Awareness and The Hanged Man — The Willow Path Tarot

Today I feel like writing about The Hanged Man tarot card. Some people like to get gender neutral on this card and called in The Hanged One. That sounds nice to me too, but I’m going to go traditional and use The Hanged Man terminology in this post. I don’t know why! I’m just following what my intuition wants me to do this morning for this blog. Really, I am. I had an entirely different post started but I woke up this morning wanting to write about The Hanged Man, and if there is anything I’ve learned about my desire to write, it’s best to follow inspiration and not try push myself in any particular direction. That way a blog post happens naturally instead of not at all.

The Hanged Man tarot card from the Shadowscapes tarot deck.

Anyway, I like drawing The Hanged Man for my daily card. At least, I enjoyed it when I drew it for my card of the day on Monday. I’m sure there are times when I draw The Hanged Man and groan internally, or perhaps right out loud!, but not this week. This week The Hanged Man reminded me that everything has a time and a place. Events are unfolding in due course, nothing is off the table, it’s just not ready yet. When the opportune time comes around, things can start moving forward again. Now is a time to wait, surrender, and see.

If you read my newsletter from February that I managed to send last week, you’ll know I struggle with perfectionism, productivity shaming, and never feeling like I’m doing enough. The Hanged Man is an excellent card for a perfectionist that needs to remember to slow down, actually come to a complete halt, and notice what is happening. Becoming aware of the situation is the first step towards diffusing the guilt and shame that arise form not being better, farther along, or past this situation by now.

The Hanged Man tarot card is an invitation to surrender to the way that things are happening. If they were meant to happen faster or sooner- they would. The Hanged Man says that life is happening just as it are meant to happen- because it is. You can pause here. You can look around. You can notice how far you’ve come or you can do nothing at all. The advice is to notice though, to become aware. Pay special attention to how much you do not want to be aware. It is a bit uncomfortable here. You’re not moving, you’re not grasping, you’re not fighting your way ahead. When you stay still and become aware, you’ll notice how action is what soothes you and wards off the discomfort.

My meditation teacher has a phrase he likes to use that often pops into my head during a Hanged Man moment: “This is what it’s like right now.” That phrase points towards the reality of my circumstances at the present moment. This is what it’s like right now. It is an invitation to notice what it is like right now. What is the quality of the time? During a meditation, the quality of the time is usually peaceful and full of loving kindness. At least, that is the intention I bring to my meditation. When it’s agitated, and I’m obsessing, and my mind is going to dark places, the phrase reminds me that actually, what it’s like right now, is a peaceful meditation. The things that are happening in my mind are not real, they are thoughts, and reality is a soft and gentle place in which I can relax and let those thoughts go.

What I was going to write about today was actually The Devil tarot card, and how we get stuck. We get stuck in our dark places and our negative thoughts. We use destructive coping mechanism to try and alleviate the unpleasantness of our negative habits and addictions. One of my favorite coping mechanisms is critical thoughts. I’m uncomfortable with the way that things are happening so I yell at myself, I blame myself, I tell myself that I’m the one holding up the show because I suck as a person. I wasn’t ready to write that post because I think that The Devil is where we get stuck but also where we get unstuck and I haven’t really figured that out so much. Right now, all I’ve got, is the noticing. Awareness comes easily when you’re in the space of the The Hanged Man. So that is where I’m at on my journey right now.

There is no need to rush. And even if learning and figuring these things out is slow as molasses and as cyclical as it gets, there is nothing wrong with that. Life can unfold at its own pace without constant push back from me about how the pace is all wrong. Whatever is meant to happen will happen. I put in the effort and the Universe lets me know how far that effort goes. Sometimes a big effort gets me a big distance. Sometimes a big effort gets me nowhere. Sometimes a small effort makes a huge different. Sometimes a small effort just isn’t going to cut it.

The Hanged Man tarot card from the Rider Waite Smith tarot deck.

I simply give in proportion to what I have to give. I decide to try in proportion to my resources, without bankrupting or burning myself out. And the effort doesn’t have a direct correlation with how far I get. That’s the kicker, because we want to see a pattern, we want to see cause and effect, but the Universe doesn’t work like that. This is up to fate to decide. And trusting in fate requires a faith. And isn’t it difficult to have faith? That’s why The Hanged Man card is welcome but difficult. It reminds me that I’m only half the equation, I’m not fully in control, which is hard but it is also a relief, right!?

I’ll get around to finishing that post on The Devil soon enough- maybe next week?! But in the meantime, we are all in good hands when it comes to learning the lessons of The Hanged Man. Remember, there is no rush to figure out how to get unstuck and develop healthy and loving habits. If you’re in the phase where you’re just becoming aware of your tendency to engage in destruction coping mechanisms for uncomfortable feelings, you’re in good company. The more awareness you cultivate, the better you will be at finding moments to sit with your discomfort. And the more often you sit with your discomfort, the more opportunities you have to allow it to dissolve without running away to your destruction coping mechanisms.

All the tarot cards are connected in some way, as they all reflect the journey we are on as human beings. I think The Hanged Man comes before The Devil because it is an earlier step on that journey of self-discovery. As we sit with the energy of The Hanged Man, we learn to accept fate, to accept the flow of time and events, to share control with forces greater than us at work in the Universe. The Hanged Man is an offering to wait, to stand still, to catch your breath, to meditate on it, to surrender. Accepting that offer is a gift.