Sweet Twilight -The Hanged Man

Hemera

I don´t think I have ever seen this card with *two* hanged men before? They look like scientists who are interested in insects. Or maybe the other one is studying them (the one on the background who has a red heart tattooed on his cheek)) and the other one is becoming an insect himself. He has already turned green.
Is he ready for a profound transformation that will forever change who he is? I love what the LWB says about this card: "Only after he is himself transformed does he know that you cannot possess truth and beauty; you must become them"
 

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Skydancer

This is a real change from the "standard" Hanged Man/woman. I think it has more depth than most decks. More areas to bounce off one's intuition.

I was surprised at the little hanged man too. I've never seen it this way before.

The LWB with this deck is so much better than the cookie cutter kind!!

*S*
 

DaisyDragonfly

What I like about this card is that the man who is most hanged (the upside down guy) is all prepared: he has his book turned to the right page and his net all ready. He looks like he's ready to 'hang in' until he gets what he wants.

The other guy - who is less tangled up - looks like he's flailing wildly to get what he wants; because he's less willing to change his approach, he's being less effective.

So when I see this card, I think... change your approach, try something you wouldn't normally consider. Take a risk. You don't know until you try... :)
 

Alan Ross

Hemera said:
I love what the LWB says about this card: "Only after he is himself transformed does he know that you cannot possess truth and beauty; you must become them"
I also love this quote. The hanging man is attempting to study and capture the butterflies. I see the butterflies as symbolizing personal transformation. The hanging man is like someone who reads books on spiritual enlightenment and chases after it, trying to "capture" it. The harder one tries to capture it, the more it eludes the grasp. The hanging man doesn't quite understand that personal transformation is an interior process which cannot be rushed and cannot be found outside one's inner self.

The standing green man, on the other hand, is not attempting to study butterflies or capture them; he has become the butterfly himself, signified by his butterfly tattoo. He is freeing himself from his bonds and he is spreading his arms as if they were the wings of a butterfly. I think he can be seen as being further along in the same spiritual life cycle as the hanging man. It is as if the hanging man is a suspended cocoon, going through a necessary process of maturation before true understanding is attained, at which point he will free himself and become a butterfly, like the green man.

Alan
 

Skydancer

---> Well put.

I see I have a lot to learn with this deck. I am so intriged.

I caught your feeling of the little hanged man being a student, reading from his book from a place of love, but had not extended it the way you did. But I can see that card right now just sitting here at the computer. Those images have really stuck in my mind. Now to make friends with them all.

*S*
 

Aerin

ETA: I just read your post Alan Ross! Yes, we see some of the same message I think...

When I looked I saw the little hanged man studying butterflies by catching them in his net and pressing them in his book. He has a small red heart on his cheek: he hasn't yet realised that the essence of butterfly isn't to be found by scientific exploration alone. He's like a chrysalis hanging on the tree: he's gone past the caterpillar stage and is in the process of transformation but he isn't there yet. He knows he wants to be the butterfly but hasn't figured out how.

The large man (is he the small one transformed???) has taken the butterfly essence into his heart and on his cheek. He has become the essence of butterfly, not just seeing them from the outside as a scientist would.

A bit like learning the Tarot really - from books to intuition.
 

Alan Ross

Aerin said:
ETA: I just read your post Alan Ross! Yes, we see some of the same message I think...

When I looked I saw the little hanged man studying butterflies by catching them in his net and pressing them in his book. He has a small red heart on his cheek: he hasn't yet realised that the essence of butterfly isn't to be found by scientific exploration alone. He's like a chrysalis hanging on the tree: he's gone past the caterpillar stage and is in the process of transformation but he isn't there yet. He knows he wants to be the butterfly but hasn't figured out how.

The large man (is he the small one transformed???) has taken the butterfly essence into his heart and on his cheek. He has become the essence of butterfly, not just seeing them from the outside as a scientist would.

A bit like learning the Tarot really - from books to intuition.

Yes! This is exactly how I see this card. And the analogy to Tarot is excellent.

Alan