THE HANGING MAN
This week’s Purple Swan Tarot Blog Post card is, THE HANGING MAN. He means suspended movement. Surrender. A period of waiting. Taking a break from the daily grind and material pursuits. A period of stasis. A time to do nothing. Waiting for enlightenment. Seeking something deeper. Letting go.
When we receive THE HANGING MAN in our Tarot Reading, we are looking for answers. We have been caught up in the material side of life. Striving for bigger and better things. More money, a better job, a promotion, a bigger house, a better car, a new look or an updated wardrobe. We are trying to keep up with the Jone’s. Doing retail therapy to fill the emptiness or make us feel whole. No matter what we do or how much we gain, it still seems we never have enough. We still find we are struggling for fulfillment and we are constantly striving for more. It’s a dog eat dog world out there and we have been spending our time, effort, and money to make sure we get our take of the pie. And still it doesn’t fill us up inside.
THE HANGING MAN has swung into our reading this week to let us know it is time to slow down and do a little soul searching. This ‘Gotta’ get ahead, ‘I can do it myself’ mentality is taking it’s tole on us and the pace has become too much to sustain. We may have even finally gotten what we thought we wanted or needed. We thought it would fulfill us and we would be happy now that we achieved our wishes. But instead, we feel empty or let down somehow. Perhaps it was the chase we really enjoyed and the carrot at the end of the string was irrelevant after all. It all seems so superficial and unsatisfying now, and the yearning in our soul didn’t go away like we thought it would. What we thought was going to be the answer to our problems or the cure to our emptiness, didn’t pan out after all.
THE HANGING MAN is now looking for something deeper to answer the yearning in his soul. He has chosen to suspend his chase for more material things. To surrender to a higher power. To look towards the heavens for enlightenment and fulfillment. If you look closely at the picture, you can see that the chains around his legs are loose. They are only supporting him, and he can get down and walk away any time he chooses. He has chosen to ‘hang around’; no one is holding him against his will or making him stay. He has surrendered his troubles to a higher power and is waiting patiently for answers and enlightenment. He is no longer looking to worldly things to make him feel whole, but is instead looking towards ‘the Light’. He has finally realized it is time to stop his struggling and you can too. Do you have issues or emptiness you have been struggling with? Have been trying in vain to solve these yourself or to bury them, run from them, buy them away? It’s time to stop running, engaging in retail therapy or self-soothing. We don’t have to do it alone or carry our burdens by ourselves anymore. Stop your worrying, your scurrying, your striving. Slow down, take a breath. Just hang out for awhile. Hand your burdens and your heavy heart to the Lord. Surrender… let go and let God.
Illustration by Ciro Marchetti, from the Gilded Tarot Royale , by Barbara Moore, C. 2020, Published by Llewellyn Publications, a division of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd., 2143 Wooddale Drive, Woodbury, MN 55125-2989.
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