I love it when the cards are this literal!
Here we are, at the winter solstice when the sun seems to hang in the sky, not moving from its ever-changing trajectory. And XII The (immobile) Hanged Man shows up.
When we’ve looked at XII The Hanged Man before we’ve seen a slightly different image. All the images so far have had a person hanging upside-down from a tree.
In the Mythic Tarot, we have Prometheus chained to a cliff as punishment for bringing fire to humanity.
One of the gruesome things humans have done to each other is to hang traitors or other perceived criminals upside down by one leg. Yes, it’s a method of execution. And that is how XII The Hanged Man is perceived in some branches of Tarot.
Prometheus would certainly fit the definition of “traitor”, if we’re looking from the perspective of Zeus, who designed the punishment. Of course, from our point of view, Prometheus is a rebel fighting for a worthy cause.
It’s all about perspective.
And that’s got a lot to do with XII The Hanged Man: taking a pause to view the world from a different perspective. Stopping the current forward momentum to assess and change direction.
Kind of like what the sun is doing right now.
For those of you celebrating Christmas, I wish you a blessed and hope-filled holiday.