Upright: The Hanged Man is an interesting and complex card. After the motion and activity of the Wheel of Fortune which directly contrasts the sudden stop and standstill of The Hanged Man, justice has tied him up to force him to contemplate what has happened. This card is all about suspension. The Hanged Man also reminds us that sometimes, no matter what we do, life will do as it will. It doesn't matter how much we push and pull at it, it will do whatever it wants and we merely have to go along with it. This can make us feel powerless but The Hanged Man is really here to remind us that sometimes we have to stop, stand still and focus.
Sometimes struggling against what life throws at you is pointless and we should save our energies and just wait it out; let it go. Resistance will only serve to deplete our energy and won't make any difference to the situation at hand anyway so why not just let it go?
When we take a closer look and analyse the image of the man we see that he is not scared, he is not worried or upset, he is calm, serene, in a state of tranquil contemplation at the situation. You could even go as far as to say that the glowing halo around his head could represent the lightbulb going on in his mind as he surveys his life and contemplates his situation. He is learning valuable lessons from his situation, lessons he know he needs to learn to be able to continue along his path without too many roadblocks that could have been prevented had he only stopped and reflected on his experiences.
The Hanged Man is a person who once often felt like he was the victim, being punished by life but now, from his new viewpoint, he can see the lessons he must learn and the positives behind the experiences. He is taking advantage of his position to go deep within himself and look into his subconscious and develop his higher-self. Here he is able to undergo a period of wonderful self-development and enjoy a time of tranquil improvement of his inner self.
Another underlying focus of The Hanged Man is sacrifice; the sacrifice of our own wants, dreams and desires in favour of the bigger picture or the needs of someone else. Here there can be a clash of feeling as though he has been sacrificed by others for their own desires, or that he has sacrificed himself for the greater good. There's a paradox of victimisation and martyrdom. This is where this card can be connected to giving and helping others and foregoing your own desires in order to help those you care for achieve their own, or even to volunteer work.
If we examine The Hanged Woman as it appears in the Manga Tarot deck we can clearly see the presence of the element of water here. The fact that she is standing on her head to meditate under the waterfall makes us really think about the spiritual development and sense of enlightenment that this card brings.
The Hanged Man draws your attention to the fact that your life is just not going the way you planned, no matter what you do, and trying to force things will only do yourself and your plans harm. It's time to step back and look outside yourself at the bigger picture. Stop, look around and just allow life to continue and go along with whatever it throws at you. You need to adapt to the changes that life is going to make and look at them objectively and not in a negative light. Such is life and you just have to live with it. Getting upset and angry at things you cannot change will only make you feel worse; you can either get upset and angry about it or you can grown and change and learn from it.
Learn to enjoy this time of suspension. Enjoy being able to allow life to take its course. Time spent going within and reflecting on your experiences will allow you to get in touch with your spirituality, your higher-self. There is a sense that you will be experiencing insight so deep that the world around you seems to disappear for a moment, all that's left is you contemplating that insight. This idea that the world disappears from around you signifies the fact that this card is also showing you a sense of sacrifice; to receive you must give, even if it's the fact you are giving yourself up to the world, opening yourself up to the forces of nature, to gain truths and different perspectives.
People can find The Hanged Man because it symbolises so much paradoxical thought in our lives. It's a very contradictory card at it's core and symbolises the paradox of life. It presents us with truth by hiding it within the opposites. To uncover these truths we must let go and surrender to our past experiences and learn lifes lessons. We must reflect on what has been and see where we might have missed valuable experience we need to progress. At this point in our lives we can only move forward by standing still.
Reversed: A big theme of this card when it is in it's reversed position is obsession with the material concerns, to the point that your spirituality and higher self is compromised. Your need for control has clouded your vision to see that there is no winning here and so you are depleting your own energy reserves by fighting a fight you cannot win. You have lost your ability to listen to your inner voice because the noise of your fighting is drowning it out.
Your inability to heed the warnings and learn the lessons that are coming your way in life has seen you repeating the same mistakes over and over again and this will continue until the lesson has finally been learnt. Imagine that The Hanged Man is beating you over the head with these lessons until he finally knocks some sense into you!
The reversal of this card could also mean that you are so tied up with other things right now that you are unable to sit and contemplate for any period of time. You desperately want to be able to stop and reflect upon your life but you're so busy that you cannot afford such luxuries.
Hanging on to things that have already passed could be another problem associated with this card. For example you may be holding on to a relationship that is clearly not working, but instead of trying to fix, or getting out whilst you still can, you are holding on to your own detriment. The reversal of this card sees you fighting against your inner-self and this fight is exhausting you. It's bringing you down and making you unable to see the positives in life. Instead of reflecting on the good parts of your life and the lessons learned from the mistakes you have made, all you can see are the negative connotations to your downfalls instead of trying to see the glass as being half full.
The reversal of this card is crying out to you to stop. Take a breath and really dig deep inside yourself to find inner peace and re-establish your higher-self.
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