“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.” –Julia Cameron
Today’s Tarot is the reversed Hanged Man or The Spirit of the Mighty Waters, associated with Neptune. I am always amused to see him reversed, since he’s upside down when the card is upright. The “Which way is up?” question is one he may well ask himself, befitting the Neptunian energy.
The Hanged man represents a sort of limbo, but NOT a period where nothing it taking place. Just like the World (#21) points to tangible, outer world directed activity, the Hanged man (#12) points to intangible, inner world activity. His number reduces to one of the Tarot threes, so you can bet there is a birth underway.
Suspended in time, he’s in the void, having sacrificed his former reality—those pentacles are dropping upon the ground—while he’s waiting for his new reality, based upon the perfect order of the universe, to take root. Inverted, I’d look to the need for more faith, possible struggles letting go, or indication that void is nearing it’s end.
The Hanged Man can present real challenges to those of us who need to feel in control. (And who doesn’t sometimes feel that need?) He says, quite plainly, we are not! The only tools he allows us are time and faith. Without the faith, the time seems interminable. Without the time, the faith doesn’t have chance to become our own. Both are required to release the old and integrate lessons, ushering in a new state of being.
Funny thing about control—it’s a very, very powerful illusion. The Hanged Man insists we give it up. If we refuse to do so voluntarily, we’ll be smacked upside the head with circumstance that forces the question, until there’s no point left in pretending. Our choice won’t be about letting go or not, but in letting go easy or letting go hard.
But in surrender, we’re gifted with something all the control measures in the world could never provide—inner peace. The comfort gained from attempts to control is transitory. The peace from personal faith is not. Understanding all IS already as it needs to be, even difficult lessons can serve, and that we must walk our own path and no one else’s, grants a level of freedom unobtainable any other way.
How’s your surrender coming?
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Legacy of the Divine Tarot
by Ciro Marchetti
Schedule a Tarot consultation with Dixie.
I’m not there right now, but when I am, I wish I could bottle it or make pills to induce it, because it is the best, that inner peace and surrendering control. Hmm… actually giving that some attention made me feel it. Good stuff.
Glad giving that attention helped you access a bit of it, Lilly. It’s something that has to be tended, at least for me.
I used to hate this card. I have Mars in Aries… I am NOT patient and I don’t want to wait for anything! And I DON’T want to hang upside down because all the blood rushes to my head and I get a raging headache!
But over the last year and a half, I have been smacked upside the head (LOL) with the Hanged Man’s message: “Take your hands off the steering wheel! You have no idea where you’re going – why are you trying to get there so fast? Just hang out where you are for a little while. Have patience. Have faith.”
Now, I get it. I think I have achieved a sort of Zen understanding of this. I am one with the Hanged Man. I can wait.
He has a challenging energy, doesn’t he? That surrender thing doesn’t come naturally to all of us. Like, say, ME! But I definitely think it’s worth the work to get there. :yinyang:
I pulled this card a lot lately. that constant reminder of not being in control and with the fire energies about… I am taking some deep breathes and chilling the best I can. :tiger: