History of Ideas - the Hanged Man

Rosanne

Hi Robert- The Catholic essay was from somewhere like 1870c. I cannot yet find the reference or the essay- I used it in an argument when I first used Tarot in the 1970's in that Tarot can ease despair and give Hope. It would have been put out by a reputable Catholic organisation- so would not have been fringe stuff. I am dogged- I will find it. Despair was considered very bad and anti God from very early on in Catholic Theology.It is interesting that the figure said Judas Iscariot once- because his sin was not Treason- but the despair that made him commit suicide. So that is why I have never considered Judas as a candidate for the Hanged Man..... but now I think again :D

Has anyone heard of the Berserkers? Or Landsknecht Northern foot soldiers that fought in European wars as Mercenaries from the early 1400's to the late 1600's? They were commonly called Odin's Men. Absolute nutters in the field of war. In France they were called Wolfmen I think. It bought to mind that the punishment of Hanging reversed was used on the condotierri, elite Italian soldiers as well as the German elite soldiers - the Berserkers. Maybe there is something in there as to them having been known as Odin's Men.
~Rosanne
 

Teheuti

Rosanne said:
There is a very early Victorian Catholic essay against the use of Tarot/cards- that I am trying to find for you- because in it, it calls the Hanged Man 'Despair' and to lose Hope and act upon that is a mortal sin for a Catholic.
You are probably referring to the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Despair (Desperatio) - which is also the theme depicted by Giotto (see le pendu post) as opposed to Hope (Spes). However, this article does not mention the Hanged Man Tarot card. It says: "Despair, ethically regarded, is the voluntary and complete abandonment of all hope of saving one's soul and of having the means required for that end. It is not a passive state of mind: on the contrary it involves a positive act of the will by which a person deliberately gives over any expectation of ever reaching eternal life. . . . Its power for working harm in the human soul is fundamentally far greater than other sins inasmuch as it cuts off the way of escape and those who fall under its spell are frequently, as a matter of fact, found to surrender themselves unreservedly to all sorts of sinful indulgence."

Giotto's Desperatio (also translated as "desperation" or "hopelessness") is thought to be a depiction of suicide by hanging.

In other works it says that a prime example of desperatio is Judas who hanged himself because his sin was too great for penance.

For Dante, the major difference between hell and purgatory was that the sinners in hell had no hope - as stated at the entrance: "Abandon hope, all you who enter here."

From Aquinas, _Summa Theologica_, Book 2: Question 20: Despair.
From Summa Theologica, Question 20: Despair.
“A gloss on Proverbs 24:10, "If thou lose hope being weary in the day of distress, thy strength shall be diminished," says: "Nothing is more hateful than despair, for the man that has it loses his constancy both in the every day toils of this life, and, what is worse, in the battle of faith." And Isidore says (De Sum. Bono ii, 14): "To commit a crime is to kill the soul, but to despair is to fall into hell."

All this is very interesting and could be related to Hanged Man themes, however I don't know of anyone who has titled this card Despair, Desperatio, Desperation or Hopelessness, nor spoken of suicide. Rather, 19th century themes emphasize expiation, sacrifice, martyrdom, 20th century ones - divine sacrifice (for knowledge), and earlier ones: the traitor.

Le pendu: I find it interesting that the Giotto Despair theme was not developed, as far as I know - except for brief analogies to Judas.

Mary
 

Teheuti

Rosanne said:
The earliest I have is from 'The General book of Tarot' by Thierens 1930 where he talks about The Hanged Man as Pisces and it's reversed meaning as Golem I am presuming from the Jewish Tales of Golem, not Gothic ones. I think he may have mistakenly meant the 'Gibbor' (modern equivalent is Spiderman)
I think he meant Golem as the Hanged Man reversed would have been "raised".

I can't recall the quotes but Saint Teresa of Avila (1550) speaks of upside down suspension as solitude.
Without something connecting this to the Tarot Hanged Man, I don't see it as relevant to the historical development of the significance of this card. We would need some direct indication that someone had adapted this idea from St.T. to the card.

Mary
 

Rosanne

Thanks Mary- but the essay was about Tarot and Dice and divination-(not gambling) it mentions for example the casting of lots for the clothes of Jesus etc- and specifically how using Tarot etc can lead to loss of Faith through despair. A very mainstream Catholic argument. ~Rosanne
 

Teheuti

Rosanne said:
Thanks Mary- but the essay was about Tarot and Dice and divination-(not gambling) it mentions for example the casting of lots for the clothes of Jesus etc- and specifically how using Tarot etc can lead to loss of Faith through despair. A very mainstream Catholic argument. ~Rosanne
I hope you can find it!!!
 

Teheuti

Dante - Purgatorio

As there is no direct reference to the Hanged Man I'm not putting this in the list but it is interesting:

Dante in Canto VI (lines 118-123) of Purgatorio says:

"You who were crucified on earth for us,
are Your just eyes turned [reversed] to another place,
or, in Your abyss of contemplation
are You preparing some mysterious good,
beyond our comprehension?"
 

Teheuti

Rosanne said:
I am not sure if you mean direct Tarot associations?
Yes - direct references; unless a very good case can be made for a Tarot commentator having been directly influenced by a specific non-Tarot source.
 

Ross G Caldwell

Piscina's take on the Impiccato, from "Discorso sopra l'ordine delle figure dei tarocchi" (Monte Regal (modern Mondovì), 1565, pp. 17-18; excuse my hasty, undoubtedly bad translation) -

"...there follows this old man the Impiccato, who arrived at this point for having scorned good counsel, and whom the Inventor has placed there to represent a sad, false, vicious, bothersome, and quickly finished man (since good Counsel depends on virtue), to show in fact a man lacking in any virtue, that without counsel, in desperation, has hanged himself; to demonstrate and illustrate the worst end that comes to those who despise prudent counsel, and, by consequence of virtue, which sort of person deservedly dies in every sort of contempt, bereft entirely of his reputation, and his name as if he were never born; and because of this follows Death, who expunges from all their memory..."

... questo vecchio segue l’Impiccato giunto à questo punto per haver sprezzato il buon conseglio, il qual l’Inventor hà posto per rappresentare un’huomo tristo, falso, vitioso, pestifero, e brevemente concludendo (poi che il buon Conseglio dipende dalle virtù) per un’huomo privo a fatto d’ogni virtù che senza consiglio come disperato s’è impicato, per dimonstrar & avisar il pessimo fine che fanno i speratori de i prudenti consegli, e per consequenza delle virtù, la qual sorte di gente per essere meritevolmente da ogniuno odiata morendo’perde dal tutto la soa fama, e nome come se giamai non fosse nata, e per ciò segu la Morte che spenge del tutto lor memoria...

Giordano Berti, in his introduction, thinks that Piscina has forced this interpretation, since there is no reason to think that Piscina was looking at a card with a man hanging by the neck (citing the known 16th century titles of the card). Nevertheless, it is interesting to tie this in with what has been said earlier in this thread about, Judas, desperation and suicide.

Ross
 

Teheuti

Ross G Caldwell said:
Piscina's take on the Impiccato, from "Discorso sopra l'ordine delle figure dei tarocchi"
Ross - what a great addition. I'm surprised at how much material we've gathered - and we've barely touched on modern significances.
 

kwaw

Teheuti said:
1450-1480? - Sermones de Ludo Cum Aliis (Steele manuscript): "12. Lo impichato" (not in my dictionary - see 1587 below).

1587 - Thomaso Garzoni, names it l'Impiccato (The Hung/Hanged Man). [Note: Impicciato (adj from the verb) means embroiled or perplexed. Impiccio = perplexity; trouble.]

So assuming Lo impichato is another archaic spelling then L'impiccato, Pendu, the hung/hanged man is the oldest extent name of the card.

The French Pendu appears to be a standard literal translation of impiccato, for example:

~ esser impiccato, suspendi, etre pendu.
(Piedmontese, Milanese, French dictionary).

Or as among the charges brought against Giordano Bruno, as accounted by Christian Bartholmèss, that "Christ is not God, but was a magician who deceived men, and for this reason he was justly hung (impiccato), and not crucified and that the prophets and apostles were corrupt men and magicians who were hanged for the most part."

"que Christ n'est pas Dieu, mais a été un magicien illustre; qu'il a trompé les hommes, que pour cette raison il a été justement pendu (impiccato), et non crucifié; que les prophètes et les apôtres ont été des hommes corrompus, des magiciens, et furent pendus pour la plupart."

Christum non esse Deum, sed fuisse magum insignem et hominibus illusisse, ac propterea merito suspensum (Italice impiccato), non crucifixum esse; prophetas et apostolos fuisse homines nequam, magos, et plerosque suspensos.

Kwaw

Jordano Bruno de Christian Bartholmèss (1846) p.337

Available from google books here:
http://books.google.fr/books?id=fCh...=ISO-8859-1&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=0_2 Title Page

http://books.google.fr/books?id=fChIAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA337&dq=&as_brr=1&ie=ISO-8859-1 p.337