Welcome the inauguration of a weekly global Tarot reading. I do the reading by asking a card to appear in my mind that represents the feeling of this day/week/time.
Like most artists, I am fascinated by metaphoric meaning and by the power of symbols. The Tarot is a rich source of symbolism, but more important, it uses the power of archetypes and metaphors to mine and access a deeper awareness. The game of Tarrochi played in the Middle Ages was a game to challenge and develop the players’ intellectual/emotional development, rather like the modern Brainiac games of today. Carl Jung once said that if he were left on a desert island and given only one item to take with him, he would choose the Tarot.
Today, I “pulled” The Hanging Man, number 12 in the Tarot. This is one of my favorite cards, a card that signifies a willingness to go inside, and set all old beliefs on their metaphorical heads. This card shows that you are on your way to turning your own world upside-down, changing your perspective, heralding a deep inner transformation.
This card is very appropriate for what is happening in the world today. Anyone interested in shifting global consciousness to a better, more equitable world is challenged these days to look closely beneath the turbulent surface and feel what is really happening at the deepest level.
If you physically turn yourself upside-down, the blood rushes to your head, challenging your heart, and refreshing your cells with new oxygen. The hanging man is feeling the same thing–he has playfully turned himself upside-down and now he sees the “underside” of the world with objective eyes.
If you have been listening to the news propaganda engine, or even to the alternative news sources, you may be seeing the dark underside of political maneuverings, wars initiated for the gain of the one percent, and nefarious banking schemes upsetting the global economy. All the hidden agendas of the global elite and their Machiavellian deals are coming out in the open. It’s sickening, you might feel dizzy, as if your world has suddenly turned topsy-turvy.
Many of us are not surprised, yet The Hanging Man shows us how to take the higher road. Instinctively we all know that deals with the devil are always bound to end this way. We don’t want more turbulence or even revenge. We may only be surprised at how long it has been taking for all this dark stuff to come out in the open.
The Hanging Man shows us that we are in a precious moment of pause and reflection. Notice the aura (halo) around the hanging man’s head. When you put your consciousness below your feet you are bound to illuminate some pretty interesting hidden agendas, but you also can see how your own unconscious behavior helps continue these agendas. It is time to look inward at oneself and make sure you have dotted all your “i’s.”
Carlos Castenada introduced the idea of “impeccability”–this means that instead of pointing out the wrongs and peccadilloes of the “other” you first look to how you are managing your own energy. Are you watching all your thoughts and emotions? Do you take responsibility for your moment-by-moment experience?
Lest this seem like too much work, remember that positive moods are actually easier to obtain and maintain. After all, it takes more muscles to frown than to smile. All you have to do is allow others their experience by detaching yourself from their agreements (their thoughts and emotions).
In numerology (the right hand of the Tarot) the number 12 is actually the number 3. Let’s say that the reality of the 1 is added to the 2 to produce the number 12. In this sense, the 12 looks like a more developed 3. In the Tarot, the 3 is The Empress, signifying the quintessential mother energy: nurturing and fertile. You can also say that the 12–The Hanging Man–is distilled down to its essence–or properly understood and integrated into the querent’s life–it becomes the natural 3, The Empress. If you experience The Hanging Man experience through the accompanying lesson of changing perspective and transcendance, you can then “own” the natural and easy creative manifestation powers of The Empress–the creative number 3.
While the 3–The Empress–represents the undeveloped fertile potential of your (and the world’s) consciousness, the 12 represents the addition of the conscious mind (the 1) to the 2.
In the Tarot, the 1 is The Magician, a potent figure representing conscious actualization. The Magician demonstrates the Hermetic axiom, “as above, so below” with his gesture. He knows how to access the full potential of all his magical tools, represented on his table and in his right hand: the Wand that he holds aloft for creative inspiration, the Sword for mental discernment and discipline, the Cup for emotional mastery, and the Pentacle for physical manifestation. The Magician shows the nascent Fool (the student of self-actualization) the 4-fold path of creative manifestation, represented by the four tools on his table and in his hand.
The 2 is The High Priestess, which represents the potential of the unconscious mind — intuition and the natural power of the activated and powerful feminine power. The High Priestess shows how you can tap the power of the Earth through your own intuition.
When the 1 of the conscious mind is married to the 2 of natural intuition, you obtain the “new view” and the enormous, revolutionary potential of The Hanged Man is suddenly revealed. This card signifies that the change is here, we are noticing it, and are able to transcend our old systems by changing our perspective. As we all do this together, we change the world for everyone, and set a new set-point of global consciousness.
The Hanging Man challenges us to view the world anew, and to set the world upside-down, while turning misguided values on their proverbial head. He shows us that our innate, natural values of love, tolerance and respect for the Earth are right, and are returning to us if we can only allow ourselves a bit of discomfort and reversals in public and personal affairs. After all, a couch potato only gets fatter, while an acrobat practices his art of creative view displacement in supple, joyful health. The Hanging Man teaches us to be flexible and ready for the change that always comes after an earth-shattering revelation: turning yourself upside-down certainly gives you a different point of view!
Exercise for the week: spend a little time upside-down. I like to bend backwards over the arm of the couch — this stretches my back delightfully. More advanced fun exercise: sit upside down in a chair (a heavy chair that won’t upset), with your back on the seat and your butt/thighs on the back of the chair. Hang your feet off the back.
(Really advanced players can try this on public park benches, for some nice reactions from passerby’s.)
Hanging Man definition from www.aeclectic.net:
With Neptune (or Water) as its planet, the Hanged Man is perhaps the most fascinating card in the deck. At #12, it is the opposite of the World card, #21. With the World card you go infinitely out. With the Hanged Man, you go infinitely in.
Some readers believe the Hanged Man reflects the story of Odin who offered himself as a sacrifice in order to gain knowledge. Hanging from the world tree, wounded by a spear, given no bread or mead, he dangled for nine days. On the last day, he saw on the ground runes that had fallen from the tree, understood their meaning, and, coming down, scooped them up for his own. All knowledge is to be found in these runes.
And still other readers like to point out that the Hanged Man is like that moment when a babe in the womb turns upside-down so that it may be born, hanging, as it were, from it’s umbilical cord.
The Hanged Man is similar to all of these: like Odin, he allows himself to be hung so that he can gain wisdom for the world. Like traitors of old, be sacrifices himself for a cause, and sees things from an “inverted” perspective. What is right to him is wrong to others and vice versa. And like the babe in the womb, the Hanged Man hangs suspended between one world (the womb) and the next (outside the womb).
via Meaning of the Hanged Man Tarot Card.
The Hanging Man: July 5th 2012 Tarot Reading | Parallel Mindzz.
Copyright 2012 Aliyah Marr
