Should You Struggle?

Or surrender?

The Hanged Man in a Tarot deck is a grown-up version of what teachers used to say to children being disruptive in the classroom:

‘Go and stand in the corner and face the wall with your hands behind your back!’

The Hanged Man is a confronting sight. A young man hangs upside down, one leg tied to a tree limb and both hands secured behind his back. He won’t be going anywhere any time soon. He’s caught. Trapped. Locked in place.

Imagine, for a moment, hanging upside down. Blood rushes to your head, your internal organs feel dislodged and — this is the big one — your perspective changes totally. What was up is now down. What was down is up.

The young man can do one of two things: refuse to accept the situation and struggle fruitlessly to release himself; or accept the situation — surrender to it.

Struggle or surrender. What would you do?

Our society is all about doing. If you’re not doing things, then you’re not being productive. You’re not pulling your weight. You’re complacent, lazy and a drag.

But every Tarot card carries a message contrary to popular opinion, and this one is no exception. There are times when it’s important to stop doing and start being. This is the message of the Hanged Man.

This card is about times in your life when there’s nothing you can do about a situation but accept it. You are experiencing forced suspension in time and space. And it’s for your good.

Sometimes life puts you on hold. You come to a standstill. There’s nothing you can do to change things or make things “right”. It’s time for a timeout. You’re out of the game. It’s your turn to sit on the bench. It’s time for patience and stillness to play a part.

But you still watch the game of life — from a different perspective.

That’s the key — a different perspective.

The only way to benefit from the new perspective being offered you is to open your eyes, be very still, and take notice.

The Hanged Man is a meaningful card for this time in human history when the world is in a type of suspension. We’re being forced to stop and reevaluate. Social isolation is giving us time and space to sink within.

Eckhart Tolle wrote in Stillness Speaks:

Surrender, one could say, is the inner transition from resistance to acceptance, from “no” to “yes”. When you surrender, your sense of self shifts from being identified with a reaction or mental judgement to being the space around the reaction or judgement. It is a shift from identification with form — the thought or the emotion — to being and recognizing yourself as that which has no form — spacious awareness.

Mindfulness and the Hanged Man

When the Hanged Man appears in a spread for you, it carries two messages:

· You’re being offered a new perspective

· You’re being reminded of the importance of surrender.

Surrender to what is.

There’s so much light, power and universal wisdom embedded in accepting a situation, to sinking into what is. It opens up new horizons, new ways of seeing.

That’s why the Hanged Man has a halo. He’s being enlightened.

That’s why the tree limb he hangs from is sprouting leaves. It’s not a cross of suffering. It’s a living thing.

Insight

Sometimes we long to be refreshed and inspired, so we book an expensive holiday and fly away to exotic places.

But we could reap the same benefits at home — by figuratively hanging upside down. By putting ourselves in suspension and surrendering to it.

Don’t wait for the teacher to put you in the corner. Put yourself there instead — it will benefit you and everyone else.

The next article in this series Living with Mindfulness Using Tarot Cards will feature the card called Death.

Foretaste: Die before you die.

The previous article in this series featured Justice.

Sometimes spending time in nature is as good as hanging upside down. Read Joseph Serwach’s article:

With love, Marlane

Thanks for reading! I hope it helps you for the rest of your life. For more articles on mindfulness visit me at https://www.marlaneainsworth.com