The Hanging Man hangs a man and a woman from his outstretched arms... The woman is hung on our left by her feet, and the man is hung by his hands on our right. The Hanging Man makes the now familiar T cross, except that his feet are spread apart, the right one resting on a dome, and the left one hidden inside a tower. Underneath, beneath his legs, we see the sunrise. In the foreground, from our left to right, facing the same way, are a wolf, sheep, and lion. The Hanging Man wears a robe of purity with a 'belt' of downward hung serpents, forming an inverted pyramid. The man and woman are naked. The woman is held by an extra little hand coming from the Hanging Man's wrist, and the man is held by a linked chain. The Hanging Man wears a red tulip-like headdress, and he is weeping. The meaning of this card is given as: "Redemption--just desserts by own activities. The Hanging state awaits the redemption of the act." When you redeem coupons, you turn in something of no value (a piece of paper) for something which you do value, something you can use. Likewise, redemption is a matter of making meaningful the evils and struggles of mankind. For it is never a foregone conclusion that an evil will be meaningful, but it is always potentially so. Challenges do not happen at random. There is always some opportunity to be grasped. The time of the Victorious One was a time in which millions of native Americans and Africans were slaughtered, and when hundreds of native cultures around the world were destroyed by missionaries, soldiers and businessmen. I don't think we sufficiently realize what an enormous evil that was. Perhaps that is because we identify ourselves with the victors. What then is the redemption of this enormous evil? It is still hanging, suspended, pending, potential. In the vast convulsions of peoples over the past 500 years there remains the potential that each culture will begin to find in other civilizations what is lacking in their own. The Self did not give the West a new world to plunder. What we were given were civilizations in many ways superior to our own, possessing traits and insights we sorely miss. If the world were to rediscover Self, that would be redemption of the act. Yet, nothing can erase the pain and suffering, or justify it, and that is why the Hanging Man weeps. "Q: Why the tears on the Hanging Man? To redeem the evil, every Solar person has a positive duty to resurrect the native medicine path, the song of the Griot, the Tao of the Mandarins, and Yoga, and the way of the Saints and Sufis. The world will be complete and whole and harmonious again only after the conquered civilizations arise again and rediscover their own genius. Instead of following the Thinker in trying to make everything one bland sameness the world over, we should cherish all differences, believing that real harmony comes from unity-in-diversity. We must attack the arrogant presumption of the Thinker that the machine world-view is the only truth, and that science is the only way. The wolf (dominant elite), sheep (the people) and the lion (new age leaders) all go the same way in one thing. We are all suspended in the earth-plane, all 'hung' on the cross of life, and like it or not, we shall all experience challenges, which means difficulties and struggles, and perhaps tragedies and pain. What holds the robe of purity on the Hanging Man is the belt of initiation-here-below, for that is exactly what is meant by the serpents forming a downward pointing triangle. Initiation is sometimes 'learning the hard way 'in the school of earth. Initiation is always the principal meaning of serpents. The Hanging Man has one foot on earth (the sphere) and one foot in the deeps, hidden from normal view. That is why we do not always see the purposes behind the challenges and difficulties of life, and in our short- sightedness, we would probably shrink from these 'fiery tribulations', were our hands not linked to the higher purpose, and our feet not 'handed' a path to follow. The Hanging Man wears the headdress of Viracocha, the Incan 'Christ', who is the crying god. This is to remind us that compassion for suffering humanity is a divine attribute, and one known in other paths than the Christian. Suffering has a potential meaning, waiting to be redeemed, if we can find that meaning, and realize it and make it true. The suffering is still real. The tears of the crying god remind us not to be too glib or quick to dismiss suffering, just because it has the potential of redemption. |
"The Hawk of Night has just swooped into your midst, gathered a shower of stars, and is now separating them throughout the world. Blessings."