Metafizzypop
I've noticed that the Hanged Man and the Tower have something in common. Both cards feature people who are upside down. I think that this means something symbolically. They may represent similar ideas. I realize that these are conceptually different cards, but I feel that there's an area in which they overlap.
According to what I've read, the Hanged Man stands for spiritual growth and surrender to a higher cause. This is how he finds enlightenment. He is accepting of what is to come. He's willing to make sacrifices for this enlightenment, and he's generally just giving up and letting go. And it is voluntarily on his part.
In the Tower we see a building hit by lightning, and people are falling out of it. These people are always shown upside down. I have never seen a person fall out of a window of the Tower right side up. He/she/they are always upside down. Like the Hanged Man.
I think that the person falling out of the Tower is ALSO finding enlightenment. He too, is learning spiritual wisdom. He is learning a lot, actually. The difference between the Hanged Man and the Tower is that in the Hanged Man we have someone learning voluntarily. In the Tower, the people are learning against their will. Wisdom was thrust upon them by force. Probably because the person(s) had been resisting knowledge, living in their "ivory tower," as the saying goes. So knowledge hits out of the blue.
Both cards involve knowledge, sacrifice, and pain. Both cards involve giving up a past way of living and thinking that was probably rather comfortable. The Hanged Man was willing to do it. But in the Tower, the people were not. Wisdom came the hard way.
In both cases, in both cards, being upside down means turning one's life around. Essentially, both cards involve seeing things from a different "perspective."
According to what I've read, the Hanged Man stands for spiritual growth and surrender to a higher cause. This is how he finds enlightenment. He is accepting of what is to come. He's willing to make sacrifices for this enlightenment, and he's generally just giving up and letting go. And it is voluntarily on his part.
In the Tower we see a building hit by lightning, and people are falling out of it. These people are always shown upside down. I have never seen a person fall out of a window of the Tower right side up. He/she/they are always upside down. Like the Hanged Man.
I think that the person falling out of the Tower is ALSO finding enlightenment. He too, is learning spiritual wisdom. He is learning a lot, actually. The difference between the Hanged Man and the Tower is that in the Hanged Man we have someone learning voluntarily. In the Tower, the people are learning against their will. Wisdom was thrust upon them by force. Probably because the person(s) had been resisting knowledge, living in their "ivory tower," as the saying goes. So knowledge hits out of the blue.
Both cards involve knowledge, sacrifice, and pain. Both cards involve giving up a past way of living and thinking that was probably rather comfortable. The Hanged Man was willing to do it. But in the Tower, the people were not. Wisdom came the hard way.
In both cases, in both cards, being upside down means turning one's life around. Essentially, both cards involve seeing things from a different "perspective."