The Tarot Card The Hanged Man is printed within the magical container of The Seed of Life on top, The Flower of Life beneath, a hexagram at the left, and a pentagram on the right. Together these symbols create a magical amulet to help manifest the powers and meaning of the Tarot Card it contains. In this case, The Hanged Man.
Meaning of the Symbols:
The Seed of Life at the top: The Seed represents the sparking of all life, the beginning of creation, and the source of all matter and intention. It is there to remind you that in your evolution, you must pull from a higher power, not just your own mind and the experiences that are known to you. The Seed of Life represents the masculine force in creation - the place of single-pointed consciousness, overflowing love, focus, stillness, consistency, and intention.
The Flower of Life at the Bottom: The Flower represents matter and the quantum world where intention shapes that matter. In the Western Mystery traditions, this place is referred to as the Prima Materia - the Primal Matter. It is there to remind you that in the process of creation, you must allow the energy of intention to flow through your physical body unfettered, to shape the quantum world. It is also symbolic of The Fool - as the circle is the number zero and the entire journey of the Tarot is the journey of the individual (the Fool / The self) through evolution. The Flower of Life represents the feminine force in creation - the place of infinite expression, interaction, relationship, evolution, change, and the dance of life and death.
The Hexagram: Represents the higher mind and consciousness - our natural psychic interplay with all creation. It is the macrocosm of creation.
The Pentagram: Represents the physical body, the 5 senses, the emotional sense, and the microcosm of creation.
Together these symbols focus the power of the Tarot Card depicted in the center. In this case, The Hanged Man:
The Hanged Man Tarot Card: A person is hanging by their right leg from a tree shaped like a cross. There are vines with leaves winding around it. The person’s left leg is folded under the right forming a triangle. The person’s hands are folded behind his back creating another triangle. The two triangle’s points meet around the solar plexus of the person. The person is wearing red leggings, a blue tunic, and gold-colored shoes. The head of the person is surrounded by golden light.
The Story of the Hanged Man Card: The fruit doesn't know when it will ripen and fall from the tree. There are many circumstances that have to come together to create the timing. For example, the rain, the sun, the nutrients in the soil, and other climate conditions. In addition, the history of the plant itself and how many more fruit it is carrying can be factors. In the same way, The Hanged Man is a fruit hanging from the Tree of Life (the cross). He is slowly ripening though he has no control over when he will ripen. It will be soon, certainly, as one leg is already free from the tree.
Rather than being tied upside down to a tree as a kind of crucifixion, this card can be seen as the first stage of being liberated from the feeling of being tied to it and controlled by it. We often go through life feeling that circumstances beyond our control are maneuvering our lives. But when we are in complete alignment with divine timing and sailing our boat down the river of life with it, rather than against it, everything falls into place, even if it doesn’t match up with our ego’s expectations.
The Hanged Man is in his final stages of acceptance of the timing and forces of evolution that are unseen and out of his control. He is aligning his lower desires with the will of his soul (or the Divine will). The Hanged Man’s left leg is already free. Soon the right leg will be too. After that, The Hanged Man will be the wielder of the tree of life rather than having the feeling of being bound to it, or that of struggling to be, do, or serve something from a state of dissonance. When the Hanged Man fully surrenders and merges with the tree, he will simultaneously merge with it and fall from it, becoming the carrier of its seed into the world.
The Hanged Man is often associated with sacrifice. But being in service and aligned with your higher will doesn’t mean sacrificing the human self. And it certainly doesn’t mean the sacrifice of your own happiness. It means you must develop the ability to adapt to a higher perspective rather than be continuously frustrated that things aren’t the way your ego thinks they should be.
The ego and conscious mind only know the past. And they can only have desires based on what they have experienced. So when you invite happiness, prosperity, and spiritual awareness into your life, your conscious mind will have a picture of what that should look like based on past experience. But the higher truth will always look different. The more mentally flexible and fluid you are willing to be, the faster a reality beyond what you could have ever imagined will manifest.
Notice that the red leggings worn by The Hanged Man reach up to the waistline in this image. It is an indication that the person has integrated the fires of passion, expression, happiness, sexuality, and play. The hanged Man is not afraid of partaking in the pleasures of being human. But he is not overrun by these passions either. His balanced blue upper body indicates he has also attained a degree of emotional mastery and can maintain calm as well as personal agency. The golden light around his head indicates he has a pool of soothing, calm, golden spiritual waters within him to temper the fires of passion.
The sacrifice depicted in this card is actually more akin to willfully and passionately surrendering to a lover rather than a giving up of something. The surrender depicted isn’t about being tied to something and being its slave. The surrender is that of allowing the soul to merge, love, and guide the body. In fact, when you let go of the expectations of the conditioned mind and set your sights higher, that which can bring you to true joy finally enters you. It is when you surrender to the Divine timing of things that it can happen.
The Hanged Man card indicates that you are on a path toward freedom and the full spiritual embodiment of your higher self. You are, in this card, the fruit of the Tree of Life hanging from the vine. And you are almost ready to fall from the vine and nourish the world with your immense and juicy flavor.
Association with Water: The Hanged Man card is associated with the element of water. Water is symbolic of many things: The womb, fluidity, the unconscious mind, the hidden and unknown, reflection, and pure love. First, consider the fluidity of water - the card is telling us to flow with the river of life rather than resist it with our limited notions of how things ‘should’ be. Second, think of water as the womb of the earth. When the Hanged Man fully surrenders, this womb is what he will fall into. Preparing to be consciously born of spirit into matter.
Finally, a big part of The Hanged Man’s journey is about being willing to surrender to the unknown. Necessarily, this means giving up what is known in trust that what you really and truly wish for at your deepest levels will come to you, but in a way that you never expected.
When to use The Hanged Man card: When you feel that you are ready to be the seeding fruit of the Divine life force within you, meditate on this card. When you are passionately called to give yourself over to your soul’s will (or the Divine will), let this card’s energy guide you. Use it when you are ready to stop using force to try and be something or attain something, and you are willing to fully be who and what you are on a higher level.
When you truly start to trust Divine timing, it may feel like a sacrifice at first, but if you have truly embraced your shadow and human nature, it will feel far more like the greatest fulfillment that can be, not a forgoing of it. So use this card when it is time to surrender to the unknown and receive the higher will of your soul. Merging with the Tree of Life and becoming The Tree at the same time.
Altar Cloth / Tapestry details:
~ 100% microfiber Polyester
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~ Multiple sizes (26x36 in, 50x60 in, 68x80 in, 88x104 in)
