3 Hanged Man: Interpreting Tarot
Welcome to 3 Cards. Each month I take three tarot cards and look at how different decks bring in different meanings. That’s one of the things I love about tarot is how the creators play with themes and variations and we aim to explore that in this series.
This month is the Hanged Man, he’s what I call an of crap card. Most peeps are not real thrilled to see him pop up in a reading. But there is a lot that can happen when you step into this type of card. The change you get is profound and deep, you will not be the same after you work with the “shadow cards.”
These three decks have different slants again this month. They really do bring in different energies when working with this card. There’s not a lot of overlap in how I tend to interpret them or in the imagery.
Animalis Os Fortuna
The Hanged Man
This deck features a skeletal bat. It is hanging form a tree. It gives it a more natural state then other Hanged Men cards. This is the normal how can you find this normal in you and acknowledge that. This is just how you chill out, nothing to chop off here. It brings in a sense of exploration by not whacking parts off and discarding them. Sacrifice when you break the word down is about bringing in the sacred and doing it homage not giving things away.
Thought Prompt
How can you explore yourself without discarding parts of you? What if you need to see the behavior as part of you and not the foe?
Mythic Tarot the 80’s version
The Hanged Man
This deck features Prometheus. He’s the dude that taught humans to make fire and was punished for it. Prometheus gives us knowledge even though he knows there will be a price to pay for it. It is like when you want to know the truth of something but there is a price for knowing and you can’t go back to not knowing. Think partner cheating on you, you want to know put the price of that knowledge is going to hurt. The Hanged Man here accepts that hurt with grace.
Thought Prompt
What have you thought you wanted to know and didn’t realize the price? How would that have changed if you were willing to pay the price for that knowledge,to know it was not free?
Starchild Akashic Tarot
Perspective
This is a completely different take on this card. There is not feeling of I must get rid of something in order to move on. It has a feel of flowing with what you need and looking at things from different view points. The Hanged Man is a card of putting yourself into another shoes and feeling what they feel, empathizing with them to know what they are. It is a deep step into seeing all you do from different vantage points, not just other peoples. In a way it is bringing in self empathy to fully know how you feel.
Thought Prompt
Where do you need to step out of your normal view point? What would that do for you? How can seeing it from a different vantage point change the energy of it?
