MAAT Study Group-The Hanged One

juliecucciawatts

The Hanged One

Lammas /Lughnasadh

Cross Quarter Day -August 2


Lammas is the day of new bread; bread made from freshly harvested wheat. Another name for Lammas is Lughnasadh. Lugh transliterates to mean “the least”. People who were still living on the food from last year’s harvest looked forward to the first harvest festival because it marked the beginning of the abundant days ahead. Lughnasadh was also the season of handfastings, trial marriages that lasted a year and a day.

The first harvest promised good food and warm weather conducive for gathering people from great distances. This was the perfect chance for young and old to meet with friends from other clans. It took a lot of manpower to gather the grain. There was also opportunity for trade as well as engaging in friendly competitions. The Traditional Highland Games of Scotland where clans gathered their champions to compete, rewarding the best of the best are an example of this sort of activity. This is the time of state fairs and farmers markets when communities still gather. At Lughnasadh the people also knew the end of summer was quickly approaching. Valuable vegetation would soon need to be cut back so the fruits could make the best use of the plant’s limited season, this act was taken literally in the rites of the annual King.

“Lugh was known to the Celtic people as the god of Light, Lugh was injured on this day. One way that this maiming took place was for the king to be tied by his hair from an Oak tree with one foot on a cauldron one foot on his horse. The horse was sent out from under him causing him to be harmed in such a way that he was rendered infertile. This was thought to be an act of love. Fertility at times needs to be stopped to allow things to ripen. Sacral Kings of the ancient Celts were indeed killed but not at Lammas. The death of the annual king would take place three days before Samhain/Halloween. Eventually annual kings were exiled instead of murdered. And images of men made of bread were sacrificed instead.” Clannada na Gadelica Academia Gadelica by Iain MacAnTsaoir2000.

“Woden hanging from the tree of life makes a connection Iberian-Celt Sun- Lugh Llew or Lugos. These people insisted that the alphabet came to them from Greece by way of Spain.” According to The Greek Myths: by Robert Graves Penguin Books 1978:


“Upon learning the alphabet, both women and men turned away from the worship of idols and animal totems that represented the images of nature, and began paying homage to the abstract logos. A god with no face replaces the sacred images…the alphabet people’s god became indisputably male and he would become disconnected from the things of the Earth. He was abstract nowhere and everywhere, at once.”The Alphabet verses the Goddess by Leonard Shlain.

Other Names: Lughnasad; First Harvest; Woden; Odin, Loaf mass, Festival of the first fruits.

Symbols: hanged men, grain gods/goddesses Tree of life

Attributes: Enlightenment; growth; external stagnation; waiting period between two major events.

In a Reading: This card suggests enlightenment, the ability to see things from a new perspective. This card represents a stagnant time between two major events. A time when the external world sees nothing that you are doing but in fact you are making rapid progress.
 

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Penthasilia

Maat tarot IDS

And the spiritual journey continues, a new start to a new Spirit, a new garden, a new soul…

Cards/Numbers: 8 of Coins/61, The Star/62, The Hanged One/63

Card Images: see attached

First Impressions: These cards mark the second set of my spiritual journey- the awakening of Spirit renewed, hope arrives, then re-birth- a critical period of a new path.

Masculine/Feminine/Neutral: neutral

Senses: The air is now fresh, the stagnation left behind and up ahead you hear the waters of change. You dive in head-first and emerge clean and pure, ready to move forward to death and re-birth.

Symbols: teacher, star, water, field, fetus

Story (intuitive): I sit and watch as my path is re-traced, a new journey now, an apprentice seeking a teacher. And I find them, in the most unlikely of places- a sister and brother in blood, both willing to help me walk this new path and to teach me the stories of old and the mysteries of Spirit. But, the choice is mine. My sister looks at me/through me as she tells of the choice- your eyes will be opened, and once done, there is no going back. You will see everything- all that you wish to see, and all that has been hidden from you. Do you really want to walk this path? It is the fine edge between wisdom and insanity. Make sure of your choice, you will know when it is time- it will come to you. Come back then, and let us know. Days are spent in study, learning the new ways- nights are spent dreaming, awaiting the awakening. Then, one day, it comes and for the first time- I journey. The journey is long and arduous, but finally I arrive in the stars. And I am given a new name, one that defines what I do, but not who I am. I ask for my soul name- but I am made aware quite vigorously that it is not yet time. But I am given divine teachers as well- to help on the journey, though who they truly are, and what they represent eludes me in this beginning stage. The journey ends, my soul trembling. I never knew…I never knew. I can feel it start, that slipping into the unknown- frightening and vast- the questions “Is it real?” “Am I mad?” “Where will this take me?”- they all echo in my mind. But there is no going back, the choice has been made- and I find my brother and sister, who know just by looking in my eyes. It is time, and my intensive work begins- apprenticed to my earthly teachers, as well as my divine ones, I learn, and work, and begin to hear the voice of my own soul. “Names are keys” says my sister- keep yours well, and learn all that you can. I don’t understand, but soon I will. And the day arrives, the day of my death, the night of my re-birth. Oh that blessed Samhain night- they were all there with me, all of my teachers, all the spirits, to help me along, to help me die. And I walked a path of tears, as I left all of my worldly things behind, and said goodbye- never knowing if I would see them again. And I laid down to die, freely making the choice, not knowing if I would come back. And as my soul left my body- and I arrived at my true home, there---there the Mother sat, and it was there that I was given the Name of my Spirit. And I returned, to drink, and to be re-born… symphony of song, a feather-brush of kisses, a new brethren to sing with, an apprentice no more. And my earthly teachers stepped away, and my divine teachers revealed their names, and my consorts they became. And the next morning, I went back- walking that path, picking up only those pieces that I wanted to take with me. Did I remember everything? I look down upon myself, yes- I did. I laugh as I look- at that time I felt on top of the world- but yet I was just an infant- with so much to learn. But this was the start- the path was now before me, and I started down that road, a dead woman re-born, a new life to live, a Spirit with a Name, a garden of my own to grow.

Astrologic: 8 of Coins: week of the last quarter moon in Aries, planetary ruler: the Moon, The Star: full moon cycle of Aquarius, planetary ruler: the Sun, The Hanged One: Lammas

Element: earth and air

Keywords:
8 of Coins: apprentice
The Star: universal timing, faith, hope
The Hanged One: enlightenment, initiation

Meanings:
8 of Coins: learning a new skill, an apprentice
The Star: synchronicity that happens when things fall into place
The Hanged One: the ability to see something from a new perspective

Quote: "I am re-born, now I know my Name and have claimed my Spirit.”
 

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annik

I like this card. The baby is waiting to be born. The wheat is ready to be harvested. I get a sense of maturity, everything comes to bloom.