MAJOR ARCANA

The Hanged Man Tarot Meanings

It’s time to change your perspective. Take what’s in front of you and turn it on its head. The Hanged Man shows up when we have tunnel vision and we can’t see other angles of a situation, causing us to feel stuck or trapped in our space.

Often The Hanged Man encourages us to stop moving all together so that we can focus better and be able to give ourselves the room to explore these other perspectives open to us.

A lot of people can see The Hanged Man as a sign that they are being told not to push forward, but it’s more about seeing all sides of the situation so that we can move forward with greater clarity.

It’s important to note that The Hanged Man isn’t a punishment, he has placed himself in this position. Similarly to how you would put yourself in a headstand to get more blood to the head and gain clarity.

The Hanged Man Tarot Meanings Inspiration

The Hanged Man Tarot Meanings Perspective

The Hanged Man Upright Meanings

In the upright position, The Hanged Man slows us down and gets us to think about things in a deeper way. It can also hint at letting go of things that are holding us back or stopping us from growing and reaching that next level in personal development The main upright meanings of The Hanged Man are:

Sacrifice
Change perspective
Delays
Bigger picture

In the upright position, The Hanged Man is a card that tells us we are in this current space of our own free will, we haven’t been forced into this situation, we’ve chosen it. It may be that we have subconsciously made this choice, especially if our subconscious is in conflict with our conscious thoughts and desires.

The Hanged Man Reversed Meanings

In the reversed position, The Hanged Man can hint at a reluctance to accept this energy. Like we mentioned above, this is a space we have chosen to be in, on some level. If we are fighting against the subconscious need to adopt the energy of The Hanged Man then that’s when the card may show up in the reversed position. Some of the main reversed meanings of The Hanged Man are:

Unwilling to sacrifice
Selfishness
Stubbornness
Martyrdom

The Hanged Man in reverse puts the figure on the card upright, yet he is still securely attached to the post behind him. This could be read as perceiving yourself as consciously having free will and yet under the surface, you are actually depriving yourself of true free will. You’re not listening to yourself or seeing the world around you. You’re ignoring the truth in order to create your own perfect situation.

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Reading The Hanged Man in a Tarot Spread

The Hanged Man is one of my favourite cards to get in a spread because it opens up the opportunity for self-development, education and expanding your conscious mind. He is a midpoint, so when we are trying to get from A to B we may find that The Hanged Man starts to make an appearance in our readings.

When The Hanged Man shows up, take a close look at the cards that surround him, are there any cards that indicate what The Hanged Man could be referring to? What cards are flowing out of The Hanged Man? What cards are flowing into him?

The Hanged Man as An Invitation

The Hanged Man shows up as an invitation to explore all the possibilities open to you. It invites you to entertain ideas or beliefs that may not come to you organically. Often it is an invitation to actively seek out other views or opinions on something you already have a solid belief around.

For The Hanged Man, this invitation could be the following:

An invitation to think of things from someone else’s POV
An invitation to question what you think you already know
An invitation to be patient and allow things to unfold naturally
An invitation to keep an open mind as you move through life

The Hanged Man as Sage Advice

The Hanged Man is quite passive in his advice, he doesn’t offer it to you in a forceful way, instead, he throws out suggestions and leaves you to decide whether you follow that advice or ignore it. He claims no responsibility or credit for the choices you make.

Some advice The Hanged Man may offer is:

Put yourself in someone else’s shoes in order to find a deeper sense of clarity and understanding
Accept this need for a pause or delay and find the nutrients this situation offers you
Sometimes we can feel stuck because we refuse to look outside of our bubble, things will feel easier and go more smoothly if we expand our consciousness and be open to new and alien ideas

The Hanged Man as a Lesson

The core lesson of The Hanged Man is that we all need to take moments of stillness so that we can look around and see even the most minute details of the world we are currently living in. It’s a point in our life cycle where we first realise that not everybody thinks the same way we do and the realisation that opening ourselves up to those differences in opinion actually makes us a more wise and informed person.

Some lessons that The Hanged Man may offer you are:

To lower your defences, stop ‘sticking to your guns’ and allow yourself the chance to just absorb what is happening around you
Sometimes our passion and dedication to our beliefs can become superficial, we need to make sure to check in and catch ourselves before we become a martyr
We can easily take away our own freedom of will if we refuse to grow or develop

The Hanged Man as a Redirection

The Hanged Man is all about direction and choosing a direction in which to expand. If he appears as a redirection it’s because you’re currently heading the wrong way, or you are focusing on the wrong energy.

As a redirection, The Hanged Man could symbolise a need to:

Step outside of your own ideas and beliefs
Assess whether you are acting from a place of self-interest
Sacrifice what best serves your own interest in favour of what best serves the collective

The Hanged Man - Number 12

When it comes to the number twelve we are gifted with a very flexible and amenable number. It can easily be divided and reduced down multiple ways, giving us ultimate flexibility.

Reduced down to a single digit number we get the number three, the number of growth and collaboration. For The Hanged Man, these numerological correspondences show us that opinions and beliefs can be changed and it’s ok to be flexible and open to new perspectives when they are offered to us.

The Hanged Man - Neptune

The astrological sign of The Hanged Man is the planet of Neptune. This planet symbolises things such as spirituality, imagination and illusion.

In terms of anatomy, Neptune rules over our feet, spinal column and nervous system. It’s no surprise then that these three things are a key focus when looking at the imagery of The Hanged Man. The man is suspended by a single foot, allowing his full spinal column to fully lengthen and allowing his nervous system to reset.

The Hanged Man - Outlaw

For me, The Hanged Man feels more like an outlaw than any of the other archetypes. This is because there is a deep sense of liberation in being able to step into the perspectives of others. A liberation from the self in many ways and the things that stop growth from occurring.

The Hanged Man is also an outlaw because of his ability to go against the self, to push boundaries and override any insticts that threaten to keep him stuck in his old ways.