Four Pillars Society Tarot: The Hanged Man

Notes on The Hanged Man

(Sacrifice and Surrender)

Artist’s Note on Card:
The last trump Justice had more than a little to do with the idea of Personal Responsibility and the necessity of owning up to our past so that we can transcend it. The Hanged Man takes that idea and moves forward with it, asking if we are willing to give up what we have to get to where we want to go.
 
The card depicts a man hanging upside down from a tree suspended over water. His reflection almost seems to be coming out and emerging though that surely is a trick of the mind. After all when hanging upside down with blood rushing to your head, can you trust anything you sense? Most likely, before too long you would find yourself in a state of heightened reality.
 
Odin sacrificed an eye and hung upside down from the world tree for nine days and nights in order to receive wisdom and for his sacrifice of himself to himself, he received the wisdom of the runes. That is an interesting turn of phrase, isn’t it. Sacrificing oneself to oneself. Isn’t that something we each do in order to grow and develop almost every day? We sacrifice who we are for who we may become. It is only when we refuse to make this sacrifice and try to avoid growth that we find ourselves in difficulty. We start to stagnate and become caricatures of ourselves. The operative word there, being become for in the refusal to accept change and growth, we still change as we degrade further and further. Instead, let us die each day or even each moment so that a better us can constantly evolve.
 
–GAR
 
About the Archetype:
 
The Hanged Man is one of the most powerful images in the Major Arcana. In Norse mythology, Odin hung upside down from the world tree for nine days and nights in order to achieve wisdom and received the runes as a reward. In Christian lore, Peter insisted on being crucified upside down because he didn’t feel he was worthy of dying the same way as Jesus. The Hanged Man implies the sacrifice of the self to become something more. In many religions, there is the idea of the sacrificed deity that brings about the redemption of his followers.
 
What does sacrifice mean? It means giving up something to achieve something more. In this case, we give up something of ourselves to reach some kind of understanding.
 
If the Lovers represented the first meeting of the opposites in a relationship, then the Hanged Man represents the knowledge that in the relationship we must be willing to sacrifice who we are to join with our beloved and become something more. The ‘I’ must give way to the ‘We’. If the Lovers represents leaving home and building a life outside of the society we grew up in, the Hanged Man takes it to a deeper level where we must examine our internal values and determine which of them come from cultural conditioning and which are truly part of ourselves. In order to become who we truly are and who we are meant to be, we must be willing to sacrifice who we were. The self-reflected in the water symbolizes the image of who we could be if our external self and life truly reflected the internal. Thus in many ways, it is the realization of a need to change which leads to the path of enlightenment.
 
 
Astrological Correspondent:
 
Water(▽) Planet Neptune (♆)-The Hanged Man, like The Fool and Judgement (or Aeon) cards, has a double astrological attribute, a planetary one and an elemental one. One of the reasons for this is that in the Hebrew alphabet (used in the tree of life) the letters are split into three groups. These are the three Mother letters (Aleph, Mem, and Shin which represent the elements Air, Water, and Fire), Seven Double letters (Beth, Gimel, Dalet, Koph, Peh, Resh, and Tau which represent the seven known planets Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun and Earth) and twelve Simple letters which represent the 12 signs of the zodiac. It all works rather nicely. However since these assignations were made three more planets were discovered in our solar system Uranus (whose astrological nature fits well with Air), Neptune (a planet with a decidedly Watery nature and influence), and Pluto (a fiery influence). Some readers, deck designers, and students of the tarot have connected the three planets with the three elemental cards. Since there is such a close fit and examination of any correlation can bring insight I include both possible influences in this writing.
 
Neptune’s influence is dreamy and illusory and governs among other things, insight and awareness that comes from a state of heightened or altered consciousness. This can be double-edged resulting in transformative experiences but also in its more negative form can lead to addiction and hitting the well too many times with little to show for it. Neptune influences our spirituality and beliefs and our intuition. It’s important to develop the discernment to know the difference between when our intuition and heightened states reveal the truth and when it reveals a message that is personal to our own development. Neptune also influences psychic receptivity and visions.
 
Water is the elementary influence over the signs, of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces. Water has an emotional, sensitive influence with hidden depths and currents. It can be dreamy and moody, compassionate or brooding, empathetic or self-indulgent all in its cycle. It flows into everything around it and can be boiled by fire (or extinguished by it), damned by earth (or interdependently nurturing towards it), and dispersed or interwoven by air.
 
 
In a reading:
 
The Hanged Man in a reading may indicate someone who is very independent with a unique take on the world. It may refer to someone who is breaking free of old conventional ways of being and becoming themselves. The Hanged Man can also mean that there is a delay and hold up in plans and the querent may need to reflect on whether what they are hoping for is really true to themselves or not. It may also indicate a transformative relationship for the querent where they will have to surrender a bit of how they see themselves in order to make the relationship work. This does not mean becoming someone who they are not but more a realization of how by bending they may become something more than they had known. The Hanged Man may also mean that the querent has to sacrifice something in order to get another thing that they want. In all of these cases, there is a vulnerability but also an opportunity for growth if one is willing to stretch and bend. The card can also represent delayed rather than instant gratification or surrendering of momentary pleasure for joy.
 
 
 
When the Hanged Man comes out reversed or badly aspected in a reading, it may indicate someone who is conforming to social expectations rather than living their more unconventional dreams. It may refer to inflexibility or moving forwards. It may also refer to the querent feeling as if they are sacrificing a lot and having nothing to show for it. It may mean a time in the querent’s life when they are reacting passively, waiting for life to happen rather than making it happen especially if they have to give up the comfort of their everyday life to do so. The inversed Hanged Man may also mean that someone is dwelling at the shallow end of their life and needs to find a deeper purpose.
 
Fate’s Whisper:
A lot of mystery surrounds the Astral Planes. Like any piece of complex machinery, we must understand that it is not a single construct but a series of smaller ones that work in harmony. Each realm, resident, and the part has a function to play in maintaining the balance of it all. When things don’t work their part it causes a ripple and chaos in its wake. To keep the chaos and order in check things are sometimes sacrificed to keep them in balance.
 
As you can see in the card a being’s projection is split in two and mirrored. Caught in the web he/she must sacrifice something to get out. The idea of getting out without consequence is not an option here. In life, we are faced with a decision to make a choice. Every option will take something from us so we must ask what do we want in the end. By looking at it this way we can choose the path that best suits us. The greater the height we strive for the more we will have to sacrifice to reach it. So what path will you pick?
 
–NF

 

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