The Star, The Moon, and The Sun in relation to the positive adept

[ricdaw]

Card 12 = the significance of the body is to serve the mental self.

so the body here is the instrument of experience?


card 12: the Hanged Man

my understanding of this card is particularly limited.

perhaps you could expand on some of the symbolism present in the card.

for eg - the tied hands?

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I have to say, if I were to choose a depiction of this Archetype (the Significator of the Body) I would probably go with something different.

The tied hands are to juxtapose the "active" hands in the Mind Row (cards 1 thru 7). Only Will/Consciousness gets to point at things, so I assume those active hand poses (whether with orbs or swords or whatever) are intended to convey the active principle of willing action. But the Hanged Man's hands are tied. The Body does not get to direct or will itself, so its "willing" hands are not free to make those kind of choices. Instead, the figure's hands are "tied" to the Magician's will. There is a surrender here, not a binding. (If the figure had been female I might have interpreted this in the opposite way. Male connotes an active surrender, not a passive one.) Those hands, while not free to point and do, nonetheless are actually doing something. In many cards, these hands are dropping something into the water below the figure. I posit that this is intended to mean "feeding" the spirit. (Water being another symbol for Spirit in the cards.) In some decks, there are fishes in the water who will feed on the Hanged Man's offering. Fish, too, are a spiritual symbol, as they live surrounded by the spiritual waters.

So our Hanged Man while tied, is not bound. (Note that one whole leg is free too.) This is a voluntary tie. It is a sacrifice of the Body in service to the Mind to enrich the Spirit. (Note that the figure is bound not to a cross, but to a squareish arch structure, which evokes the Mental Mind in which the Hierophant lives.) Thus, the significance of the body is to serve the mental self.

This is not a trivial message. Down here in the Earth Life School, we spend a lot of time and effort focused on our bodies: what to eat, what we look like, whether we are going to attract a mate, have children. There is a deep belief that having children is a moral imperative to provide a sense of immortality to your genes/family/self. (Still an important function to allow new spirits a body to inhabit.)

But to truly grok that YOU ARE NOT a body, that it is a VEHICLE, not an end in and of itself, is a radical and liberating archetype for everyday life down here. It puts things into perspective vis-a-vis appearance and longevity. And it conveys the message that the body you have, for all its benefits and faults, was designed on purpose by the Mind. We do not have a lottery system where the stork drops souls willy nilly into the next available body. We have a planned system where souls build their own bodies. Whatever catalyst that your body provides in and of itself, is meaningful. It warrants some thought. It's not too bad that your body tends to gain weight. It's why would I choose/design a body that gains weight so easily? What message am I sending myself? What was my pre-life plan for this curious attribute? What does it cause me to do/keep me from doing? Can I imagine why I would plan to do this to myself?

The Hanged Man Archetype is a very powerful and useful one.