29 August 2013

The Hanged Man and Homemade Prayer Flags

I've been thinking about the hanged man in tarot lately. For a string of questions about decisions to be made, he would show up somewhere in the spread. This is what he looks like:




My understanding from interpretations I have read is that he is hanging from his own free will. He is voluntarily gaining a new perspective of his surroundings. Things had gotten stale and stuck with the current vision, so he has flipped to see what he's been missing. Gathering information. The halo around his head stands for enlightenment- he has found his way in this pose. Know what else I just thought of? How he is detaching. Asking us to detach from our perspectives and expectations, to find actual truth.

THM is also a paradoxical card- doing the opposite of what seems natural to do. It is not natural to most to flip and do the opposite of your reaction, but sometimes our reactions are simply that, and do not help us to find resolution in our queries and problems.

How I've seen this as a lesson in my own life- when I'm frustrated or irritated with someone close to me, and my reaction is to distance myself, or back away, instead, doing the opposite. Instead of creating more distance, offering up peace. Talking. Putting energy in while stepping away from my emotions.

Not that I'm saying to neglect your intuition in a toxic relationship, or anything. Far from it. Just telling how I have seen THM play out for me. And I know it's only the tip of the iceberg, that there are many other ways I can expand my vision to help me move forward with this decision making process that seems overwhelming to me. :) Sometimes I feel frustrated when I see this card- I AM trying to expand my perspective and get more info! WHY isn't it working? Sometimes I get caught up in and distracted by questions rather than just moving toward what I want.


Oh, and for those of you who were following the post about altars and such, I wanted to share a photo of prayer flags my son and I made together. It was SUPER easy to do, just construction paper with whatever we wanted drawn or painted on them, taped onto string, which is taped to the wall. Easy peasy. :)



I'd love to hear about your thoughts/experiences with The Hanged Man! xo

2 comments:

  1. I'm still learning Tarot so I think I'm understanding what you are saying about The Hanged Man. Now my normal inclination has been to do the opposite of what you do...merge right in and try to fix it. When what I need to do is distance myself so that I can look at the entire situation from a different vantage point to be able to see what really needs to be done...if anything.



    Kinda like when you've dropped something small and you crawl all over the floor trying to find this little thing, grab the flashlight and you still can't find it...after and hour or so of searching. So you give up looking, going off to do something else. Then you come back into this room for something else unrelated to what you were looking for earlier and there it is...a few feet from where you dropped it.

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  2. Sounds like Aries and Virgo, jumping in and helping! :)


    And that's the perfect metaphor! I love that.

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