So one thing I noticed while editing today’s episode is that it is easy to tell when I am pulling information out of my head and when I have good pre-written notes for an episode.
I thought the first thing I should do in the show notes for the Hanged Man Card episode is to add in recourses about the history I touched on in the episode and give you some background information on the Hanged Man card being referred to as the “traitors card.”
Mini History
- Tarot decks as far as we know are from Italy, mainly the area of Milan. The oldest fresco-painted decks are from the 15th century in Italy. There is no complete deck from this time, however, there are single cards and groups of cards.
- The oldest complete version of the tarot that we know of is the tarot de Marseilles. A card game using Tarot styled cards with pips and trumps migrated from Italy to France.
- Tarot de Marseilles
- purchase your own Tarot of Marseilles
- The tarot cards were adopted by early occultists as a divinatory tool
- The Golden Dawn used the tarot deck as a divinatory tool and shaped the deck from the images of the Tarot de Marseilles to the more familiar Rider Weight Smith deck. The order was active from 1880- 1908.
Note: When recording the episode I mixed up my British Queens. I mentioned that the Tarot de Marseilles was popular during Queen Victoria’s reign and early occultism. And it is true that Queen Victoria was reigning during the time of the 1st wave of occultism
( you know when Éliphas Lévi and Aleister Crowley were hanging out and expanding their consciousness.)
My mistake was that John Dee was not Queen Victoria’s astrologer. John Dee was the royal astrologer for Queen Elisabeth the 1st. You can read more about him here. He was quite an interesting guy, if you are ever at the London Museum there is a little bit about him there. Including some of his tools on display.
Why is the Hanged Man Card also called the Traitor Card?
The 12th card of the tarot is nick named the Traitor’s card because in Italy the way to execute a traitorous person was to hang them upside down. In the 1400 there was a royal decree made regarding how was to hang a person found guilty of treason.
A 1393 decree for Milan and Lombardy of the punishment for traitors: "Let him be drug on a plank at a horse’s tail to the place of execution, and there be suspended by one foot to the gallows, and be left there until he is dead. As long as he lives let him be given food and drink."
one last wiki link for the above quote
** note that I chose to use Wikipedia links for you, this is because most of the information in this episode was pulled from my brain archives, things I had read in encyclopedias, library books and occult texts that I would not be able to accurately source. So I chose a reliable web source for reference.
So it is very interesting to me that imagery rooted in special torture for the act of treason has evolved into the idea of enlightenment and sacrifice. Many of our contemporary decks depict the figure of the hanged man to have a “halo” of enlightenment around his head similar to what we see in the iconography of the Virgin Mary.
That’s what I love about the tarot… how the ideas that are prominent in spirituality are reflected in the artwork of the cards.
Because each deck has the same 22 trump cards, we can follow their evolution over time. So much of early occultism is influenced by Christian ideals, simply by default as that was the dominant religion in Britain in the late 1800s and early 1900s. (and lets be honest it is still influencing our modern pop culture) So we see the idea of being tortured for your wrong doings morph into the idea that the endurance of suffering produces spiritual enlightenment.
I find that the hangman brings to my mind the lore of Oden in the Norse Pantheon. I feel that the history of the imagery of the Hanged Man card fits better with Norse Mythology and the story of Odin than with Christian ideas of sacrifice. Ever questing for power and knowledge, Oden hung himself from a tree in order to experience suffering and through that gain the knowledge of the runes. You see within the Norse traditions, it is typically women who possess the gifts of second sight, Oden needed to work to gain his ability to prophesize.
I have heard this story referred to by many a friend. Here is a link to a version of it that should be an enjoyable read.
But what does the Hanged Man Card mean …
in your readings and to your clients ?
- The figure in the card is suspended and bound, they are powerless
- Physicality and force will not help them
- there is a general feeling of stuck-ness
- your client is not yet able to understand the lesson within a circumstance
This is a card we as readers need to handle with care and understand that the card tells us what our client is experiencing.
Our client feels frustrated at their wit’s end.
The Hanged Man card is an invitation to dig deep within one’s self. To employ the strength of the soul and the heart to get through a time of hardship or trials
It’s about the power of acceptance.
The situation is not changeable, to attempt to force it is an exhaustive waste of one’s energy.
As readers, it is important for us to asses the whole spread when the Hanged Man makes an appearance. Our client is struggling with acceptance and therefore not able to have a good understanding of the full picture. Our job is to look for the keys of understanding in the cards that accompany the 12th card of the tarot. We can then assist our client in moving forward and through the issue at hand.
I hope that this adds to your understanding of the Tarot.
I have a YouTube video live today as well, looking at Hanged Man cards from my collection of decks.
If you are enjoying the content please do all the things that help
- subscribe
- like
- rate
- share
- comment
and if you are in a place to contribute … I now have a patreon where you can show your support and receive exclusive content
pppsst- I can earn commissions from some of the services/products listed on this site
Jodi Anne 
Leave a comment