The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man XII

Divinatory Meanings: Sacrifice. Sacrifice for others. Jesus. Jesus like-behavior. What would Jesus do?

Yes or No: Yes.

Numerical Value: 12.

Without a doubt, Jesus Christ is the most important historical figure of our times. Arguably, he is the most important historical figure of all times. No other message has captured the imagination of humanity and the proof is in the pudding: look at the numbers of the religious of man and you will find Christianity at the very top.

I read the Bible occasionally. Each time, I get something new. As a practitioner of something forbidden in the Bible, I try to be careful to keep my mind and heart open to the things spoken by Jesus and not become close-minded to the fact that those words might be true. There is, in the last book of the Bible a very strong admonition against “sorcery” or “Magic” … Divination (which is the school of magic that the Tarot belongs to) could be called a kind of sorcery.

None the less, I feel Jesus and his message are paramount in my own life. And when I try to consider the sum of Jesus’ message, I believe that it can be summed up by the meaning of this card: Sacrifice.

What is it about Sacrifice? What makes it so noble? So powerful is the idea of sacrificing oneself for the benefit of others! For a pseudo-Christian wannabe like myself, reading the Tarot is a kind of sacrifice. The Vedas call it Karma-Kanda, and literally, it means you absorb the Karma of another person. When you pull out the cards, you set them in front of your client to help them resolve their life issues, you are actually absorbing their pain. Who in their right mind would do that? Even for twenty bucks?

Who can argue with Jesus?

The Hanged Man image is common in historical religious belief: The Norse had Odin. The Egyptians Osiris (Osiris was not hanged, but he was torn into bits and brought back to life). But in my times, Jesus is the man. There is one Hanged Man! All others are posers!