I haven’t touched on this card for awhile. It’s an energy that comes easily to me so I don’t tend to focus on it very much. But one peep has this as her Tarot Card Of The Year so let’s take a good look at it shall we.

Glancing at the card you can see a man hanging upside down off a strange looking tree. One of the meanings of this card is thus…hanging around. Waiting for something to shift. This can be a frustrating energy to live with especially if you are impatient like I am. (Thus the universe has gifted me a lifetime’s worth of lessons in waiting…for the right partner, to finish a book finally etc etc etc, lol.)

The Hanged Man doesn’t look comfortable does he? And yet even though he is twisted up in knots he doesn’t seem too bothered by the strange position he finds himself in. There is no struggle, more like resignation. If anything, he looks like he is away with the pixies, meditating maybe. (Might be all that blood rushing to his head!)

There is a myth associated with The Hanged Man. It is the story of Odin. Odin was a North European god who hung himself on a tree in a sacrificial ritual which was meant to revitalize him. After many days had passed he noticed some stones with magical writing lying beneath him. With a great deal of effort he managed to grab one and was immediately released from the tree.

What are the themes here?

Being pushed outside your comfort zone

Making sacrifices

Resignation

Reflection

Waiting for a sign

Feeling yourself revitalized by making a shift (often a shift in opinion, the blood does rush to the man’s head after all!)

The Hanged Man is that niggling emotional state you can’t shake when you know something in your life has to change, you’re just not always sure what or how. But in your search to discover that something you will need to move out of your comfort zone and make some kind of sacrifice.

It is the card of preparing to move house or leave your partner, pregnancy and home renovations. When everything in your world can be literally turned upside down.

Can you relate?