Hangin' with The Hanged Man

[Mark Foot]

I agree with most interpretations. The Hanged Man does imply sacrifice, or postponement, which sometimes can be really painful (depending on the following cards). However, I use the Marseilles deck, which also signifies debt or unnecessary spending, or even forgotten bills.  As long as he is upside down and his hands are chained, whatever falls from his pockets cannot be retrieved.

 

In other versions of the Marseilles deck this is even more explicit

 

[-fenrir-]

On 3/16/2019 at 7:03 PM, libra said:

One of the most commonly quoted meanings for The Hanged Man is “a change of perspective” - but, I’m going to put forward the opposite view as an alternate way of looking at the card.

 

See, to me, having the card mean that you need to look at the situation from a different point of view has felt like a shallow understanding based  solely on him being upside down.  I feel like the reason he’s upside down is being missed - he’s been hung, strung up for his beliefs or actions. And despite that, he has a look of peace, of enlightenment. To me, none of this says that he has changed his way of thinking. Out of that peace, I see him coming to terms with being veiwed as wrong, with being an outsider and punished. He’s got a level of clarity and understanding that gives him inner peace even when it seems that the world is agaisnt him.

This makes me think of the story of the Well of Madness from Veronica decides to die (except for the end where the king decides to give up his sanity to be like the others of course).

https://paulocoelhoblog.com/2013/05/15/the-well-of-madness/

 

I think the parallels to body supension rituals shouldn't go unmentioned here too, as they connect to some of the different meanings we discussed here: The Sundance or o-kee-pa were (at least from what I've read) seen as self-sacrifices (there are a few NA members here, please correct me if I'm off base here), today it's sometimes used to enter an altered state of consciousness (which could count as change of perspective too) - and it surely goes completely against the prevailing opinion (of what you should or shouldn't do to your body etc).

 

I dont think I've ever seen someone supending in "Hanged Man Pose" though.

 

(OT: if anyone here already did a suspension, I'd love to hear your stories )