From Surrender to Blessings: Resolving The Hanged Man into The Lady
The Universe cares for Her own.
I am taking a break from talking about the transgender experience in this article. Tomorrow should see another report from the front lines of transition, but today I would like to underscore how spirituality fits into a complete understanding of the human experience — not just the transgender experience — through introspection.
Introspection
My journey from pretty-dang-broken to slightly-less-broken was not a simple act of thinking more. Introspection must be an active process. To that point, there are two practices I believe have special significance to introspection. The first is writing — by hand — in a journal. I may speak more about journaling in a later article. For now, I want merely to note it.
The second practice that I recommend for introspection is divination. The Latin root implies foreseeing and foretelling, perhaps predicting or prophesying. A deeper etymology respects the older meaning of the root, which is cognate with divine and deity. Divination means “to speak with the gods” or “to be inspired by the gods.” That said, the gods — as has been noted elsewhere — are capricious. They do not predict the future as party tricks.
What, then, is the value of divination? Regardless of whether a divinatory technique will foretell how your next week will unfold, the act of thinking through your life, the people around you, and your situation within the context of the technique is remarkably valuable. Divination causes you to look at your situation from a different direction. Sometimes, the connections you make regarding different aspects of your life can be startling. Almost as if the gods really did speak to you.
The Major Arcana of the Tarot
My story today comes from the Tarot. In particular, the Major Arcana cards The Hanged Man and The Empress. The deck that I prefer is The Druidcraft Tarot, by Phillip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, in which The Empress has been renamed The Lady to be more in tune with Druidry and reverence of the Earth.
Mary K. Greer uses a technique she calls the Tarot Year Card. An excellent review of the technique can be found on Benebell Wen’s web site. In short, the technique is to add the numbers in your date of birth until the value fits within the number of cards in the Major Arcana. For instance, the date 05/15/1972 (not my real birth date) sums to 30, which reduces to 3. The Major Arcana card numbered 3 is The Lady. But 3 is also 1 + 2. The Major Arcana card numbered 12 is The Hanged Man. This numerical relationship has significance.
The Hanged Man
Judging from the picture of The Hanged Man, it is clear he is in a bit of a compromising position. In the Druidcraft Tarot, The Hanged Man is shown suspended by his foot from a tree. In other decks, The Hanged Man is sometimes shown suspended by his foot from a cross. Although his position appears terrifying, The Hanged Man looks serene. He does not seem upset by the way things are working out. Instead, he has accepted his fate — for the moment — and is allowing it to occur. He trusts that the situation will resolve in the way that is best, whether he knew it from the beginning or not.
As such, The Hanged Man is about surrender, to allow the Universe to do the work that it needs to do. When we fight the Universe’s work, we only make things harder in the long run. In times of overwhelm, the lesson of The Hanged Man is important: we will never know the outcome of our situation with certainty, but the Universe will operate the way it does with or without our approval.
The Lady
In contrast to The Hanged Man, The Lady sits in repose with a cornucopia. She is clearly pregnant and glows with the feminine power of creativity. She appears beneficent and loving, welcoming us to sit with her, to share her company, and to feel her peace.
The Lady is about the bounty of the Universe. She tells us there is always more to receive from her — we need only open to her. This last is the difficult part, however: to allow The Lady to work in our lives. She will bring us fecundity and fertility to enhance our lives, but the first step is to recognize that our needs ultimately will be met, even if not immediately.
Resolving The Hanged Man to The Lady
Between the two lessons of The Hanged Man and The Lady, the connection begins to appear. If The Hanged Man demands that we surrender to the Universe in order to allow it to do what comes naturally, the Universe can bless us with the bounty that already exists. It is only because we fight the Universe — fight The Lady — that our lives become more difficult and we experience suffering.
Each of us exists in our own particular spot of the Universe — our own fishbowl, as it were. If we content ourselves to swim in our own fishbowl, it is not just possible, but probable that we find everything we need. As we accept where we are, who we are, and when we are, we begin to walk the path of The Lady; we become capable of viewing the bounty that we already possess and the bounty that is out there for us to work toward.
The final step on the path from The Hanged Man to The Lady is actually to assume the role of The Lady. As we are all part of the Universe, our sparks of consciousness exist as part of Her as well as part of us. In a very real sense, we are the Goddess of the Land (perhaps just our own fishbowl). By allowing the Universe to work through us, we begin to create the bounty that is available. We fill our own fishbowl and assist the builder of all fishbowls.
Surrender sounds like a bad thing — we visualize armies surrendering in a war. But surrender only implies discontinuing to fight. When we step back and allow The Lady to do her work, our lives become more fertile. Embracing that fertility, we begin to participate in The Lady’s work itself, multiplying her blessings for ourselves and those around us.
