Tarot 12 - The Hanged Man

Upright - The Hanged Man upright is about new perspectives, sacrifices, vulnerability and selflessness. This is a card about suspension, not life or death. This is a time of trial or meditation, selflessness, sacrifice, prophecy. Stop resisting; instead make yourself vulnerable, sacrifices your position or opposition, and in doing so, you gain illumination. This card can also imply a time when everything just stands still, a time of rest and reflection before moving on. Things will continue on in a moment, but for now, they float, timeless.

Upside-down - Ironically, the Hanged Man upside-down is right-side-up. There is no sacrifice, no new insight. This suggests that whatever you are hoping to see, achieve, or do, or perhaps need to do, you cannot do. If we follow the mantra of "no pain, no gain" then you are not willing to suffer the pain--or not able to suffer the pain...and so there is no gain.

Creature – Bahamut is a vast fish that supports the earth in Arabian mythology, described as so immense that a human cannot bear its sight; "all the seas of the world, placed in one of the fish's nostrils, would be like a mustard seed laid in the desert." This enormous fish carries a bull on its head; the bull bears a rock, and above the rock is an angel who carries the seven stages of the earths. Beneath Bahamut is an abyss of air, then fire, and beneath that is Falak. Falak is a giant snake that wants to swallow all creation, but is stopped from doing so by the Bahamut, which protects the world at the request of God.

Card Back [link]
0 The Fool [link]
1 The Magician [link]
2 The High Priestess [link]
3 The Empress [link]
4 The Emperor [link]
5 The High Priest [link]
6 The Lovers [link]
7 The Chariot [link]
8 Strength [link]
9 The Hermit [link]
10 Wheel of Fortune [link]
11 Justice [link]
12 The Hanged Man [link]
13 Death [link]
14 Temperance [link]
15 The Devil [link]
16 The Tower [link]
17 The Star [link]
18 The Moon [link]
19 The Sun [link]
20 Judgment [link]
21 The World [link]