Key 12 - The Hanged Man

Our topic for this morning is reversing adversity through tarot.

And here we have Tarot Key Number 12, the Hangman, symbolizing that very idea amongst other things.

Now, in Tarot Key 12, The Hanged Man, we see what is apparently an uncomfortable figure.

After all, we ask ourselves when we ask it with our intellects only, who could be comfortable hanging by one leg, mind you, which just hanging would be bad enough, by one leg tied to a gallows upside down upside down and so when we judge by surfaces looks pretty bad well isn't this true about all of us most of the time we judge conditions situations people life apparent death we judge them by surfaces and what happens Well, problems, adversity, that's what happens. And we don't realize that the major portion of our problems, our adversities, so to speak, actually are the result of our judging by surfaces, because, you see, this kind of judgment actually is the result of something else and something deeper and this Tarot key shows us that also because for one thing the Hebrew letter main here which is also called one of the mother letters there are three and this one is assigned to the principle of water the idea of the principle of water here has to do with that mute, dark mirror of substance, as it's put in the Book of Tokens, mirroring itself, that is the divine, to itself, so that we have the idea of the substance of mind stuff as being fluidic, and it's referred to as the waters.

As a matter of fact, the divine feminine principle of God, that which we call āyama as the mother and bina as understanding, shown on the Qabalistic Tree of Life as the black Sephirah, one of the terms given to that particular Sephirah are the seas. Now not the sea mind you S E A but the seas S E A S trying to indicate incidentally that all waters are symbolic of the substance of God in other words that all things are the result of this substance which has always been called a fluidic mind stuff and those who have experienced samadhi as our eastern brethren call it or a state of nirvana as some of our other eastern brethren call it or this state of beginningless endless I which is a very high and profound level of cosmic consciousness those who have experienced this invariably describe it as being fluidic in in essence or in substance, this root, you might say, of consciousness, the root of beingness.

And notice how the hangman, the position being held, is certainly in a position to see roots, for example, like the roots of trees, the roots of plants. The head is below the surface. And notice that though you're not being shown waters like you have been in so many of the previous tarot keys notice that the area in which the head is looking in fact the area that is being illuminated has to have been shaped by waters just like the Grand Canyon has been shaped by waters we see here the result of the shaping of waters and waters meaning what of mine of consciousness so that water has been since time immemorial and certainly in the Western occult training system but in any and all systems basically it has been a very important symbolic representation of the the cosmic mind stuff. And this mind stuff, if you will recall when I spoke about Tarot Key Number Two, I tried to show that the beginning of the flow of the water is from the robe of the High Priestess. You can see it if you look up above you at the High Priestess. This is the beginning, and the High Priestess, remember, represents the principle of subconsciousness.

And this principle of subconsciousness which registers all memory which registers all experience flows on the qabalistic tree of life directly from the one the crown the the only that which we chant as ahea in order to attune ourselves to that one and one alone the unity of of life, which is the one substance portrayed symbolically here by the flow from the High Priestess and shown in its results or one of its most potent effects here in the Tarot Key of the Hangman. And notice that the High Priestess is number two, so that in the number number 12 even, we have an indication that the number 2, the principle of the high priestess, is involved, along with the activity of the number 1. Remember in the Hebrew called the alphabet, you always work in your reading from right to left rather than the other way. Even here we have a good reversal, don't we? And the number 2, therefore, is the basic basic principle or essence being utilized by the activity of the number one, which is the magician.

And the magician, remember, is the principle of attention. The magician is the magic that our conscious minds can perform with the mirror of substance or the fluidic mind stuff of God, which is really the stuff of the universe, of anything and everything, which is the stuff of a nebula, a star, a grain of dust, a dinosaur, an insect, a human being.

I'm not calling human being insects, you understand. Understand. It's just that everything that exists has to be a part of this one mind-stuff, so that everything we experience – and this Tarot key is saying it in so many ways – everything that we experience is being experienced because this fluidic mind-stuff is. But another thing is being told us when we understand this the meaning of this key more thoroughly and that is that as long as we are going to interpret what happens to us out there or what appears to be out there as being something solid as being the stability the immovability as long as our Our consciousness is going to interpret life and experiences in terms of a hard, stable, non-pushable around kind of something, why this will be exactly the kind of shapings we're going to be giving experience, in which we give experience with our mind. Because remember you and I are an expression of the mind stuff and of the only mind that there is basically and that's the mind of God because we should as this tarot he says the very color of the shoes on the feet yellow again alluding to the magician the power of attention and the color of these socks they look like pantyhose which they probably are nice red pantyhose shows us the symbol for what for Aries the reasoning ability the reasoning capacity because red is remember is the color of Aries the the emperor, and that is a sign to the capacity to reason properly.

The yellow, a sign to Mercury, is the capacity to have discrimination. Red is also the color of Mars, which you see here in Key 16.

The tower, the power to throw out old conditions, to dissolve them, as a matter of fact. And furthermore the power of Mars has to do with the reproductive organs and probably it's that portion of the anatomy that the pantyhose are covering because it's certainly hidden from the awareness of most human beings this fantastic energy and power that is behind all things Therefore, the activity of the mind stuff of anyone has to do with the way they think, the way they feel, and the way they do, as indicated by the color and the other tarot keys that are being shown in their subtle area. And the thinking, the feeling, the doing, are specific expressions of the portion of the mind, of the total cosmic mind stuff, in accordance with its particular evolutionary level. Now, just as we certainly cannot expect a youngster to be agile in areas of work or activity that require long experience, that require the development of mental motor coordination and the responsibility and the self-discipline, in the same manner we have to come to realize that even that which we run into in life that is individuals and including portions of our own nature which are not are still the unfinished works these will inevitably express themselves in those clumsy and unfinished ways ways. But to misinterpret them is to make them and keep them more active in our lives.

In other words, if we fail to see below the surface, as the hangman is saying, and life is really training us to be able to see beneath these surfaces, when we fail to see, to be be able to look beneath the surface appearance we are always going to interpret what's happening to us erroneously and so this results in what illusion delusion and that's why amongst other reasons this letter is also assigned to Neptune astrologically now Neptune has as have all the planets have all the keys all the signs it has its positive and its negative expression now on the negative side neptune brings illusion delusion it brings hallucinations it uh when it is used in an adverse manner by individuals this force which is our inner force it also it makes for alcoholics drug addicts and all the kind of conduct and responses to life that have to do with the deluded interpretations because just like alcoholics certainly go in for escapism drug addicts go go in for escapism, just like this kind of escapism very definitely damages the ability to think clearly. In the same manner, attempt at escapism that has to do with self-responsibility for our own thinking, feeling, or ability to look into our own selves. Here you see we're looking into when we're looking at the hangman really beneath the surfaces uh the illusion inability to see into our own motivations makes it inevitable that we're going to express this neptune quality in a negative manner that is an illusion delusion snare and escapists you know are just as much that is people who escape looking and things as they as they are which means they see more than surfaces incidentally this is just as much a kind of addiction as alcohol or drugs except that it isn't as damaging to the physical vehicle so it's preferable of course if you must have have problems, don't compound them by entering into alcohol or drugs, because there are problems enough without them.

Now then, that's the negative side of Neptune. But what is the positive side? Oh, another negative side of Neptune, incidentally, is psychism and being attracted to the, shall shall we say, to the delusions that come from psychism, because psychism is a level, or is experienced on a level very close to the material.

And people mistake psychism for intuition, for example.

They mistake psychic experiences for spiritual experiences. Again, this is part of the Neptunian area of delusion. But then the same Neptune, assigned to this key in this letter, Also, when we learn how to respond to it and these energies positively, brings illumination, mysticism, beauty. It brings ability and capacity to reverse all adversity because of the power to recognize what it is that requires reversal, the power to see beneath surfaces. Because the secret of truly having life reflect itself, it's a mirror, a mirror, and Neptune, the power of Neptune gives the mirror. The secret of having it reflect beauty is to know how to search it out with our own consciousness, not deluding ourselves regarding the other situations or conditions, but to search out that which is beautiful and choose to keep to hold that in mind in consciousness to keep our hearts in a response to that and when we can train ourselves to do this and we have to do it and we train ourselves with what with those waters you see the waters that have dug out that that beautiful, deep indentation in the surfaces of the world, the waters of our own consciousness.

We have to take our own way of seeing, thinking, feeling, and so especially interpreting, and we have to put it upside down, reverse it. Now, I want to show you something fascinating here. Here. This hangman, looking so apparently enslaved, you know, hung up, so to speak. That's a good hangup. I recommend this hangup of the hangman here. I recommend it heartily. Now, see, he looks really like he's all hung up. And notice number 12. Now, this is the the principle of reversal what's the reverse of 12 21 look at tarot key 21 the world right here the dancer right above me right above me and the best spot it could be right above me tarot key number 21 the world now look at this figure dancing on air what could look more free if ever you saw a pair of opposites here it is here is somebody who looks like it's hanging on hanging you know on to something a scaffold that is so uncomfortable and look at Tarot Key 21 dancing free now then one of the messages this Tarot Key has for us amongst the many wonderful messages is is that what appears to those who are looking at surfaces, what appears like being hung, enslaved, is the very reverse to those who know how to see, how to look, how to interpret, or it can be.

It's similar to the idea that the wise have, through all time and time, the truly wise, have been called fools and that's why we start tarot you know in the whole major tarot series with tarot key zero the fool and that is super consciousness so that which is super consciousness those who don't know how to interpret those who interpreting correctly who are in the delusions and delusions of life they They think that wisdom is foolishness, and they sometimes think, and too often, not sometimes, most of the time, they think that foolishness is wisdom. So how often have people exhorted one another, saying, why are you so foolish? Why are you wasting your life doing this or that or that when you could be somebody? By being somebody they mean that you can be sold out to that bigger house or car, you know, bondswoman. That's being somebody, you know, enslaved. Or being something. Now why should we want to be a thing, for heaven's sake?

Why? But you see, the world's ideas are such now that we have to learn how to discriminate. And discrimination is a very important portion of this Tarot key because I'm going to show it to you in a very special way, I hope. Because you notice the glow of this figure. You see the glow of the Sun vibrating lighting the underneath parts so seeing below the surface now look at the Qabalistic tree of life and notice that he's hanging from what he's hanging from the Hebrew letter top which is key 21 incidentally take a look at the shape of the Hebrew letter on key 21 we've been I'm talking about the dancer. And take a look at what he's hanging from. He's hanging from that Hebrew letter, which incidentally is assigned to Saturn.

Now the sphere of the activity of Saturn is understanding on the tree of life, the black sphere, which, and that, remember, first of all, we pointed out that's the mind stuff, the universal mind stuff of God, the feminine aspect as one thing. It's also the universal mother then. It is also understanding, but he's hanging from something even much more fascinating perhaps than all these if we stopped to think about it, because the whole sphere of the activity of Saturn is involved here, the capacity for self-discipline. In other words, the principle of limitation, the principle of limitation is there. So that he has given himself over. In fact, he is tied to what? The cosmic principle of limitation which evolves all forms, which is the mother substance evolving you and all creatures and the entire universe. The principle of limitation which remember when we think of it in terms of the sphere of the activity of saturn has to do with the ability to apply our own breaks to ourselves in other words the freedom that we see in key 21 comes because of the ability to tie ourselves to the divine will because what is the divine will basically if it isn't tying ourselves to what to the cosmic law or which is what the cosmic goal and the ways and means of attaining it so that the ability to accept responsibility the ability to be trustworthy the ability to apply the brakes to ourselves when it comes to anything negative the ability to stop that's the power of limitation to stop ourselves cold when we start thinking feeling doing that which is not in harmony with our highest ideals because remember the Neptune energy has this beautiful mystical idealism as as its positive level that we are working for.

And then its reverse, of course, is its reverse.

So he is basically actually being held and supported by the cosmic mother, by the principle of limitation. Furthermore, the law, severity, as you might say, that's the approximate area where his socks are. Now, you notice the red of severity. Now, that is not just severity. That's one of the names of that Sephirah, which is one of the areas of the activity of the divine tree of life, mentioned in Genesis, which we talk about quite often. Now, that Sephirah called severity severity is also called fear, which has to do with being in awe of cosmic law. It is also called justice, and here's the idea, justice. It is a very important aspect of this particular key because when we actually, you might say, dedicate ourselves or we make make our own dedication to the divine will. When we say, God, I dedicate myself to attaining the highest evolution I can. God, help me to remain stable, because this is called the stable intelligence.

Help me to remain stable and positive and sure in my keeping my mind and heart lifted to thee. God, help me to attain thee. Help me to walk in the ways of justice and in the ways of the just, because in Qabalah, the ways of the just are assigned to those who've attained the level of what we call the Hasidim, also called exempted depths. And the ways of the just have to do with refusing to do think or act in any area unless we're sure that what we're doing is just that what we're doing is is kind that what we're doing is in harmony with the spiritual goal let's stop selling ourselves out to things although remember Remember, things are pleasant if we keep them as toys.

Let's stop letting ourselves get trapped into the illusions and delusions of these surface thinkings.

And in that manner, we not only reverse our adversities, we walk in ways where the beauty of our spirit mirrors life, becomes mirrored back to us. And that's why we can look into the eyes of our sisters and brothers, our children and friends, spiritually and physically, we can look into their eyes and say, you are beautiful. Because in the final analysis, my beloved ones, we are always talking about ourselves.

And if we say you are ugly, we're talking about ourselves. If we say, I hate you, we're hating ourselves. If we say, I love you, we are loving ourselves and we are making it possible for the Divine Love to re-reflect back to us from every pair of eyes, from every tree, from every condition condition in every situation because we'll know that love does rule the universe. And because love rules the universe, I have the power to reflect glory and happiness and richness and joy to myself. I have that glory. I have that ability. I have that capacity. You have that glory, you have that ability, you have that capacity, and you're on your way to shining up that glorious surface of your mirror, taking away the warps so that you can join all those who have that precious sweetness, walking together and share it more and more with others.