XII The Hanged Man RX: Disorientation to reorientation

Offering for the Full Moon occurring on 14 March 2025 (AEST)

A figure is centred in the scene, positioned with their hands behind their back, one leg outstretched with the other bent and tucked behind - in a ‘figure 4’. They face and look directly ahead. Their white/light-coloured hair seems to stand on end. A yellow halo of light radiates around their head from the top of their shoulders. They’re dressed in a blue smock, with a red belt, red tights and tan slippers. Their down-leg is tethered at the ankle to what (upright) is a wooden T-shaped gallows, but in this position appears as tethering to a strip of brown earth itself. A wood post is behind them. Green leafy growth emerges on the gallows-earth. The sky and space behind is clear light grey.

To hear me read this offering out loud, click the audio link below

XII The Hanged Man reversed from the Rider Waite Smith tarot

I don’t usually read card reversals for this monthly post. A self-imposed rule that I self-justify with the knowledge that regardless of how a card shows up, we can assume light and dark, active and receptive etc etc etc… is all in operation.

But, I’m intuitively breaking this rule, this time, for this card. I’ve made an exception because of the unique orientation of The Hanged Man when in the upright position - i.e. they’re upside down. And find myself intrigued by the discombobulation of when this ‘reversed’ image shows up ‘reversed’ i.e. in the common head-on-top-legs-underneath alignment.

How might you be ‘breaking the rules’?

What is the effect of ‘breaking the rule’ on your mind-body and/or in the world around you?

I hope I’m articulating myself clearly - if not, I encourage you to feel into the discombobulation; flipping around and about, may be part of what’s being pointed at this month for acknowledgement or exploration.

What’s going on that seems confusing or disorienting for you at this time?

Commonly understood associations of The Hanged Man when ‘right way up’ is of sacrifice - that comes about from being metaphorically strung up by others for being wrong or offensive - you are being punished or disapproved for having particular ideas, sharing truths or just a way of being. Usually, this punishment is unjust and possibly about being singled out or scapegoated.

In being captured and unjustly bound, the upside-down position encourages surrender; the moment has the potential to bring stillness, peace and a new perspective. Fresh insight into a situation. ‘Spiritual enlightenment’ may come - hello halo - where the crown chakra is cracked open, perhaps by the force of gravity. Grace, forgiveness and acceptance are possible guiding gifts.

But what might this all suggest for a reversal of a reversal?

In her book Holistic Tarot, Benebel Wen speaks of The Hanged Man reversed as falling into an attitude of self-righteous indignation due to being persecuted.

The huffy hands-on-hips stance seems to embody this! Being huffy is a very understandable attitude to being unfairly treated - as an initial reaction. But if you remain tethered to that way of seeing, you risk becoming and staying embittered. Stuck in being a victim of your circumstance.

The old saying made famous by Byron Katie - “Would you rather be right or would you rather be free” - is a hard pill to swallow sometimes.

Where in your life are you feeling victimised? Or that you have limited choices?

What attitude or story could you be having trouble surrendering or letting go of?

I’ve started seeing a new therapist - this person is quite different to the usual therapist I “like” to see. I chose them purposefully for this reason as I’m navigating a familiar experience that I’m continually getting “hung up on”. I want a different perspective, maybe a hard truth. But honestly, it's incredibly uncomfortable shifting a righteous stance that in many ways is protective.

What would happen if you sacrificed ‘being right’?

But sometimes we can be just taken off guard by something - cue the disorientation I noted early in today’s message. I’m struck by the character’s face and head which seems to signal surprise, stun … shock! The hair standing on end could say ‘fright’.

I’ve been integrating a body-centred trauma process into my practice called Deep Brain Reorienting. It’s unique in that it looks to ‘clear’ the underlying shock from wounding and traumatic events that can often remain despite loads of ‘healing efforts’. Because shock lies below cognition, below emotion, and even below automatic nervous system defence reactions (i.e. fight, flight, freeze, fawn) it can’t be processed via narrative, cognitive methods. Even somatic approaches that focus on the 4 f’s.

This isn’t meant to deflect from doing the inner work and I hope not to fuel hopelessness. The opposite actually: Pairing your efforts in consciousness-raising with a relinquishment of effort to be understood or justified may be the only way through “unsolvable” problems. Surrender is to the unseen and the Mystery. A fall into what is bigger, deeper, wider and Greater than your regular beliefs and minutia of details in the thing could be a path to reorientation. As Mirabai Star says:

A mystic knows beyond ideas, feels deeper than emotions, is fundamentally changed by that which is unchanging. Mysticism is a way of seeing—beyond the turmoil, the rights and wrongs, the good guys and villains—to the radiant heart of things.

Mendy XX

If you are interested in a Tarology Session - take a look here (under Soul Work) and contact me for an appointment.

Mirabai Starr, Ordinary Mysticism: Your Life as Sacred Ground (HarperOne, 2024), 1–2.