No more

The Hanged Man. In this case, with my whimsical deck, the hanged cat. Hanging from a tree, with a little bird watching, wide eyed but in a comedic side eyed kind of way. The cat is hanging by its tail, traditionally the man hangs from his foot. I don’t think it changes the meaning too much, except that hanging from one foot with the other tucked behind your knee gives a sense of control, whilst the cat hanging from its tail is implying this could be an accident. Maybe the message can be reached either way; the Hanged Man deals with uncertainty after all so why not a little ambiguity in the scene. 

I’ve been really at myself lately to take action. I even wrote about it recently with the three of wands, and although I know I need action - I’ve been preparing long enough - (em dash used by a real person here) this card is offering a way through the procrastination I hadn’t considered. A pause. An intentional stop to effort. 

The Hanged Man holds meanings like feeling trapped and confined, a lack of direction, needing to let go, something we can’t shake off. We can see that in the upside down figure with a halo around the head. Hanging out upside down, there is something aimless and yet intentional about it. Whether you came to hang upside on purpose or you fell, its a very specific position to be in. 

This card is calling to light the times in life when a breather or a perspective shift is needed when things that need to be released are released. Pulling this card is often connected to directionless but it could be saying to have a wee look at the direction, check your course. It’s a powerful move, to pause, to wait. Sometimes we are forced to wait on something, we don’t get the choice. Sometimes this can be very difficult or painful, especially if we have fought against it. Fought to make things happen before their time. 

I’ve been obsessed with taking action lately, telling myself over and over that I have to just start, come on, do it. And then, nothing. I obsess over why and how to get over this hill, and here it is, what is maybe the solution. What is often the solution when we are too stuck on a problem - stop trying to solve it and just be, trust that the answer will appear. 

As with any card in the tarot, this is not the answer 100% of the time, imagine if we all just sat around waiting for our situations to resolve themselves. But when we are stuck, when we have exhausted our minds of thinking, when we get obsessed with an idea and can no longer see things clearly, pause. Stop. Sit back, engage with something else, change a routine and let a bit of rest on the subject work its magic. And when clarity comes, it can often feel like magic. 

It is the twelfth card of the major arcana, right now I could see that twelve representing the months of the year, or the hours on a clock face. Both signifying a form of completion, a cycle done. And what could be better than a break at the end of all that, before the inevitable beginning of the next.

The idea of pause unnerves me. Ive taken them before I guess but if I’m honest, every time I’ve tried to take a real break I end up filling the time, keeping busy, getting in experiences. I don’t think I’ve ever actually. just. paused. I had to take a deep breath now at the thought of it. What would look like? What does it mean? I’ve been de-conditioning myself in a fairly extreme manner lately and its so surprising how much constantly comes up. I think I’ve understood the need for rest, I’ve understood how a society led by an economy based on consumerism and mass production doesn’t nurture the human experience, and then there is still more of me that is grasping to stay apart of this system. 

Pause. 

A removal of myself from my goals, for a moment, feels like being bad. It’s also very privileged, to have an opportunity to do that. Maybe its the guilt here that feels bad. 

The guilt at being able to take a moment and not think about it, not think about the business, the project, the way of life, even if it is for only a moment. So many of us are stuck in a fight or flight way of living and I don’t mean a nervous system that still reacts to your past, I mean in a way it reacts to today. We need out. 

And how is pausing going to help that? We don’t have the time, we don’t have the luxury. There are things going on at the moment that need attention and demand our action. Our collective and united action. We’ve been watching for too long, deers in the headlights of our oppressors and although it would be nice to take a moment and let inspiration hit, there simply isn’t time. 

My anger is telling me that in todays world, with all the evil things done by shitty people, maybe the hanged man isn’t a symbol anymore, maybe the time for metaphor is over. I can’t comprehend a world where art and love can be free if these people are allowed to continue. Show me the card of accountability, of facing consequences, because that is what this world is needing. I hope that is what’s coming, I hope that we are all just in a collective pause. An ending pause. A moment to take in and understand the atrocities that been imposed on us before we finally say, no more. 

No more.