12-The Hanged Man – Reversed Thoth Deck

Your Chosen Card – The Hanged Man Reversed Thoth Deck

When reversed, the Hanged Man suggests that you may be clinging too tightly to an illusion preventing you from gaining a clearer perspective. Refusal to make a necessary sacrifice can result in further loss and suffering. Playing the martyr will not be productive. In Renaissance Italy, hanging someone upside down was a punishment reserved for traitors. After betraying Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec emperor, the Spanish conquistador Cortés killed the Aztec warrior by hanging him upside-down in a Christ-like pose, as is vividly depicted in the mural by Diego Rivera entitled ‘Exploitation of Mexico by Spanish Conquistadors.’

Keywords Reversed: Selfishness, egotism, betrayal, stagnation, reversal, delay, self-pity, clinging, rigid thinking, self-deception, treason, playing the victim, foolish martyrdom, helplessness, unease, disillusionment, hangups, conformity.

Key XII: The Hanged Man (The Traitor)
Myths/Archetypes: Jesus. Buddha. Odin. Cuauhtémoc. The Martyr. The Sacrificial Lamb. Benedict Arnold. The Traitor.
Astrology: Water (Neptune in some modern decks)
Numerology: 3 (Empress) = 1 + 2 (Hanged Man) = 2 + 1 (The World)

Element: Water

When The Hanged Man is reversed you can pretty much take it that life is going well but that’s when life takes us by surprise.  If The Hanged Man is unclear it may help to choose a card from the Major Arcana to provide more insight into what it is The Hanged Man is trying to tell you.  If you had a particular issue in  mind, or want to seek clarification on something else, you can also choose again to get more guidance.

This chosen card is part of your reversed card reading for The Hanged Man using cards from the Thoth Tarot Deck. You will find many more tarot pages that will be of great help if you need tarot card meanings. Use the search at the bottom of the page. We have some amazing tarot books for you to browse. Please see below.


Here are some snippets from a few of my favorite books

Complete Book of Tarot
Book Details
Complete Book of Tarot: The Golden Dawn’s influence on the development of tarot in the twentieth century cannot be underestimated. Several modern authors have produced tarot decks rooted in the notebooks and records of the Golden Dawn. Among these are Robert Wang’s Golden Dawn Tarot and Godfrey Dowson’s Hermetic Tarot. The two most influential decks of the twentieth century, those of Waite-Smith and Crowley-Harris, were brainchildren of former Golden Dawn members.

Tarot Books

Complete Book of Tarot: The element Water is assigned to the Hanged Man, trump XII. Modern astrologers sometimes assign Neptune to Pisces and to the Hanged Man.

Tarot Triumphs: Now it’s the turn of the Hanged Man, a young man suspended upside-down from a cross pole. A ripple runs through the crowd: What is he doing like this? Is he dead? Has he been hung as a criminal or a traitor? But look, he is quite serene. He is balanced, one leg crooked behind the other, arms neatly folded behind his back, eyes gazing forward. There is sporadic, relieved laughter when they recognize him as a skilled acrobat, one of the rope and pole dancers who gladden the streets sometimes. But nevertheless, his frozen posture casts a sinister shadow on their reckoning. To be turned upside-down like that would be uncomfortable, to say the least, and your sense of security could fall away in no time.

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Tarot Triumphs: Now it’s the turn of the Hanged Man, a young man suspended upside-down from a cross pole. A ripple runs through the crowd: What is he doing like this? Is he dead? Has he been hung as a criminal or a traitor? But look, he is quite serene. He is balanced, one leg crooked behind the other, arms neatly folded behind his back, eyes gazing forward. There is sporadic, relieved laughter when they recognize him as a skilled acrobat, one of the rope and pole dancers who gladden the streets sometimes. But nevertheless, his frozen posture casts a sinister shadow on their reckoning. To be turned upside-down like that would be uncomfortable, to say the least, and your sense of security could fall away in no time.