An empty crossroads on a heath at night, a leaning signpost and poppy heads in the verge.

The tarot · XII

The Hanged Man

Spirit of the Mighty Waters

The face of XII, The Hanged Man, engraved in gold on black, with its title, Spirit of the Mighty Waters.

Surrender, sacrifice and seeing from the other side.

Upright

A pause that changes everything. Let go of control and look at the situation upside down. The insight you want comes through yielding, not pushing.

Reversed

Stalling, martyrdom or sacrifice that serves no one.

Show the spirits

The spirit work

Tharsis rules the element of water under the King Nichsa. Odin hung nine nights on the tree to win the runes. Sit with this card face down for a day before reading it.

A question to sit with

What am I being asked to release so I can see clearly?

Where the card sits

Correspondences

Path23, Geburah to Hod
Hebrew letterMem, the water, value 40
AstrologyThe element of Water
Presiding powerOdin, who hung nine nights for the runes
Governing angelsArchangel Gabriel; angel Taliahad
SpiritTharsis, ruler of Water, over King Nichsa of the Undines
Seala rose sigil of Tharsis
RuneEihwaz, the yew: endurance and the axis between worlds
The Hanged Man in the guidebookAll seventy-eight cards

The Sablerune Tarot

In the making

Seventy-eight cards in fine gold line. Hear when the deck is ready to hold.

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Notes on sources

The meanings, the questions and the correspondences are the guidebook’s own. The paths, letters and astrology follow the Golden Dawn’s attributions; the angels are the Shem ha-Mephorash, as the deck gives them; the spirits, shown only when you ask for them, are the seventy-two of the Goetia. Where each comes from, and what is old and what is modern, is set out in the guidebook’s Notes on sources and seals.