The Hanged Man
The Hanged Man represents a period of suspension and spiritual awakening through sacrifice. This card indicates a disconnect between thoughts, plans, and reality, suggesting delays and stagnation. However, it also symbolizes the development of alternative perspective and inner vision. The card advises stopping to gain a different viewpoint on the world, as only through this pause can one understand what sacrifice is needed for transformation.
Keywords
Symbolism
One of the most unconventional Major Arcana cards in the deck, though the concept of the hanged figure is preserved. This deck itself represents reversed arcana, as we view it from death's perspective. Again, the skull symbolism represents strength and the concentration of this power. The lotus serves as a symbol of something pure, virginal, reaching toward light and enlightenment, as it stretches upward from the mud despite the still water and depths around it. The head separated from the body shows that our 'hanged man' has detached from this situation, from the world. He hangs suspended in this state of uselessness, freedom as punishment. Nothing holds him. The broken clock shows that everything, time itself, has completely stopped. The clock also contains a Mayan calendar, as if in a looking glass. The hole in the hanged man's forehead, like the socket of the 'third eye,' like the sun (this is the ego, our inner world), indicates that this is his path, his enlightenment, and he sees what is hidden. He unconsciously radiates this. The connection between the material and spiritual worlds is severed. He is his own executioner, both the initiator and consequence of his sacrifice. The fish also references the image of Christ, to self-sacrifice.
Card's Message
The arcanum shows that a person has a disconnect between thoughts, plans, and ideas—a lack of alignment. Delays, stagnation, misalignments occur. The person sees something different, an alternative meaning to what is happening.
Advice
The advice from this card is: Stop and manifest an alternative view of the world. Only in this way will you be able to understand what sacrifice is required from you for change.
Visual Description
A wooden gallows-like frame stands against a stormy sky; a skull with a single circular third-eye is suspended by a rope from the crossbeam. A headless, robed torso rises from water or a boat, its skeletal hands gripping the upright pole. Rain, wind-blown leaves and distant rocky hills fill the background while a water lily and small bones lie in the foreground. The card shows the printed title "THE HANGED MAN" along the bottom and the Roman numeral "XII" at the sides.
Santa Muerte tarot
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