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Thoth- ATU 12-The Hanged Man

The Spirit of the Mighty Waters.

Is a curious image of the Old Dying God and Severity and its implications are very different from the previous paths that connect the Personality and the Higher Self; Severity, because this is the Path of Mem (Meaning-Water) that connects Hod (Splendor) and Geburah (Severity) on the Pillar of Severity.

The Hebrew letter-MEM, (Water) is a one of the three Maternals, and implies a Baptism in Maternal Waters, as the other two: The Path of Shin (Art) is a baptism in Fire, and The Path of Aleph-The Fool, is a baptism in Air. Of all these three Baptisms, the Baptism in Water (Consciousness=Unconscious and Subconscious + Waking consciousness/The Astrals) is the central and pivotal experience of the entire Qabalistic Tree of Life.

Consciousness, is the Alchemical First Principle, also called the Thinking Principle and is referred to the physical image of Water because it is alike water in wave motion, and fluid flow. The lowest expression of the First Principle, is first found, by the upward traveling initiate, as the Astral Fluid of the Mind that is drawn down the Path of the Universe into Yesod, the Foundation Sephiroth. This Thinking Principle, the Astral Fluid, is found as the Stable Intelligence, by virtue of consistency, in all Sephiroth and Paths as it underlies everything that is.

Crowley, believed that the Hanged Man, as traditionally and historically understood, is an obsolete Tarot image in the New Aeon Deck. He implies that it is an evil legacy and even goes on to compare it to the appendix, an organ in the human body that serves no apparent purpose:

This card is beautiful in a strange, immemorial, moribund manner. it is the card of the Dying God; its importance in the pack is merely that of the Cenotaph. [Book of Thoth-Pg. 97]

Cenotaph, is a term describing a tomb or monument to honor a person whose body is buried somewhere else.

Pointing downward, the Spirit is drowned in the Maternal Waters where upon, perceiving itself as a Soul, as an intrinsic and inseparably part of the One Consciousness. The arms and legs of the upside down crucified figure make a figure of a cross surmounting a triangle, which according to Crowley signifies " the descent of the light into darkness in order to redeem it." [Book of Thoth, Pg. 96]

Therefore, it is also an image of the *cosmic sacrifice that creates, sustains and destroys the universe.

*

Hindu cosmological view

Many Hindu philosophies mention that the creation is cyclic.^[19]:104 According to the Upanishads, the universe and the Earth, along with humans and other creatures, undergo repeated cycles of creation and destruction (pralaya). A variety of myths exist regarding the specifics of the process, but in general the Hindu view of the cosmos is as eternal and cyclic. The later puranic view also asserts that the universe is created, destroyed, and re-created in an eternally repetitive series of cycles. In Hindu cosmology, age of earth is about 4,320,000,000 years (one day of Brahma that is 1000 times of sum of 4 yugas in years, the creator or kalpa) and is then destroyed by fire or water elements. At this point, Brahma rests for one night, just as long as the day. This process, called pralaya (cataclysm), repeats for 100 Brahma years (311 trillion, 40 billion human years) that represents Brahma's lifespan.

Hindu views on evolution - Wikipedia

Crowley identified the Age of Isis, with Elemental Water. In this ancient age, it was universally believed that woman gave birth to children, alone and her body became the altar of her sacrifice . Hence the image of the upside down form, as if it was a baby in the womb's amniotic fluid is being positioned for birth.

The next Aeon of Osiris, was identified with the Element of Air, which is sympathetic with both fire and water. Making the sacrifice in the Age of Osiris one of compromise. The age of the Dying God, who wasn't a true Messiah or Savior unless he was first baptized and the compromised his own body by allowing it to be tortured, murdered then crucified or hung or nailed to a tree to redeem the lives of his people. This was the time of "Slave" religions, for only slaves needed Saviors.

The New Age of Horus is identified with the Element of Fire. In this Aeon of Horus the water of the Hanged Man and the fire of the Aeon aren't copacetic. Crowley writes:

"But now under a fiery Lord of the Aeon, the water element, so far as water is below the Abyss, is definitely hostile, unless the opposition is the right opposition implied in Marriage". [The Book of Thoth, Pg. 96}

The marriage he is talking about is the "annihilation of Self in the Beloved" [Book of Thoth, Pg. 96]

This is symbolized by the Ankh (the union of the Rose and Cross-Male and female.)

Carl Jung, who coined the phrase. Collective Unconscious, describe this Water of Mem as a "...boundless expanse full of unprecedented uncertainty, with apparently no inside and no outside, no above and no below, no here and no there, no mine and no thine, no good and no bad". To him the First Principle of the Alchemists was also described as Water, as he states, "It is the world of water, where all life floats in suspension: where the realm of the sympathetic system, the soul of everything living begins; where I am individually this and that; where I experience the other in myself and the other-than-myself experiences me.....the collective conscious is anything but an encapsulated personal system; it is sheer objectivity, as wide as the world and open to all the world." 

I would highly recommend that the initiate reads the works of Carl Jung, on the Collective Unconscious. Thus gaining a modern understanding of the ancient wisdom. To put it another way, in the state of consciousness we are "always the subject that has an object", a reality that is totally turned around in the Collective Unconscious where, we are "the object of every subject", as stated by Carl Jung.In other words, our subjective Self, I AM becoming objective Self, Me, when immersed in the Maternal Waters on the Path of Mem. THE HANGED MAN.; where the invisible becomes visible.

The initiate knows that we must move constantly upward on the Paths of the Tree of Life, for only through the hindsight gained by going to a higher Sephiroth, can we experience an understanding of the qualities of the lower Sephiroth. The Path of Mem, leads to Geburah (Severity) which is directly above Tiphareth (Beauty); Geburah is the Fiery or Active part of the Higher Self and is shown as Red in color; the color of Mars. This further illustrates the point that Geburah is the fiery energy on the Pillar of Water below Binah. In the Thoth Tarot card of the HANGED MAN, the Womb of Binah is where the hanging figure's foot is held.; from the oval of the Egyptian Ankh, which is the cross like symbol ( also called the Tau cross) of both Divine Androgyny and Infinity.

To the one who has traveled the Paths to this point, it is to be noted that the Path of Mem, the HANGED MAN, must be approached very differently than the lower paths. Here, the mediator becomes the object of one's own meditation. The individual becomes the "other" which was previously the object of pursuit; the "other" now becomes the initiate. Thus it can be said, that the personality meditates in pursuit of the Higher Self, who then becomes or envelopes the Personality of the pursuer creating a Higher Sensual self.... A self often stated as having "Magick Abilities".

The Path of Mem, THE HANGED MAN- ATU/Key 12, has a reverse figure on the card that represents the Soul- Self imposing a complete reversal of perspective which is a suspension of individual consciousness into the Material. Much like the reflected image in the mirror, looking at the real non-reflected image that is the object of reflection. However, this is a willing suspension, done by an initiate's conscious effort, a type of sacrifice or baptism, where the perspective of "I Am" is cleansed of the illusions of the material world, i.e. the ME.

Because of this sacrificing of one’s individual perspectives to the Greater Self perspective of One, the Thoth HANGED MAN is shown in a suspected state of baffling (hanging by one leg) or crucifixion that images the myth of the Dying God. (Dionysus. Osiris, Odin, Christ etc.), Some of my more observant students have asked why the Hanged Man is crucified on the Left Hand Path or one side of the Tree of Life as it would seem logical to have him spanning the Tree.

The reasoning behind this one-sided nonfiction, is because this is an intellectual experience, as shown by the legs positioned into the upside down number 4 which is suspended above the Triangle (3) implied by the positioning of the arms. Four is the number of the Emperor Key-4 of the Thoth Deck Tarot, and represents the rational qualities of the Mind while 3 is the number of the Empress, the imaginative qualities of the mind (also seen in the number 12, 1+2=3). Thus, positioning the rational qualities of the mind over the desire principle.

This suspension and or crucifixion in space, is also what happens when the spinning WHEEL OF FORTUNE, the tenth key and the opposite Path of Caph (the Path between Netzach and Chesed) is willfully arrested by the initiate.

The HANGED MAN is repose, while the WHEEL OF FORTUNE is activity both of which form a balance that is known as the activity and passivity of the ONE THING.

Therefore, one of the primary qualities of the HANGED MAN is that it is a Path of eternal probabilities and/or eternal unresolved possibilities. Thus the HANGED MAN is openness without end while THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE, is the exact opposite, as it encloses in eternal motion., i.e. making a limited thought pattern and/or Form. When Mem (Water-consciousness) is closed, it becomes the Ankh (a form of the Tau cross) The Ankh represents Mem reversed and/or the Birth Mother.

In Crowley's card of the HANGED MAN, illustrated by Lady Frieda Harris, the figure emphasizes the cross-triangle, and is suspended from the Ankh, being attached to this form of the Tau Cross, by a coiled serpent that symbolizes “the creator and destroyer who operates all change". There is also a lower coiled serpent that represents the effect of the Work of God: As Crowley states in his book of Thoth: "Through his work a Child is begotten, as shown by the Serpent stirring in the Darkness of the Abyss below him."

As I have stated before, this is the card that shows the reversal of perspective, where the individual identity, reflected in the light of consciousness (reflecting side of the Mirror of Self), becomes the Universal Identity (The Dark or non-reflective side of the Mirror of Self) that is manifested as the Soul in the Collective Unconscious, the Maker of All Things. Successful skrying of this card will reverse perspective, so that the mediator becomes the object of t one's own meditation. Which could be stated as, where the Soul/Psyche is observing the body, rather than the body seeking its soul.

The Gothic Tarot-Key 12-The Hanged Man, doesn't show a baffling or hanging of anyone. However, the Ankh is shown hanging from a thread held by the medusa.

The Real Story of Medusa: Protective Powers from a Snake-Haired Gorgon

In ancient Greek mythology, Medusa is the most famous of three monstrous sisters known as the Gorgons. The earliest known record about the story of Medusa and the Gorgons can be found in Hesiod’s Theogony. According to this ancient author, the three sisters, Sthenno, Euryale, and Medusa, were the children of Phorcys and Ceto and lived “beyond famed Oceanus at the world’s edge hard by Night”. Of the three, only Medusa is said to be mortal. But she is also the most famous and the myth of her demise at the hands of Perseus is often recounted.

Why Did Medusa Get Cursed?

Although Hesiod gives an account of Medusa’s origins and the death of Medusa at the hands of Perseus, he does not say more about her. By contrast, a more comprehensive account of Perseus and Medusa can be found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In this work, Ovid describes Medusa as originally being a beautiful maiden. Her beauty caught the eye of Poseidon, who desired her and proceeded to ravage her in Athena’s shrine. When Athena discovered the sea god had ravaged Medusa in her shrine she sought vengeance by transforming Medusa’s hair into snakes, so that anyone who gazed at her directly would be turned into stone.

The Real Story of Medusa: Protective Powers from a Snake-Haired Gorgon | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net)

In the Myth of Medusa, she was said to reside "beyond famed Oceanus at the world's edge hard by Night". Beyond the Water of Mem and at the meeting place of the water and the Abyss. Which is descriptive of the Ankh, who is Geburah in the Hanged Man Tarot and Qabalistic Sephirotic Philosophy. Hair of Snakes, and/or one whose hair is made of the many serpentine frequencies of Light that all Manifestation is woven off. The serpents of the Hanged Man card represent these frequencies. Therefore, the Sacrifice of Medusa, of giving her head to mankind (Perseus) is similar to the Divine Mother giving or sacrificing her Psyche/Mind to mankind-----we call it Imagination. Therefore, I would say that Anne Stokes actually has shown an occult understanding of the Tarot Hanged Man.

When THE HANGED MAN -ATU/Key 12, is thrown during a reading,

• The querent will be or is, experiencing moments of enforced sacrifice, maybe even punishment.
•  Loss that is not voluntary and general suffering.
• This is the Principle of Surrender in order to break old patterns.
• A time when one must accept reversals.
• Over coming the Ego. 
• Changing one's ways. 
• Redemption/the redemptive absorption .
• Maturity.
• Finding Wisdom

If ill defined by the surrounding cards:

• Standstill. 
• Resistance and self-sacrifice.
• Not seeing any purpose in life.

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