Life Lessons from the Hanged Man

The Hanged man can be a very frustrating card to come up in a reading. It shows a man hanging upside down and it reminds you of a death sentence. It looks like the man is helpless and stuck and has no help whatsoever. We all look for answers and solutions during a reading and when the hanged man appears, we do not get our required answers. 

But the Hanged man is one of the enlightened souls of the deck like the High Priestess and the Hermit. The Priestess gains answers from within, from her intuition and feminine gut instinct and the Hermit from his wisdom and experience so where does the Hanged man get his answers from? Patience..

Very often you will get a tarot client who wants a 'now now now' reading and many a time you can explain that such readings done in a hurried fashion can be misleading or will tell you the same thing which I am telling you: Hold on your horses and be patient. That is when the Hanged man appears, mocking the situation. You can't force or hurry answers to come to you, they will come when they are supposed to. The major life lesson of this card is Patience. 

When you're upside down you have a different angle of the situation. You begin to look at things in a different light. When there is a lot happening in our lives, we stop thinking, wondering, pondering. We only start doing. When we stop and stare, we can realize our mistakes and know what is going wrong.   

Meditation or contemplation are the two ways of getting out of any stagnant situation. Make the most of a situation by meditating or musing over things. Contemplation gives you more ideas and solutions. 

The Hanged man is a very positive card, and though on the outside it may seem that nothing is happening, a lot is happening within. Pay attention to this card whenever it comes up in a reading. Look at it as a sign to meditate, relax and make the most of a stagnant situation. 

Lessons from the Fool

The Fool is a very important card in the Tarot. It is the first card of the deck and though it seems like an inexperienced guy is just going backpacking, it teaches us a lot.

Traveling changes a person.. When you go on a trip all by yourself, the experiences and adventures you come across could never replace any bookish knowledge sitting in a classroom. Even the misadventures like the loss of a bag or stealing of your money just makes you more responsible and confident. After a trip around the world, once a person returns he is no longer the same. He has moved a few notches higher in his ladder of experiences. This is the journey of the Fool. 

So, this Fool teaches us many lessons and we can learn a lot from him. 

1. Be bold. Don't be afraid to travel alone. As long as you have your senses and gut instincts you'll be fine. 

2. Ignorance is bliss. He is carefree and couldn't care less. He doesn't care about what the world thinks like the Hierophant or if he is in balance like the Temperance or if his wishes will be fulfilled like the Star. He just knows.......that he needs to go on this journey and SOMETHING will happen which wouldn't happen if he was sitting at home twiddling his thumbs. Just go. Take a risk. Move ahead. And the Universe will take care of you. 

3. Be childlike. Be innocent and be foolish. The closer you are to being a child, the closer you are to god. Make mistakes as that's the only way to grow. 

Today remove a Fool card from a deck of your choice and just look at him: carefree, a wanderer just waiting for something to happen. He's the Hero of the story waiting to happen.