Arcanum 12: The Hanged Man
A change of perspective
A matter that is stuck looks completely different from the other side.
The Hanged Man hangs upside down from a living tree, his face calm and surrounded by a bright halo. This is a voluntary suspension: the world viewed upside down. The pause gives you time to release control and let a new view work on you.
Gifts and potential pitfalls
- Gift
- You set aside your stubbornness and look at a matter through another person’s eyes. From an inverted position, you see paths invisible when standing upright.
- Shadow
- A pause can become postponement, which you call patience. From time to time ask yourself whether you are still reflecting or already avoiding.
- First step
- Describe a stuck situation aloud from the other person’s perspective and see how it changes your assessment.
In a pair
When this arcanum is at the centre of a shared matrix:
You look at a disagreement upside down, from both sides, before anyone wins it.
In the karmic tail
When this arcanum appears at one of the three points below the centre:
“We’ll see” is your favourite answer when something needs deciding, and then you wait for it to resolve itself. Meanwhile it hangs there, others do not know where they stand, and returning to it becomes harder. When you catch yourself saying it, name one piece of information you need to decide and ask for it.
Where this arcanum appears in the matrix
The centre and other points are sums, so this arcanum can appear for many different dates. Three points depend directly on the date:
- Point A (personality): birth day: 12.
- Point B (birth month): December.
- Point C (sum of birth-year digits), 1900–2026: 1920 (1 + 9 + 2 + 0 = 12), 2019 (2 + 0 + 1 + 9 = 12). Number of such years: 4.