Today we are asked to discipline our efforts, which will lead to significant changes, if not a true inner transformation. And so Arcanum No. XII, “The Hanged Man”, which indicates a state of pause or confinement, invites us to meditate on this new condition of ours and urges us to overcome this hard trial, aspiring to transform ourselves. On the spiritual plane, the hanged man no longer recognises himself in the chaos and the neuroses of the daily life he lived until a few days ago, because his gaze, his perspective, has changed.
This change of physical and mental position changes one’s point of view on life. The figure’s upside-down position recalls that of a foetus in the womb, and the two pollarded trees — joined by a crossbeam of dead wood — whose branches have been cut and sacrificed, allude to the awareness of our family tree, our roots. In this incapacity to act we must understand that the moment to make a choice has not yet come, because our situation still needs to mature. The Hanged Man has only withdrawn from the world, he has not abandoned it; his downward position will soon make him slip upward, since his symbolism is that of sacrifice and renewal. He seems no longer to be a body, but its inhabitant. The Hanged Man remains inactive in the body while his soul has freed itself to capture the purest spiritual radiations.
The figure with his head pointing towards the earth knows well that his concerns are earthly, and by remaining hanging he also devotes himself to the good of others — unlike those who continue to be victims, not of the coronavirus, but of their own ignorance and selfish passions.
My personal pairing among the Arcana of Faul for the Hanged Man is “Fabbritio Bartolucci da Valentano”: this man was put to the rope, unjustly accused of being a thief and a murderer. He entrusted himself to the Madonna della Quercia so that the truth might come out and he might be cleared. The false witnesses withdrew their accusation, and so “said Fabbritio brought his votive offering in the year 1554”. This Sanctuary, dedicated to the Madonna della Quercia, was built after a plague was averted, and today houses the largest museum of ex-votos, where I had the pleasure of meeting Fabbritio.
Suspended in this position, balanced between heaven and earth, this figure has often been compared to those described in the tortures inflicted on the early Christians. Yet the face on the tarot card appears serene, as if meditating; his trusting surrender, giving up being a centre of action, aspiring only to obey, leads him towards a calm tranquillity, and this explains his peaceful expression.
It is only through the unfolding of his energies that the individual finds himself: after all, only by standing head-down can we manage to touch the earth and see the immense, infinitely blue sky, the colour of wisdom and spirituality. Our hands are only momentarily “bound”, but only because in future we will be able to go on having bonds.
