Right Now, According to the Hanged Man
I don’t love doing tarot for shadow-work and self reflection, but I do find a lot of comfort in the cards. So, I pulled a card for “What do I need right now?” It’s the first day in a while where I didn’t have anything planned and well…it was much more boring and mundane than I was anticipating. I was excited to just go with the flow all day, but at the same time was struggling to find something to truly capture my attention.
What do I need right now? = The Hanged Man
✩ First Impression ✩
WOW! An upright major arcana is some pretty strong energy! I was not really expecting a major aracana to be pulled for this seemingly mundane question right now…but here we are.
★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★
✦⋆｡°✩°｡⋆The Big Idea Behind This Card ⋆｡°✩°｡⋆✦
The Hanged Man is a card that represents surrender, release, and a new perspective. This card suggests a need to pause and let go of control.
⋆ Not Just Hanging ⋆
I pulled this card from the Ethereal Visions Illuminated tarot deck by Matt Hughes1 and it is so gorgeous. One piece of imagery that I’m particularly tied to on the card is that the hanged man is pulling at the rope in this deck. The original 1910 Rider-Waite-Smith tarot hanged man is hanging upside down from his ankle with his hands behind his back. I think this change in imagery is quite significant and will definitely alter the message being received (in a positive way! I love seeing little changes and interpretations of tarot). In the RWS deck, the Hanged Man’s hands being behind his back, has more of a tone of surrender, stillness, and acceptance. But the Ethereal Visions hanged man pulling at the rope introduces an element of agency in the suspension. This card isn't reflecting someone at peace with the pause — it's reflecting someone who is in the pause but chafing against it. Pulling at the rope, ready to be done with the hang.
⋆ 12/3 ⋆
12 is a number of completion and ending of a cycle, but in an optimistic, pushing you to stay positive. Numerology and The Divine Triangle explains that “the significance of this card is that things are not as they appear on the surface. You must look beneath the surface for true understanding.”2 12 reduces to 3 (1+2). 3 is associated with growth, creativity, and synthesis. This is the moment where something new is forming.
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✩ My Takeaway ✩
With the hanged man as a clue, the real question becomes: What do you need right now that relates to: choosing my pause, shifting my angle, looking beneath the surface, and letting something form without forcing it??
So, in the context of “right now” I feel like this card is telling me to let go and relax…to stop trying to force the day to be interesting. I need to look beyond the surface of what I think I should do. Which is kind of what ended up happening. I just pulled a card with a simple question off the top of my head and ran with it!
What I need right now is to trust the suspension, even while pulling against it. The Hanged Man in this instance is inviting me to remember that even if on the surface, nothing is happening, that doesn’t mean the moment is empty; it just means I’m in the in‑between.
★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★
Javane, F., & Bunker, D. (1979). Numerology and the Divine Triangle. Whitford Press.↩