The Hanged Man can be seen to symbolize many profound qualities, among them submission (particularly to the will of God or the creative force), martyrdom, sacrifice and even the spent sexual force post coitus – having pleasured Justice he rests, the personification of his used energies, content and dormant.
The Waite card hints at this reading, suspending the man from a ‘T’-shaped cross that indicates the union of the sexes, though the overwhelming message that resonates is one of temporary death: the man has found rest, yet holds within him the means to rise again with new life (and given his upside-down hanging, it is hinted that he will bear with him a new and more revelatory perspective of existence).
Leaves are seen to emerge from the gibbet, which further enforces the concept of renewed life – as Winter turns to Spring, the seeds of new life spring forth from the impermanent decay of darker days, and the eternal cycle turns once more. The void, cold and for some terrifying in its emptiness, is implanted with the means to generate, and untold potential heralds hope, and visions of beauty and great meaning.
Frazer’s sacrificial god is implicit here – whether understood as Osiris, Attis or Christ, this is the mortal who has been granted a glimpse of that which lies beyond, returned to us with wisdom and power that is unrivalled in its worth and majesty. Even the Norse Odin knew to hang from the tree to gain occult knowledge, and we are reminded that we must give something of ourselves, allow ourselves the faith to let go, surrender what we are and what we believe and open our eyes to that which surrounds us but normally goes unseen, if we are to know true wisdom.
The Golden Dawn system associates the Hanged Man with water, as that substance offers the inverted reflection of our world to us as we gaze upon it. This also suggests a link with the emotional and spiritual worlds – the deeper mind of the subconscious – that tells us to look beyond that which we understand to be normal, rational and physical…
There is more within us, but we must overturn the apparent order and risk something of ourselves if we are to discover it. It will not be found in any other way, and success can only be met with that sacrifice of relenting our grasp on all that we think that we know.
Older interpretations of the card suggest that this is forbidden knowledge (Judas and Prometheus are two associated figures in this line), but with the relative spiritual freedom of the modern age has come the understanding, and indeed hope, that to strive for such knowledge is not a sin but a requisite and fundamental need, if a being is to progress and experience the glorious vision that is Ultimate Truth.
There is risk to the Self in this process, and few can appreciate the terror of subverting what they themselves are, and the world around them, in order to understand the greater mysteries, but the serenity and apparently latent energy of the Hanged Man, content to simply be without strain or fight against that which has been revealed to be trivial, shows the immense rewards that can be had if we surrender, have faith, and make that beautiful sacrifice.
