You arrive at the path of wisdom through self-sacrifice… The Hanged Man represents the path of self-sacrifice and a crossroads. He is not ready to let go of something, so he stays in self-sacrifice and enters a period of stagnation where nothing is gained or lost.
The Hanged Man is ruled by Neptune, the planet of spirituality, escapism, abstract thinking, illusion, delusion, intuition, and other areas of your life where things aren’t always what they seem.
The Major Arcana Represents Major Life Lessons: If the Hanged Man comes out on the first card of your reading in the positive position, you need to bring a situation to a halt before you make a mistake and learn a new lesson. You need a temporarily time in suspension to figure something out, or you need time in solitude to bring an important goal to completion. If the Hanged Man shows up in the outcome of the reading in a positive position, you need to wait something out, and your patience is required, but you also need to have faith that your time of hanging in suspension is only temporary.
You may be hanging in suspension because you betrayed someone or they betrayed you. Either way you are separated from the life that you once had, or stuck in sadness, and experiencing regret.
The Story Of The Hanged Man Tarot Card
The Hanged Man is enumerated twelve, a higher octave, and an indicator of great understanding, wisdom, and knowledge learned from life experiences.
During the phase of the number twelve, although you find calm in the midst of the greatest turbulence, you must learn how to let go of people or situations that cause you harm. This phase may trigger a form of depression caused by a feeling of loss from traumatic learning experiences.
The Hanged Man dangles from a strong oak tree by one foot, his face devoid of all signs of struggle. His blue shirt represents his thoughts about his present situation. He is ill-prepared to release what he must release, his thoughts consume him and complicate his feelings. The gray background suggests the lack of clarity in his situation.
His red leggings and belt symbolize masculinity, passion, power and an inner fire that he strives to tame through calmness. The oak tree symbolizes courage, endurance and a strong power of faith. He hangs as a sacrifice, the rope symbolizing his imprisonment and the green ivy symbolizing his binding restriction and sacrifice made to find the answers that elude him.
Paralyzed, his own desires are unclear to him, a stagnation also symbolized by his crossed legs and their reference to a crossroads where the indicated direction is uncertain.
His yellow shoes and the sunburst represent strength, creativity and the enlightenment needed to resolve the restrictions that bar his every step.
My Interpretation Of The Hanged Man Tarot Card
The Hanged Man depicts a man hanging upside-down, suspended by his leg rather than by his neck. Neither pain nor remorse nor anger troubles him as he simply hangs in place. The Hanged Man is a card of self-sacrifice, a relinquishment that is necessary to achieve what is truly desired. When the Hanged Man is not ready to let go, he stays in self-sacrifice and enters a period of stagnation where nothing is gained or lost.
Change and reevaluation are required to exit the state of limbo and uncertainty. Such change can be very difficult, especially when it concerns the affairs of the heart. Mixed emotions may plague you with fear of making the wrong choice. Yet the Hanged Man is about letting go and giving up. As painful as this may seem, release is necessary to overcome your restrictions.
This card can also imply a time when everything just stands still – a time of rest and reflection before progress. The Hanged Man also signifies a time of insight so deep that, for a moment, nothing but that insight exists as you seek clarity to see the real solution. The Hanged Man symbolizes such moments of suspension and requires a sacrifice of a cherished belief or perspective. You cannot gain by staying in the past. If you do not let go, you live in sacrifice.
Positive Position: This position represents that you are in a temporary suspension. You are at the crossroads, stuck in self-sacrifice, and not ready to let go for a reason.
Negative Position: You are hanging in suspension and not ready to let go. There might be a stubbornness that keeps you in suspension, or you might feel like a victim (tricked or duped), or you might need help from a professional to let go of something that is not working for you, or continues to hurt you.
Timing is 1 – 30 days
Source: Lotus Tarot
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