The Hanged Man
Encyclopedia
Trump Card
Trump Card was an American syndicated game show that aired from September 10, 1990 to September 6, 1991 and was hosted by Jimmy Cefalo. Debi Massey served as hostess and Chuck Reilly was the announcer. The show was produced by Telepictures Productions, Createl, Ltd., & Fiedler-Berlin Productions...
or Major Arcana
Major Arcana
The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana...
card in most traditional Tarot
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.
Description and symbolism
Modern versions of the tarot deck depict a man hanging upside-down by one foot. The figure is most often suspended from a wooden beam (as in a cross or gallows) or a tree. Ambiguity results from the fact that the card itself may be viewed inverted.In his book The Pictorial Key to the Tarot
Pictorial Key to the Tarot
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot is A. E. Waite's influential guide to divinatory tarot, published in England in 1911 in conjunction with the Rider-Waite-Smith deck...
, A. E. Waite, the designer of the Rider-Waite tarot deck
Rider-Waite tarot deck
The Rider-Waite tarot deck is the most popular Tarot deck in use today in the English-speaking world . Other suggested names for this include the Rider-Waite-Smith, Waite-Smith, Waite-Colman Smith or simply the Rider deck...
, wrote of the symbol:
The gallows from which he is suspended forms a Tau crossCross of TauThe Cross of Tau, named after the Greek letter it resembles, is suspected to have originated with the Egyptians. When a King was initiatied into the Egyptian mysteries a tau was placed against his lips. It has been a symbol to many cultures before Christianity, including a mention in the Old...
, while the figure—from the position of the legs—forms a fylfot crossFylfotFylfot or fylfot cross , is a synonym for swastika, sometimes used in Britain.However – at least in modern heraldry texts, such as Friar and Woodcock & Robinson – the fylfot differs somewhat from the archetypal form of the swastika: always upright and typically with truncated limbs, as...
. There is a nimbusNimbus-General meanings:* Nimbus cloud, a cloud that produces precipitation* Halo , light or mist from an object* Halo , the disk or ring around the head of a sacred figure-Specific meanings:* Nimbus , A video game...
about the head of the seeming martyr. It should be noted (1) that the tree of sacrifice is living wood, with leaves thereon; (2) that the face expresses deep entrancement, not suffering; (3) that the figure, as a whole, suggests life in suspension, but life and not death. [...] It has been called falsely a card of martyrdom, a card a of prudence, a card of the Great WorkGreat WorkThe term Great Work is a term used in Hermeticism and in certain occult traditions and religions such as Thelema.-In Hermeticism:...
, a card of duty [...] I will say very simply on my own part that it expresses the relation, in one of its aspects, between the Divine and the Universe.
He who can understand that the story of his higher nature is imbedded [sic] in this symbolism will receive intimations concerning a great awakening that is possible, and will know that after the sacred Mystery of Death there is a glorious Mystery of Resurrection.
Waite suggests the card carries the following meanings or keywords:
- Sacrifice ----- Letting go ----- Surrendering ----- Passivity
- Suspension ----- Acceptance ----- Renunciation ----- Patience
- New point of view ----- Contemplation ----- Inner harmony
- Conformism ----- Non-action ----- Waiting ----- Giving up
Interpretation
Passion (Christianity)
The Passion is the Christian theological term used for the events and suffering – physical, spiritual, and mental – of Jesus in the hours before and including his trial and execution by crucifixion...
in Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, especially The Crucifixion; to the narratives of Osiris
Osiris
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
in Egyptian mythology
Egyptian mythology
Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society. It centered on the Egyptians' interaction with a multitude of deities who were believed to be present in, and in control of, the forces and elements of nature...
, and Mithras in Ancient Persian mythology and Roman mythology
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
. In all of these archetypal stories, the destruction of self brings life to humanity; on the card, these are symbolized respectively by the person of the hanged man and the living tree from which he hangs bound.
The Hanged Man is also associated with Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
, the primary god in Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
. Odin hung upside down from the world-tree, Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is an immense tree that is central in Norse cosmology. It was said to be the world tree around which the nine worlds existed...
, for nine days to attain wisdom and thereby retrieved the runes from the Well of Wyrd, which in Norse cosmology is regarded as the source and end of all sacred mystery and knowledge. The moment he glimpsed the runes, he died, but the knowledge of them was so powerful that he immediately returned to life.
In literature and popular culture
The image of The Hanged Man, like other Tarot images, appears in a number of creative works.- Tarot images, including the Hanged Man, appear in T. S. EliotT. S. EliotThomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
's poem The Waste LandThe Waste LandThe Waste Land[A] is a 434-line[B] modernist poem by T. S. Eliot published in 1922. It has been called "one of the most important poems of the 20th century." Despite the poem's obscurity—its shifts between satire and prophecy, its abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location and time, its...
. - Several Tarot cards, including the Hanged Man, appear in Stephen KingStephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's Dark TowerThe Dark Tower (series)The Dark Tower is a series of books written by American author Stephen King, which incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy, science fantasy, horror and western. It describes a "Gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. King...
series, most notably in The GunslingerThe GunslingerThe Gunslinger is a novel by American author Stephen King, and is the first volume in the Dark Tower series, which King considers to be his magnum opus. It was first published in 1982. The story centers upon Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger who has been chasing after his adversary, "the man in...
. The Hanged Man symbolizes RolandRoland DeschainRoland Deschain of Gilead is a fictional character, the protagonist and antihero of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. He is the son of Steven and Gabrielle Deschain and is descended from a long line of "gunslingers", peacekeepers and diplomats of Roland's society...
, the main character, as well as his quest. - Anne TylerAnne TylerAnne Tyler is an American novelist.Tyler, the eldest of four children, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her father was a chemist and her mother a social worker. Her early childhood was spent in a succession of Quaker communities in the mountains of North Carolina and in Raleigh...
drew upon the image for a scene in her novel Searching for CalebSearching for CalebSearching for Caleb is Anne Tyler's sixth novel. It was originally published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1975.- From The Boston Globe :Duncan Peck has a fascination for randomness and is always taking his family on the move. His wife, Justine, is a fortune teller who can't remember the past...
(1975). Duncan Peck, the future husband of a fortune teller, frightens his family by suspending himself from a tree branch by one foot. - Tarot images are an organizing element in François GirardFrançois GirardFrançois Girard is a French-Canadian director and screenwriter particularly noted for his innovative film Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould. Born in Quebec, Girard's career began on the Montreal art video circuit...
's 1998 film The Red ViolinThe Red ViolinThe Red Violin is a 1998 Canadian drama film directed by François Girard. It spans three centuries and five countries as it tells the story of a mysterious violin and its many owners...
. The Hanged Man introduces the episode of Kaspar Weiss, a young prodigy. - Jeffery DeaverJeffery DeaverJeffery Deaver is an American mystery/crime writer. He has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University and originally started working as a journalist. He later practiced law before embarking on a successful career as a best-selling...
's novel The Twelfth Card has a character who leaves the tarot card at the crime scene. - American psychotherapist Sheldon KoppSheldon KoppSheldon Kopp was a psychotherapist and author, based in Washington, D.C.. He was born in New York City, and received his PhD from the New School of Social Research. In addition to his private practice, he served as a Psychotherapy Supervisor for the Pastoral Counselling and Consultation Centres...
titled one of his books The Hanged Man, subtitled Psychotherapy and the Forces of Darkness (ISBN 0-8314-0036-6) as a metaphor for a stage in life consisting primarily of stagnation and despair and rebirth into a renewed life. - British novelist Lindsay ClarkeLindsay ClarkeLindsay Clarke is a British novelist. He was educated at Heath Grammar School in Halifax and at King's College Cambridge. He worked in education for many years, in Africa, America and the UK, before becoming a full-time writer. He currently lives in Somerset with his wife, Phoebe Clare, who is a...
used the Hanged Man as a chapter title in his novel The Chymical Wedding: A Romance (ISBN 0-330-30968-4). - In episode 2 of the Doctor Who story The Greatest Show in the GalaxyThe Greatest Show in the GalaxyThe Greatest Show in the Galaxy is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 14 December 1988 to 4 January 1989.-Plot:...
, Morgana shows the Doctor this card as a symbol of himself. In episode 4, we subsequently see the Doctor hung upside-down while attempting to entertain the transdimensional Gods of Ragnarok. The card can symbolise such moments of suspension between physical and mystical worlds in much the same way as the Doctor has traveled between the "real" world and the "dark" world of the gods. The card can also imply of pause in the action of life before moving on, and there is a moment in the episode when time seems to stop in preparation for the final fight against the Gods. - In the film, "The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus" the Hanged Man card is pulled from the Doctor's deck and represents Heath Ledger's character, "Tony" whom they find hanging from a bridge.
- In the SNES video game Ogre Battle: The March of the Black QueenOgre Battle: The March of the Black Queenis a 1993 real-time strategy role-playing video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, directed by Yasumi Matsuno with artwork by Akihiko Yoshida...
, the Hanged Man Tarot card has a depiction that mimics the Tarot of MarseillesTarot of MarseillesThe Tarot of Marseilles , also widely known by the French designation Tarot de Marseille, is one of the standard patterns for the design of tarot cards...
, in that he is hanged upside-down on a branch instead of on a pole between two bare trees, the scene is dark instead of light, and there is no halo on his head. On drawing the Tarot card after liberation of one of the towns, it decreases the characters' strength by 1 point, and lowers the enemy units' defense when used in battle.