I am the Hanged Man
Originally published at The Mossy Skull. Please leave any comments there.
Normally I would not be propagating some inane online categorization quiz, purely for the purposes of not wasting your time, gentle reader, or my own. I also must disclaim that I know and care little for astrology and believe less. There are just too many other far more interesting and obscure newagey systems for analyzing the underlying fabric of the universe for me to waste my time worrying what month everybody was born in and whether I should hang out with them or not as a result.
The Tarot, on the other hand… well I’m not sure what it is about the Tarot, except that it’s based on these archetypal symbols. I suppose you could call them prepackaged monumental metaphor. And the great thing about it is that it can be tailored to the individual. Find an artist you love and construct an inner cosmology, and there you have it, in a tangible form you can shuffle or mark your place in books with or flick one by one across the room into a hat. Maybe this is why you find me marking all my books with Magic cards.
Anyhow, the outcome of this particular inane quiz just made me so damn psyched, just fit so well my ideal conception of myself, that I had to put it up.
You are the Hanged Man
Self-sacrifice, Sacrifice, Devotion, Bound.
With the Hanged Man there is often a sense of fatalism, waiting for something to happen. Or a fear of loss from a situation, rather than gain.
The Hanged Man is perhaps the most fascinating card in the deck. It reflects the story of Odin who offered himself as a sacrifice in order to gain knowledge. Hanging from the world tree, wounded by a spear, given no bread or mead, he hung for nine days. On the last day, he saw on the ground runes that had fallen from the tree, understood their meaning, and, coming down, scooped them up for his own. All knowledge is to be found in these runes.
The Hanged Man, in similar fashion, is a card about suspension, not life or death. It signifies selflessness, sacrifice and prophecy. You make yourself vulnerable and in doing so, gain illumination. You see the world differently, with almost mystical insights.
(What Tarot Card are You?)
Halfway between the Fool and the Magician.
Wishing all of you a safe, ecstatic and enlightening Autumnal Equinox.