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T.12 Hanged Man

Activity

XII. Hanged Man

Name: The Hanged Man
Hebrew Letter/Meaning: Mem (מ) / Water
Element/Planet/Zodiac: Water / Neptune / Pisces
Name of Path: Stable (Constant)
Type: Stabilizing Formative Extreme
Connecting Sefirot: Severity (5) & Splendor (8)


Tidbits: Odin, the Norse All-Father God, hung from the tree over the bottomless well foc 9 days and nights, sacrificing himself for the higher knowledge of the runes, other worlds, and magic.

The Hanged Man “drowns” the intellect of the personality (Splendor), represented by the glyph for Air behind the head, in the Waters of deep meditation. This card is about surrendering perspectives and rebirth into new ways of thinking through direct knowledge via personal experience and reflection.

The Wheel of Fortune is the cycle of life and karma. The Hanged Man is the opposite/balancing intelligence. What might that indicate?

Pause. Surrender. Sacrifice. Give up something personal for a greater purpose.

Reference Note:

Spend time with each of the Trumps to generate your “tarot encyclopedia” notecard for each.

Working with the Trumps is slightly different because they represent forces of subjective experience instead of forms and objective structure. The symbolism in the cards is more complex, subtle, and profound. For this reason, we will slow down our pace to only one Trump per day (except today when we do two).

You are encouraged to only engage with one Trump per day. This will hopefully allow you to relax a little, spend more time exploring each trump, and catch up with any minor arcana you had to skip over the last few weeks.

In case it’s still helpful, here is the recommended process.

  1. Look at the image on the card and examine its details.
  2. Read the page in the companion book for that card.
  3. Read the description provided here.
  4. OPTIONAL: Read other descriptions of that card online or in other books.
  5. Reflect on the questions posed.
  6. Write down the details of the image that have meaning to you and the 2 or 3 interpretations (perhaps 1 heavenly, 1 upright earthly, and 1 reversed earthly) that resonate most strongly for you.
  7. Reflect on whatever correspondences you can find, such as relationships to other cards, astrological associations, and anything else. Include notes on anything specific that stands out.

    Feel free to write down your own interpretations based on what comes to you!