October 25-27, 2011: XII - The Hanged Man
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http://association.tarotstudies.org/images/HebrewLettersA/mem.gif
XII
THE HANGED MAN
(Water)MEDITATION COLOR: Deep blue.
HEBREW LETTER: Mem, water, the universal symbol of consciousness per se. Suggests reflection, silence, and serenity. By etymology and ontogeny, Mem has a cross-cultural affinity with maternity and the sea, including “matter” and the subtler “matrix” of manifestation. The sound m is reminiscent of hushed running water.
CARD NAME: “Man” (from an identically spelled Indo-European root) is a pun on the root men-, meaning, “to think,” from which comes our word “mind.” The words seem closely related in human consciousness, and often are seen associated with each other. Thus, “Hanged Man” is a way of writing “suspended mind.” The key concept of the English word “hang” is “suspended from above,” i.e., dependent on (and pendant from) something higher without support from anything beneath.
ESOTERIC MEANING: The Stable (or Enduring) Consciousness. It is the power of sustenance (or, sustaining power) among all the Sephiroth.
TREE of LIFE: Hod to Geburah. Links ‘Glory’ and ‘Strength’; or Intellect and Volition. Suspension of the mind, reversal of perspective following Tiphereth stage.
ESOTERIC TITLE: The Spirit of the Mighty Waters
TANTRIC & ALCHEMICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Water as a formula of Redemption: Practical formula of the Elixir, elaborated in the three cards that immediately follow.
DIVINATION: Sacrifice, punishment, suffering, loss (all either fatal or voluntary); wisdom, surrender, renunciation. A reversal of circumstances.
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Surprisingly (to myself) , loved the Hanged Man and enjoyed connecting with it pretty much - had the sense of floating, of being carried away by the flow... relaxed, having surrendered to the current, having faith in it... 'the path of least resistance' came to mind.
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii15/magicturtoise/002.jpg
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....Lusting after nothing brought me to being nothing...yet HAVING something...like a thought...an emotion...a body...during these few days I experienced being a space that has thoughts, a body and emotions....and at one point I even experienced the EXPERIENCE of having these things (there's a big distinction there that is almost impossible to describe in words)...but I am not any of those things..."I" don't even exist....what's cooler is that there are people in my space...people in my experience...and since they are in my experience...they aren't particularly separate from me...but they are not I, I is simply a point of view and I can't see anything except from this point of view, a vantage point...this is difficult to explain but if you get it, you get it.