Table of Contents
General Interpretation
In general when you pull the Hanged Man you can be sure that a choice (and most likely one with only two options) is going to play a major role in the near future. This is a card about being at a crossroads.
Of course that doesn’t make choosing any easier but sometimes knowing you (or whoever the reading is about) are at a major crossroads can be helpful. This is partly because a major choice does not look the same to everyone. Just because you could easily make a decision doesn’t mean that everyone can.
This is not a time to do something just for the sake of doing it. Give it due thought (seek advice from someone smart that you trust if necessary) and then make an informed choice.
The Hanged Man Upright Meanings Step-by-Step
Friends, Friendships, and Family
Either you need to let go of a friendship that is no longer a positive thing for you or else someone else that is near and dear to you needs to do the same.
If this has to do with you personally you will already have been aware of the situation prior to the reading. In other words, this is not something that is going to come about out of the blue for you after you have drawn this card.
If, for example, you hate your sister’s boyfriend and think that he is bad for her you can’t just go storming in to tell her what to do, but the appearance of this card may be to encourage you to try to talk about your concerns with her.
The Hanged Man can also mean that you need to re-draw boundaries where your family is concerned, which is often easier said than done. Just keep asking for what you need and taking it one step at a time.
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Love and Relationships
If you are looking for love it may be that you have found that you’ve been developing feelings for someone who is currently a platonic friend and you may be considering telling them how you feel.
That is not a bad idea necessarily, but before you do consider whether or not you’d be willing to accept that this could end the friendship whether the relationship becomes romantic or not.
If you’re in a relationship you may need to speak up about things that are really bothering you. Your partner is not a mind-reader so don’t assume that they “know.” If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Spiritual Growth
The crossroads aspect of the Hanged Man is most important spiritually. Will you turn toward spiritual growth, or away from it? Give some thought to what inspires you and feeds your spiritual life, and if you can’t think of anything at all that fits that description in the short term/recent past, it may be past time to seek out some spiritual sustenance.
Work and Career
You may feel as though your career is stuck in neutral and this may well be exactly the case. However, that doesn’t mean that you must just sit back and accept whatever happens (or doesn’t happen) in your work.
If you can’t or don’t want to leave your current employment perhaps you can do some online work which may make a difference financially. Don’t just tell yourself it can’t be done, figure out what you need to feel fulfilled in your work, and make plans to make it happen.
If you are unemployed and looking, the time has come to put out feelers to absolutely everyone you know, regarding your need of a job. Sometimes just putting it out there is all that is necessary, for the need to be filled. You’ll be surprised how helpful and empathetic people can be.
Message from Spirit
Be extremely careful with negative self-talk and defeatist beliefs. Contemplate Ghandi’s “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” What, or who, would that make you be then?
The Hanged Man Tarot Card Meanings by Tarot Time
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Image Attribution: “RWS Tarot 12 Hanged Man” by Pamela Coleman Smith – a 1909 card scanned by Holly Voley (http://home.comcast.net/~vilex/) for the public domain, and retrieved from http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot (see note on that page regarding source of images).. Via Wikipedia.
