The Symbolism of the Hanged Man [in the Tarot]
Introduction
Although the Tarot is used by some for fun and ‘fortune telling’,
it once had a key role in preserving mystic symbolism
- especially symbolism related to
The Great Work [see the Theatre video and the video Why are we here?]
and The Spiritual Path [see the videos relating to the Spiritual Path]
As the Hanged Man is a role or Archetype [see video on Archetypes]
it is one role that requires considerable sacrifice,
as one is a sort of go-between, half earthly and half heavenly,
swinging backwards and forwards between the two,
relaying revelations to those without this gift
- a prophet and a mystic and often a saint.
And indeed one has to ‘invert’ oneself - go from being
a totally spiritual being [like the Fool]
to a more earthly one [like the High Priestess]
- in order to fulfil the task given.
Some detail
The Hanged Man is the twelfth enigma in the Tarot pack.
The Tarot card depicts a figure hanging by one foot from a rope
tied to a cross bar [often Yellow see video]
generally supported by two leafless trees.
The first - very obvious - interpretation
is that the Hanged Man is someone
who does not live the ordinary life of this earth.
J. E. Cirlot
It is said that the Hanged Man hangs from his own doctrine,
to which he is attached to such an extent
that his entire being hangs upon it.
The two trees between which he hangs are related
- like anything that is connected with the numerical symbolism 2
- to the Boaz and Jachin pillars of the Cabala.
They may be coloured green tending to blue
- nature tending towards heaven.
The Hanged Man's clothing may be red and white,
these being the mystical colours of the two headed eagle
of the alchemists [see video Contrast]
The card is related to the Sephirot.
The Hanged Man is the central column of the mystic's path.
But he has had to invert himself
in order to bring his message down from heaven [Keter]
to Earth [Malkhut] in an attempt to encourage
more people to ascend on the spiritual path
and this is where there is real mentally painful sacrifice,
as he has had to invert his naturally spiritual self
- in order to get near enough to earth to deliver the revelations
he has discovered from the gods.
Odin was a ‘Hanged Man’ [and a Falcon]
- In this extract from the Poetic Edda,
Odin is sacrificed - in fact he sacrifices himself -
on the tree Yggdrasil, in order to gain knowledge of runes
[see video What does Sacrifice really mean?]
The Poetic Edda - from Sayings of the High One
I know that I hung on a windy tree nine long nights
wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin myself to myself
on that tree of which no man knows
from where its roots run
No bread did they give me nor a drink from a horn
downwards I peered;
I took up the runes, screaming I took them
then I fell back from there
Variations on the theme - Crowley
Aleister Crowley’s Tarot card combines the Ankh symbol
- the key to heaven,
with an interesting combined image of the Sun and a halo
[see video Sun]
A sort of variation of an Orb
- but with the symbols of crucifixion/sacrifice,
even down to the nails of Plato.
Turn this card round and it is very clear his legs make the number 4
and it is the only Tarot design to do so.
Meaning that Crowley wanted to include
an additional facet of this archetype,
that he believed needed to be included
Whether Crowley intended this or not,
there are indeed some interesting parallels to be drawn
with the ‘Type 4 ‘ person in the Enneagram,
who tends to be creative, sensitive
and somewhat withdrawn from everyday life.
The Hanged Man is also the ‘wing’ of the Achiever and Motivator,
number 3.
And as long as this Number 3 realises he has a sensitive,
other worldly artistic creative soul on his left hand,
and helps that person to distribute his gifts,
a perfect partnership is forged.
The Hanged Man won't want anything for it,
he'll be happy to see that it helps someone,
and that his gift is being recognised and his wisdom and insight
carried through to some final accessible end ‘product’.
And indeed if the person is a true Hanged Man
- bringing revelations and heavenly messages to earth,
number 5 - The Thinker - becomes essential as well.
And he will find on his left hand a wise old Hermit - a sort of Merlin,
- who will take him under his wing and refine his ideas,
shelter him from derision,
and turn what may look like utter nonsense into a working theory.
In one of those strange quirks,
the key to heaven is often the very one you might least expect
- the meekest, the quietest, the simplest.
A sort of Piglet and Pooh bear combined.
And the energy is always feminine
even though the person may be a man or a child or a dog!
Variations on the theme - Oswald Wirth
Oswald Wirth wrote a commentary on his pack of cards
and he indicates that one key differentiator of the Hanged Man
is his passive recognition and obedience to powers greater than himself
“Where the Magus claims to command,
the Mystic aspires only to obey”.
The Tarot of the Magicians - Oswald Wirth
English translation 1985 Samuel Weiser.
the personality has given up the exaltation of its natural energies,
and far from behaving as if at the centre of autonomous action,
it is effaced in order to undergo in a docile fashion, outside influences.
The Hanged Man ..., is convinced that he is nothing but an empty shell.
His passive renunciation
puts him at the service of whatever acts upon him.
He hands himself over with a foot and arms bound.
... free only in his right leg which he bends behind the left
to form a cross above the upturned triangle outlined by his arms and head.
The whole representation thus reminds me of the alchemic sign
of the Accomplishment of the Great Work ...
And this is the Orb [and sceptre].
A symbol representing our part in the Great Work and our destiny.
So that when we reach the end of the spiritual path,
we are, figuratively speaking, a ‘King’ or ‘Queen’
and receive an Orb and sceptre.
The Orb [Island and Aura - see video] is divided into two
- the Subconscious and the Conscious self - and it is usually made of gold.
Above the egg shaped ‘Mortal soul’, is a Cross,
symbol of the Immortal soul [or Higher spirit],
the Christus in us all. [see also video on Palaces and Crowns]
Wirth [continued]
... The Hanged Man does not tread the earth on which mortals
find their support, for properly speaking,
he is not an earthly being, for material reality escapes him;
he lives in the dream of his ideality.
This is the doctrine which the Hanged Man has made his own,
to which he adheres to the point of being hanged from it
with his whole person.
It concerns a very high religious conception,
too sublime for the mass of mortals to attain,
an ideal, moreover, too high to be realized in the practical sense.
It is the religion of the elite souls, a tradition
superior to the teaching of Churches and of confessions
which accommodate themselves to human weakness.
The Hanged Man is bound, not as an instinctive or blind believer,
but as a wise man who has discerned the vanity
of individual ambitions and has understood the wealth
of the heroic sacrifice which aspires towards total oblivion of self.
Moreover, it is not the conquest of heaven
that the Hanged Man aspires to, his head being turned towards the Earth.
It is saying that his preoccupations are earthly
and he is devoted to the good of others,
to the redemption of poor humans,
the victims of their own ignorance and selfish passions.
And it is why he has this serene, carefree appearance,
- the calm and smiling face of the Hanged Man, a strange sufferer
whose bound arms are holding a bag from which fall gold and silver coins
- the spiritual treasures accumulated by the Initiate
who has enriched himself intellectually. Holding to nothing,
he scatters liberally the gold of the just ideas
which he has been able to formulate
and the gold of precious knowledge which he has striven to acquire
(Gold, Spirit, Reason).
He is no less liberal with his affection, with his kind feelings
and his good will, symbolized by the silver coins
scattered on his left (Silver, Soul, Sensitivity).
Kabir
Between the conscious and the unconscious,
the mind has put up a swing
All earth creatures, even the supernovas,
swing between these two trees and it never winds down
Angels, animals, humans, insects by the million,
also the wheeling sun and moon
Ages go by and it goes on
Everything is swinging; heaven, earth, water, fire
And the secret one slowly glowing,
Kabir saw that for 15 seconds and it made him a servant for life