“Even if I had virtues, surely patience would not be one of them.” Crowley, Supernatural

The Hanged Man (Card XII) is about the sacrifice of patience and waiting. Or as I have often referred to it, “The Hurry Up And Wait Card.”

Freedom of artistic expression may be what I love most about tarot cards; the images are different – sometimes in subtlety, often drastically – but essential meanings remain the same. I absolutely adore the differences as they help shape the interpretation in a reading. The same is true of The Hanged Man in our lives; one size does not fit all.

Let us begin with this understanding: no one chooses “patiently waiting” as their first course of preferred action. By their very natures, both patience and waiting signify an amount of powerlessness, lack of decisive action, or dependence upon an outside force (circumstance, time, people, etc.). Sometimes, the answer is not elbow grease – frustrating but true – and the questioned begged, “What can I do?”

Frankly, many of us miss the great opportunity provided by The Hanged Man, misunderstanding the differences between patient and passive, or waiting and idle. Patiently waiting is NOT the same as passively idle.

EXAMPLE Patiently Waiting: You are in a doctor’s Waiting Room, you pick up a copy of The New Yorker and read a fascinating article on Catherine The Great’s Amber Room, lost, likely forever, during World War II.

EXAMPLE Passively Idle: You are in a doctor’s Waiting Room, doing nothing. Your eyes drift vacantly from carpet pattern to fish tank to stain on the ceiling with no real notice or attention to any of it, surrendered to waiting for your name to be called.

Patiently Waiting is time that may be well-spent if you choose it. You might take the opportunity to review your thoughts and feeling, including what follows the “success” or “failure” of the pending outcome. Will you need to make changes to your life? Move your home? Change jobs? Master new skills? All things you could be investigating while you wait.

Have you done absolutely all the thinking, studying, planning you can do? There is nothing left but waiting?

AWESOME!!! EVEN BETTER!!!!

You have time on your hands, what would you like to do with it? Catch up on your reading? Watch some old movies? Clean out a closet? Bake cookies? Get your nails done? Meditate? It is YOUR time and you can spend it as you like.

The gift of The Hanged Man is simply a moment to catch your breath. Try to enjoy it.

((All images courtesy of Google images.))