Introducing The Hanged Man XII
We see a man hanging by one leg from a tree. His legs are crossed to the numeral 4. His hands are behind his back. There is a halo of yellow light around his head. He appears calm and serene for someone handing upside down from a tree!
The Hanged Man represents the idea of gaining a new perspective and at times sacrifice. A time of suspension.
Symbols & Systems
hanged man
A man is hanging from a tree. We wonder why. His apparently voluntary position there hints at a deeper meaning, which is given below.
body posture
His body posture is curious; he’s upside down and tied by one leg, the other leg bent at the knee. His hands are behind his back; we don’t know if they’re bound or not. His body posture is relaxed – not what we would expect of someone hanging upside down! His pose resembles the yoga posture vriksha, the tree.
facial expression
His facial expression is calm and contented, in fact perhaps ecstatic. This is not someone suffering or in pain.
tree
The tree appears human-made in the shape of a cross, yet it’s alive with leaves coming out of it, signifying the life force. The tree also resembles the bottom half of the Ankh, the ancient Egyptian symbol of life.
red leggings
The color red reminds us of the Emperor (number 4 in the tarot deck, represented by the Hanged Man’s legs, which are crossed in the shape of an inverted 4). 4 signifies stability and strength. Red signifies passion and the element of fire.
blue tunic
The blue tunic represents the High Priestess, and the color of healing, and the element of water. Water and Fire are opposites, just as this man is “opposite” (upside down). Contradiction can heal just as it can differ.
yellow halo
Many holy ones are depicted in art with halos around their heads, indicating spiritual enlightenment and connection to God. It seems that this man, by hanging upside down, is getting closer to God. His yellow shoes also indicate that he is grounded in reality: He knows what’s really going on, as he’s taken the time to investigate and contemplate.
gods / goddesses
The Hanged Man is ruled by all the gods and goddesses that rule initiation, or undergo a process of purification to seek answers.
Female: Artemis, Inanna, Ishtar, Persophone
Male: Odin, Osiris, Attis, Buddha, Jesus, Demuzi
number
The number of the Hanged Man is 12, whose digits reduce to 1 + 2. 1 represents the Magician, who has will, and 2 represents the High Priestess, who has deep wisdom. Together they teach The Hanged Man how to deal with unknown situations. 12 also reduces to 3, the number of the Empress, signifying that healing and fertility comes to those who wait and learn to surrender control.
astrology
The creators of the Rider Waite Tarot deck were members of the Golden Dawn, a group that followed teachings based on the Kabbalah. Kabbalists are mystics who believe that God is neither male nor female, and has many aspects. Kabbalah is all about learning why we’re here, the mystery of the universe, and what the big plan is.
Kabbalah
The creators of the Rider Waite Tarot deck were members of the Golden Dawn, a group that followed teachings based on the Kabbalah. Kabbalists are mystics who believe that God is neither male nor female, and has many aspects. Kabbalah is all about learning why we’re here, the mystery of the universe, and what the big plan is.
Being the 13th card in the deck, The Hanged Man corresponds to the 13th Hebrew letter Mem מ, which is the first letter of the Hebrew word mayim, or water. Water reflects what is around it. So too must the Hanged Man reflect on his situation.
The Hanged Man on The Tree of Life sits on the path between Gevurah (Power) and Hod (Glory). In Kabbalah, the number 12 is considered holy as it represents the 12 tribes of Israel.
The name of this card is ‘Stable Intelligence’. There is a stability in our intelligence when we realize that we do not have control over much except our own mind. The only real connection we have is to ourselves and the Creator.
The message from The Hanged Man XII
The Hanged Man wants you to understand that sometimes the answers will come with time. The energy of The Hanged man is the opposite of that of The Chariot, which is all about action and control. Instead, The Hanged Man is telling you, ‘Let go’.
Ask yourself these questions:
• Is there something to which I need to surrender? If so, how can I let go?
• To what am I bound?
• How is my perspective changing concerning events occurring around me?
• Do I feel that I am being initiated into a new phase in my life?
• Have I the ability to not act, and just be?
• Am I being purified? If so, how?
Allow yourself to focus on the calmness of The Hanged Man: He trusts that all the solutions and answers will come with time. He just needs to wait and perhaps sacrifice a little in order to get there. He’s trusting his own process.
The Hanged Man XII reversed
When I see a reversed card, I simply see the energy blocked or inhibited in some way. How would The Hanged Man be inhibited?
Perhaps you’re trying to control a situation that is out of your control. Perhaps you’re being a victim, and self sacrificing for no greater good? Perhaps you’re stuck and cannot move. Perhaps you live too much for others, and not for yourself.
If you get The Hanged Man reversed for yourself or someone else, some questions to ask might be…
• Am I feeling drained?
• Am I feeling like a victim in my life?
• Am I in co-dependent relationships?
• What am I sacrificing that I should not be?
• Why do I get involved in things that are none of my business?
• Am I stuck? If so, what or whom can I not change?
• What current perspective do I need to change?
• Am I creating my own misery?
If you get The Hanged Man reversed, you are being alerted that you’re stuck in a situation that is not serving you, and from which you need to extricate yourself.
To sum it all up
The Hanged Man hangs on the World Tree, searching for answers within. He waits patiently, and does not act. He trusts that events and wisdom will come when the time is right/ripe.
Throughout time, there are stories of gods and goddesses, and holy folk who underwent a process of purification in order to gain new insights, wisdom, and knowledge. They sacrificed themselves to recover something hidden or lost.
The most famous of these is probably ODIN, the Viking God who hung upside down on the World Tree, (Yggdrasil) for 9 days and nights. In the poem ‘Havarnal’, Odin claims:
“I know that I hung on the windy tree
For nine whole nights
Wounded with the spear, dedicated to Odin
Myself to Myself”
Another such legend is that of Inanna, Sumerian Goddess of what is now Iraq, where her major temple at Uruk was located. Inanna descends into the underworld (for which various reasons are given).During her descent she passes through seven gates, and at each one leaves more of her clothing and jewelry behind.
By the time she arrives in the underworld and meets her sister Ereshkigal (goddess of death and the underworld) she is punished for entering, as the underworld is only for those who die. She is turned into a corpse and hung upside down on a hook for three days and nights.
Eventually some of the gods come to her rescue and she escapes, now with wisdom of the underworld. Ereshkigal is outraged and asks for someone to take her place. Inanna allows her husband Dumuzi to be taken, as he did not mourn her while she was believed dead. This legend again echoes the idea of the harvest gods giving their blood to the land each year to regenerate it.
James George Frazer addresses this concept in his book The Golden Bough, where he talks about the god of death and resurrection. Carl Jung, the psychiatrist, reminds us that, ‘he who looks outside dreams, and he who looks inside awakens’.
While The Hanged Man is similar to The Hermit insofar as the need for retreat, The Hanged Man needs to sacrifice something to reach his goal.
The Hanged Man invites you stop, pause, and search for answers. He’s telling you that now is NOT the time to act; it is the time to BE and OBSERVE. Ego causes us to believe that being in control is desirable, but it’s an illusion. We need times to not do, to not control, in order to KNOW. As Yoda says in the Star Wars saga, ‘You must unlearn what you have learned’.
