Card XII, Major ArcanaThe Hanged Man tarot card meaning
Upright and reversedThe Hanged Man in shortIn short
The Hanged Man is a pause you choose. A man hangs by one ankle from a living tree, calm, light around his head. Stop pushing, let go, look from a new angle.
- Pause
- Surrender
- New view
Piece oneThe stillness
The background is almost empty: flat grey sky, no sun, no cloud, a thin strip of ground at the bottom. Nothing moves. Waite says the card holds deep meaning and veils all of it, and the blank grey gives nothing away.
"It is a card of profound significance, but all the significance is veiled."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe empty grey gives your eye nowhere to go but the man. Nothing in the background pushes the story forward, which suits a card about waiting. The living tree and the halo are the only signs that something is happening, and both happen inside the stillness.
Piece twoThe living tree
He hangs from a T-shaped cross of wood, and its branches still grow leaves. Waite says it plainly: the tree of sacrifice is alive.
"the tree of sacrifice is living wood, with leaves thereon"Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe tree turns a punishment into a choice. A dead gallows would mean an execution, and these leaves mean growth goes on while he hangs. The crossed legs and the bright halo say the same thing: life held still, with something ripening inside it.
Piece threeThe halo
A gold halo shines around his upside-down head. His face looks calm, almost dreamy. Waite reads it as deep trance, with no suffering in it.
"There is a nimbus about the head of the seeming martyr."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe halo shows his mind is awake while his body hangs. It sits at the lowest point of his body, so the light ends up where the head is, upside down. The rope at his ankle holds his body and can't reach this. It's the trance Waite describes, made visible.
Piece fourThe crossed legs
A rope ties one ankle. The other leg bends behind it in a cross, a fylfot cross in Waite's words. He says the figure is life on hold, still life.
"life in suspension, but life and not death"Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe bent leg turns the hanging into a pose. The rope holds one ankle, and the other leg crosses behind it on purpose, so the shape looks chosen. With the living tree above and the halo below, the legs say the same as the rest of the card: he's alive, and he's holding still.
Colour, and where else it appearsEchoes
-
The stillness
Soft pinkish grey over a strip of olive earth: the colour of a pause. The Eight of Swords has a grey sky too, behind a bound woman who can't move. The Hermit stands against a cool blue-grey, another empty ground for someone who has stepped away from the world. The Hanged Man's grey holds a man upside down and calm.
Also in -
The living tree
Fresh green leaves on brown bark, the one growing thing under that flat sky. In The Lovers a fruit tree stands behind the woman, a snake wound round its trunk. On The Star a small bird sits in a tree above the kneeling woman. The Hanged Man's tree carries no fruit and no bird, only leaves.
Also in -
The halo
Warm gold rays around pale yellow hair, the brightest spot on a grey card, set low. Rays like these spread from the huge face of The Sun. In The Lovers a big sun shines behind the angel. The Hanged Man wears his light the wrong way up, closest to the ground.
Also in -
The crossed legs
Red legs and yellow shoes, the warmest colours on the card, turned upside down. The World dancer crosses one leg behind the other in the same figure four, upright and moving. The Hanged Man holds the pose tied to a tree. At the end of the deck the dancer makes it free.
Also in
Colour notes are ours, read from the picture; Waite does not explain the colours.
The Hanged ManUpright
A pause you accept. Waite lists wisdom, circumspection, discernment, trials, sacrifice, intuition, divination, prophecy. Something is on hold, and you can't force it.
Stop struggling and look from the other side. Giving something up now may teach you more later. Waite calls it life in suspension. The waiting is alive.
The Hanged ManReversed
Waite's words: selfishness, the crowd, body politic. The quiet pause gives way to noise and to what everyone else wants.
You may be refusing to let go, sacrificing for the wrong reasons, or following the crowd to dodge a hard choice. Ask yourself what you're holding on to.
Yes or noNot yet.
Not yet. Everything's on hold. The answer comes once you let go of how you want it to go.
The Hanged Man in your lifeIn your life
Love
Things are on pause. Try seeing your partner differently. Let go of control and you may get closer.
Work
A project stalls, a decision waits. Rethink your approach while you wait.
Money
Hold off on big moves. A small sacrifice now can pay later.
Health
You may need rest and stillness. A card can't diagnose you; if something's wrong, see a doctor.
Spirituality
Strong for surrender, meditation, insight. Waite ties it to a great awakening.
Advice
Stop pushing. Wait, and turn the problem upside down.
As a person
Calm, unusual, spiritual. Sees the world differently and ignores the crowd. Sometimes stuck.
Past, present, future
Past: a pause or sacrifice that changed your view. Present: wait and let go. Future: a new way of seeing, after the wait.
Written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
Symbols and correspondencesAt a glance
- Number
- XII
- Hebrew letter
- Mem
- Element
- Water
- Element
- Water
- Upright
- Wisdom
- Reversed
- Selfishness
QuestionsCommon questions
No. It looks hard, but Waite says the face shows deep trance and no suffering. It's a pause that brings new understanding.
On hold. See each other in a new way. Waiting helps more than pushing.
Not yet. It's on hold.
He hangs by one ankle from a living tree, face calm, light around his head. Waite calls it life in suspension, and keeps its full meaning veiled.
Water, in the Golden Dawn system. Its Hebrew letter is Mem.
Waite calls The Hanged Man deep and veiled, life held in suspension. Understand it and you glimpse a great awakening: after the mystery of death comes resurrection.
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911Card meanings and quotes: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911. Hebrew letter, sign and element: the Golden Dawn's Book T. Colours, life situations, yes or no and questions: written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
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