Bean Feasa
The ToP Hanged Man doesn't just dangle from his tree, he merges with it. Gone are the legs bent into the figure 4 a la Rider-Waite deck. Here the lower part of the Hanged Man's body, which is uppermost in the card because of his upside down position, twists away into coils of drapery and foliage. It seems to suggest total integration and transformation - the Hanged Man's endurance in his state of suspension and his willingness to see everything from a fresh, if strange, angle gives him a new way of being that allows him to be at one with the world in a magical way. He makes me think of mythical beings like centaurs, fauns etc. - half man half something else.
His arms are bent and seem to hold a slightly comical sun in place over (or below!) his head like a halo. A nod to the Sun card which will come later perhaps, this sun is the colour of charcoal, bristles with spiky rays and has a face with a puffed, rather rueful expression. It's as if the Sun is expressing the shadow side of the card - the Hanged figure has a benign, untroubled expression, but the Sun seems to remind us that this state isn't easy and while it can bring rewards it can also take its toll. The book tells us that the Black Sun is the alchemical sign of transformation and mirror images. The Hanged Man is suspended against a background richly patterned in gold and burnt orange. A very striking version of Major no. XIV.
His arms are bent and seem to hold a slightly comical sun in place over (or below!) his head like a halo. A nod to the Sun card which will come later perhaps, this sun is the colour of charcoal, bristles with spiky rays and has a face with a puffed, rather rueful expression. It's as if the Sun is expressing the shadow side of the card - the Hanged figure has a benign, untroubled expression, but the Sun seems to remind us that this state isn't easy and while it can bring rewards it can also take its toll. The book tells us that the Black Sun is the alchemical sign of transformation and mirror images. The Hanged Man is suspended against a background richly patterned in gold and burnt orange. A very striking version of Major no. XIV.