarot does not, originally, have a spiritual meaning apart from what was projected onto it by later generations, ours included.

That's why showing the hanged man hanging by the neck is defensible - it returns the card to its original meaning of punishment for treason.

 

[tarotlyn]

Hanged Man

Hanged Man

 

[Mariana]

Mariana,
You know, I have been thinking all evening about what you said in your post
about being confused by the hanged man, and about people dying if they
hang upside down for a few hours, and that it made you uncomfortable.

Thank you for the concern, but I think you may have misunderstood my post. I did not mean to say that death makes me uncomfortable, but that having to learn 'conventional' meanings that go against my intuition, makes me uncomfortable. Like you, I read this card as sacrifice. Possibly to the point of being willing to die for something/someone. I find it hard to read it as 'insight', though.

Oh, and by the way, my post was a reply to the whole thread, not to your previous post. I would have quoted you if it was.

 

[Sophie]

Have you ever taken care of a COMPLETELY invalid person and there are NO
relatives to help you? It is so hard, and FINALLY you learn to do it with
compassion? You surrender the situation to God, and then it DOES become
easier and you become a NEW person. I am there now...
I understand sacrifice...to me this card is self sacrifice. That is just the way I
read it...and how I have always read it for others too.

Tarot - and the world! - have evolved since 1450. Our sensibility and world-view are not those of the Italian inventors of tarot, though it helps to know what they thought of a card. But since I'm in a different space from where they were, I wouldn't personally interpret the Hanged Man as "punishment for treason" unless in exceptional circumstances, when the rest of the reading suggested as much. Sacrifice works for me - and successgoodhealth, I am very moved by what you wrote about it - but so does illumination, or stasis, or "wait and see, don't act", and a host of other meanings.

I do think that when studying tarot, it's useful to study all the various meanings the cards have been given over the ages in by various tarotists, so as to enrich our tarot vocabulary and give our intuition more to work with when we read. I also think it important to understand the origin of an image, because it will inform and influence all the other meanings of it: and the Hanged Man has a precise, historical origin.

If we take your preferred meaning of self-sacrifice, SGH then you can relate that to the "traitor/punishment" origin of the card via the story of Jesus, who was accused of treason, and sacrificed himself. Or you can use the story of Odin, if you prefer, who used a form of deceit and treason - but also self-sacrifice - in order to capture the runes, hanging upside-down from a tree. You can also look at the punishment aspect and relate that to sacrifice and self-sacrifice. Punishment and self-sacrifice are very close, and it is only in how we regard one or the other that they differ. For some, looking after a sick relative for years on end is a punishment, until, as you say, it becomes an act of self-sacrifice rewarded by inner illumination.

 

[tarotlyn]

My method of reading Tarot cards

To: Fudugazi:

I concentrate my learning on mainly one deck method, I don't need
1300 decks to learn the Tarot, although I want them.

Having stuck for years, to the Rider-Waite rich "symbology," I find that
it carries itself throughout most decks that I am attracted to.

I am very well versed in Astrology, Numerology, Runes, and those subjects do
effect my card readings, but being too scattered, will not help me learn the Tarot well.

Meaning:
Maybe trying to use so many different card systems may not be so
beneficial, at least not to me. I think it is better to concentrate on what I
know about one system, maybe stick to that, and then get "very good" at
that instead of being a "little" good at a lot of different card systems.

When I lay out my Tarot cards...they really talk to me.
To me, it is like having ONE main friend, instead of 1300 acquaintances.

HOWEVER...I DO need 1300 decks for the beauty of the card images...love the artwork.

I just believe that the "basic symbols" are the answer. When a person is
confused or finds that they cannot read the Tarot well, maybe they should
go back to and stick to the basic symbols instead of searching for the
"magic fix" tarot deck to suddenly make them an accurate reader.

After having said that, I will tell you that there is a deck I just purchased for
someone else: "Quick and Easy Tarot"...had to take a little peek..and was
truly amazed at how accurate the meanings are - printed "ON" each card,
upright and reversed. Even though my meanings are somewhat different than
these card meanings. This is a variation deck of Rider-Waite, with coloring by
Mary Hanson-Roberts...printed by USA Games. Great deck for learning on.
Now, because I opened it...dumb...I now have to buy my friend another deck!

I DO see what you are saying about different decks, meaning different
things. But I feel that the main Tarot symbolism is generally found throughout
most different decks. Oh yeah, I know, some are just off the wall. I came
across a really nude and vulgar, beyond belief, deck the other day.
One card was actually having sex with itself - and very vividly, if you know
what I mean. These maybe not be vulgar to someone else, though. To each
his own.

I just ordered the Llewellyn Tarot deck, and not sure about the hanged man
in that deck.

Thanks for your enlightenment...love that...makes us all stop and think and
LEARN...for that I thank you again. Hope to see you around the forum...
Will look for you and will read your past posts.

Hope you are doing well with your boyfriend, I read your post of 2 weeks ago.
If you still are seeking some answers regarding that situation, I can
offer, as a peace offering, a little private reading by email, with Tarot.
I can also offer computer generated readings...but EXCELLENT ones...
in Astrology, and Numerolgy - only do these for special people.

 

[Sophie]

SGH - Thank you for your kind thoughts .

I was not talking about different decks, actually. I was talking about different meanings for a same basic image, which image was first painted on a tarot card in the 15th century, and has continued through the ages, to our day. The RWS Hanged Man is a part of that tradition: Waite and Colman Smith did not invent him, they borrowed him.

Every image in the Major Arcana of the tarot has a history, and a very long list of meanings, which have evolved through the ages. To fixate on a single one is to limit the card. You have reached your own meaning of self-sacrifice for the Hanged Man through your own life experience - and that's very important. In my case, for a long time, my life experience gave me the meaning of "torture, punishment, transcendence". But when reading for someone else, that meaning for that image might not be the right one. So it's good to explore all the different meanings for a same image, even if you only ever use one deck (as I did too, for a long time).

 

[tarotlyn]

More meanings

To: Fudugazi...

I am sorry, I do have many more meanings for this card and others, and I do
not just relate my own expiences to other peoples readings...
I only see the cards for the person in "their" light...not my own.

Here are "some" my "other" meanings for the Hanged Man:
UPRIGHT:
The person may be going through a reversal and sacrifice.
They are in deep comtemplation.
They may be in the process of surrendering, using their intuition,
or in the process of learning discipline.

or they just are suspending their mind...
and I would read the upright as:
This person is going through a positive growth period and they would be
greatly benefited by engaging in spiritual studies.
They may have the need to be creative and they definately need to take
care of themselves and stay healthy.
or
They are sacrificing to the will and desires of someone else. Or they are just
in bondage to personal views which may not be correct.

or
They are having illusory ideas without any substance whatsoever.

REVERSED:
The person lacks faith, may be living in fear, guilt and may also be very
unstable. They may be having problems with escapism by using drugs or
drinking too much, or just could be living in fantasy. They do not make good
decisions at this time. They are apt to make foolish actions, such as allowing
themselves to be deluded by someone else. They may have little or no trust
in a higher power.

When reading for a person, my psychic takes over, and I JUST KNOW "which"
of the varied meanings I have in my heart that I should use for that
particular person. I not going to throw out all of my meanings like I did on
this page...unless it calls me to.

Hope the fact that I do know other meanings meets with your approval.
But I did not come to this board to "prove" myself...only to love and help
and to "share" with others. Not to change them to my viewpoint, but to help
them find their own, and also to IMPOVE my own.
Again thanks for the brain work this morning.

 

[Sophie]

Thanks for sharing! I am really interested in how you see the Hanged Man reversed - it's not an easy card reversed, I find, and you seem to have thought quite a bit about it. I was confused by something you had said - please accept my apologies for having assumed you had only a single meaning for this very fascinating and mysterious card.

And really, SGH, my approval is really not necessary! We are all equal and sharing on Aeclectic

 

[tarotlyn]

Thank you!

To: Fudugazi

Love you!
Lyn

 

[Grizabella]

I've seen the meaning for this card given as someone looking at things from a different angle spiritually. For certain, when a person is going to be hanged to death, they're forced to consider spiritual matters and to suddenly see spiritual things as being very important, whereas they might not have before. I think that's probably the meaning you could get from seeing the image of a literally hanged man.

If you hang someone upside down for long enough, though, they still die. I'm not sure that fact is apparent to people who look at the Hanged Man image on cards that show a man hanging upside down. Because of that, both images are about the same. In one card, hanging by the neck, death may come more swiftly (or it may not) but in both cases, hanging is the cause of death. But in both cases, I surely think it causes a person to suddenly give some importance to seeing spiritual matters differently than they have before.