The Hanged Man

The Meaning of the Hanged Man

Major Arcana Tarot Card in Readings

The Tarot Hanged Man card meaning in a nutshell:

Great personal sacrifice
that still doesn't hurt much.

Archetype:
Martyr - sacrifice.
       The Tarot Hanged Man card is about personal sacrifice,
of course. But this figure seems not to be broken, although
hanging upside-down. He will bounce right back, as soon as
he manages to get free. It's not that he heals easily. The Tarot
Hanged Man is one of the few who is not hurt to begin with,
as if invulnerable. Maybe that's what tempts other people to
use him as a scapegoat.

       The Tarot Hanged Man has a halo, and not a small one at
that. Hanging from the wooden structure it makes him look a
bit like Jesus on the cross. The martyr. He's probably hanging
upside-down not to bear too much resemblance to Christ.
That would have been blasphemy in the time when this
image took its shape.

       There's a parallel to the Tarot image of the Hanged Man

in the early history of the Christians. The disciple Peter was
crucified and asked to be done so upside-down, according to
some old sources, because he felt unworthy of the same death
as his master. Here's a painting of it by Caravaggio, made in
1601:

The Crucifixion of Peter. According to the legend, the disciple asked

to be crucified upside-down, feeling unworthy of dying exactly the
same way Jesus did. Painting by Caravaggio, 1601.
  But the Tarot Hanged Man is a martyr that neither dies nor
suffers that tremendously. He has a way of shaking it off, the
essence of which is his unharmed belief in the universal
power of good. An optimist, indeed. Someone who loves life
so much that he sees the light of it and not its shadows.

       When victimized by other people, and that happens

frequently, the Hanged Man doesn't feel like a victim. When
exposed to envy or even hate, he sees beyond it and pities the
people who are so aggravated. The Hanged Man may even
blame himself, but not for long. He has trust in all of
mankind, however hard reality might whip him.

       So, in a Tarot reading the Hanged Man card indicates a

sacrifice, maybe even a big one, but it will not be harmful at
length. You will come out of it on top. Like they say: what
doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and in this case happier,
too.

The Hanged Man Card as a Person

If the Tarot Hanged Man card refers to a person, which it
often is, it is someone who is willing to make the sacrifice
needed for things to find their solution - even if that sacrifice
is completely unrewarded. It is an attitude worth admiring,
but people tend to do so only secretly, keeping it to
themselves. That may be out of guilt, knowing they should
have volunteered to make that sacrifice.

The Hanged Man Card as an Event

If the Tarot Hanged Man card in your divination spread
refers to an event, which is not that common, then it is one
where a personal sacrifice is needed. It may be yours or
someone else's. The question is who is prepared to accept
making it. If no one does, there will be no solution. If one
does, whoever it is, things will be fine - for everyone but the
person making the sacrifice. Life is not always fair. The
consolation for the one making the sacrifice, if anyone does, is
personal satisfaction. That's quite something.
The Hanged Man Card as You
If the Tarot Hanged Man card has a position in the spread
referring to you, it means you are the one readily making any
sacrifice needed - either in the present situation, or as a
constant personality trait. You have no fear of becoming the
martyr, so to speak. Others will admire you for it (without
telling either you or anyone else), but they will also urge you
on to make your sacrifice, whenever the situation is such that
there is something to gain from it - for all or just for them.
Don't make your sacrifice for any little thing.

The Hanged Man According to A. E. Waite

The Meaning of the Hanged Man Tarot Card in
Divination
Here is what the occultist Arthur Edward Waite, co-creator
of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, had to say about the Hanged
Man Major Arcana card in divination.

The Hanged Man Tarot Card

12. The Hanged Man. This is the symbol which is supposed
to represent Prudence, and Eliphas Levi says, in his most
shallow and plausible manner, that it is the adept bound by
his engagements.
       The figure of a man is suspended head-downwards from
a gibbet, to which he is attached by a rope about one of his
ankles. The arms are bound behind him, and one leg is
crossed over the other.

       According to another, and indeed the prevailing

interpretation, he signifies sacrifice, but all current meanings
attributed to this card are cartomancists' intuitions, apart
from any real value on the symbolical side.

       The fortune-tellers of the eighteenth century who

circulated Tarots, depict a semi-feminine youth in jerkin,
poised erect on one foot and loosely attached to a short stake
driven into the ground.

Inner Symbolism of the Tarot Hanged Man Card

The gallows from which he is suspended forms a Tau cross,
while the figure - from the position of the legs - forms a fylfot
cross. There is a nimbus about the head of the seeming
martyr. It should be noted:
       (1) that the tree of sacrifice is living wood, with leaves
thereon;

       (2) that the face expresses deep entrancement, not

suffering;

       (3) that the figure, as a whole, suggests life in suspension,

but life and not death.

       It is a card of profound significance, but all the

significance is veiled. One of his editors suggests that Eliphas
Levi did not know the meaning, which is unquestionable nor
did the editor himself. It has been called falsely a card of
martyrdom, a card a of prudence, a card of the Great Work, a
card of duty; but we may exhaust all published
interpretations and find only vanity.

       I will say very simply on my own part that it expresses

the relation, in one of its aspects, between the Divine and the
Universe.

       He who can understand that the story of his higher

nature is imbedded in this symbolism will receive intimations
concerning a great awakening that is possible, and will know
that after the sacred Mystery of Death there is a glorious
Mystery of Resurrection.

Divinatory Meaning of the Tarot Hanged Man Card

Wisdom, circumspection, discernment, trials, sacrifice,
intuition, divination, prophecy.
Reversed: Selfishness, the crowd, body politic.