The Lesson of the Hanged Man

The lesson of the Hanged Man in tarot and what it can teach us about ourselves.

 

If you had asked me on Monday how I was feeling, I would’ve told you that I was on top of the world. For the first time (maybe) ever, I had organized my schedule exactly how I wanted it.

By Tuesday, a wrench was lobbed at my perfectly crafted system. To my embarrassment, the nefarious wrench-thrower was me. I double-booked myself (twice!) even though I had been looking at a visual representation of my weekly calendar for two weeks.

Then, the universe threw a second wrench that forced me to reflect on the newly created gaps in my schedule.

 

The Tarot’s Hanged Man

 

These incidents remind me of the tarot card The Hanged Man. One day you’re flying high and the next you’re hanged as a heretic by the State. In some old Italian decks, the card is named Il Traditore (The Traitor). The Hanged Man asks, “What if what I was so sure of is not right after all?” Further, “How have I been a “traitor” to my true Self?”

For the moment asks us to suspend the belief that we know best, while also releasing the fallacy that we are in control of anything. When we are asked to redo or turn back, can we look at reality from another angle? The card shows the Hanged Man’s feet above its haloed head. It could be a reminder to drop the intellect and for a moment put the body in a place of prominent importance.

In Sallie Nichols’ Tarot and the Archetypal Journey, the author quotes Swiss analytical psychologist Carl Jung:

“For the unconscious always tries to produce an impossible situation in order to force the individual to bring out his very best. Otherwise, one stops short of one’s best, one is not complete, one does not realize oneself.”

 

The Third Option

 

The Hanged Man hovers precariously over an abyss, tied by a foot, and framed by two trees. There are no good options, but one – abandoning any pretext of knowing what to do to surrender and wait for a potential third option.

Was my subconscious trying to force me into a third choice? When I reconsidered the schedule I’d originally put together, it didn’t have any space for the opportunities I was excited about. It had my ego written all over it. Days were filled with class after class that my ego fooled me into believing “only I am capable of teaching”. My swollen head left no space for the longings of my heart and body.

In Yoshi Yoshitani’s Tarot of the Divine, The Hanged Man is illustrated as the protagonist of the Italian folktale Sleeping Beauty and described as:

“Sleeping Beauty is a symbol of stasis; with the options of sleep or death, she chooses to wait for more favorable conditions.”

 

In a culture that asks us to always push toward the next heady goal, it’s hard to pump the breaks. Maybe we should be grateful for the times we’re forced to go back to the drawing board.

What are you being asked to review right now? How can you look at it from a different angle? Write me in the comments.