Exploring Tarot: The Hanged Man

Spirit of the Mighty Waters

Hanging upside down from a gallows pole, The Hanged Man expresses triplicities resembling crosses throughout the card: the gallows pole itself, the presentation of the arms in conjunction with the man’s head, and his right leg crossed under the left. Spirit surrounds the man’s head in a halo of light.

The Hanged Man, card 12 from the Major Arcana, represents the soul archetype of sacrifice, surrender, and alignment in higher consciousness. Its three numerology suggests integration, but it’s a higher level of integration that aligns one’s physical reality with the soul itself. The Hanged Man reflects the human’s need to surrender to its fundamental essence, the soul that without which, the human would have no purpose and no existence.

Reversed, The Hanged Man suggests a self-centered focus on ego that cannot be transmuted into Spirit.