Exploring Tarot Archetypes & The Menstrual Cycle: The Hanged One

 Tarot is a beautiful tool for exploring the energies that we move through during the menstrual cycle. Archetypes allow us to understand and explore aspects of the subconscious mind and offer the gift of cultivating compassion for our humanity. 

The Hanged One

Deck: Moonchild Tarot

For the purposes of this post, we will explore card 12 in the Major Arcana, The Hanged One, or The Hanged Man in traditional decks. This card offers a gift for the dark moon phase, the 2 days just before bleeding starts.  We witness a being hanging in repose, suspended in the air in peace and grace. The dark moon phase calls us to surrender all the hard work we’ve done in the previous stages of our cycle, leaving the rest to the will of the divine. The Hanged One, while inactive, is tapping into the stillness that precedes the shedding of what no longer serves.  Sometimes we get really caught up in hustling, grinding and busy-ness, so The Hanged one reminds us of how powerful it is to simply BE. 

 Dark Moon Phase

The dark moon phase before bleeding represents the liminal space where we tend to hold tension. There is resistance here to releasing  “the work.” Here, the Hanged One invites us to find comfort in the discomfort, meaning that we can find peace when we are most challenged. This meditative state is reminiscent of the one experience in Tree Pose in Yoga (Hanged One Reversed).

  With the breath as an anchor, we can find grace, focus and composure amid the storm. This is particularly helpful if you experience challenging and intrusive thoughts in your premenstrual phase. Can you find serenity? Can you return to the unshakeable centre point that is the true essence of your being? Can you stay open to surrendering to something beyond your understanding, knowing that what is about to be shed is creating space for infinite possibilities?

 The Hanged One can be a useful card for meditation. You can place it on your altar space in the days leading up to your cycle and observe what aspects of your life you are invited to surrender.