The Hanged Man/The Horned One. Oy. Powerful combination: surrender and bondage. I need to think about both of those terms today, individually and in relation to each other, for there is a message for me in these two cards. Sometimes we cannot learn by attempting to impose our will upon a situation, and we are more effective if we allow the prevailing energy currents to direct us. But there is a difference between surrendering and allowing; that may be the thought of the day!

My Thoth card is the King of Cups reversed. Fire of Water; not a powerful combination. Crowley sees this King as being amiable and pleasant, but not necessarily enduring. He may respond to the needs of others with passion and rapid action, but he can be easily distracted from his purpose. He can also be very hard to read, probably because he really does not have a strong connection to his own emotions as his focus is outward. Because he is reversed, I am being told that while I may be easily distracted today in a way that might not bring serenity, I will be better at connecting to my own feelings than to the feelings of those around me.

My Legacy card is the Knight of Pentacles. Marchetti sees this Knight as waning Leo/waxing Virgo, as a combination of Strength and The Hermit, and as Fire of Earth (I have in the past seen the Knights as representing Air and the Kings as representing Fire, but I want to learn new things about Court Cards, so I will be The Hanged Man and go with the flow). Fire (hot/separates and dry/shapes) of Earth (cold/binds and dry/shapes) is the fiery part of earth, passion manifested in physicality. Both of these elements share the effects of dryness and the ability to shape, and because the two elements support each other they are known as a stimulating force. The dryness indicates a lack of Water, which means that this Knight focuses strictly on his physical realm, and does not allow the distractions of emotions or intuition or event the intellect to distract him.

Just as a comparison, Air (hot/separates and wet/adapts) of Earth (cold/binds and dry/shapes) would be Marchetti’s interpretation of the King of Pentacles. In this combination, known as resolute force, the intellect overrides the senses. Air and Earth are opposites; does this polarity weaken this King or strengthen him? I think in many cases the Air/intellect combination may save the day; while he may not have experienced emotions or intuition, he at least knows of them.

Day 9 of my 40-day Reiki application, and my brain really does seem to be reaching out of the box more frequently in order to make connections. For instance, I have felt pulled back to learning about the Tarot, so last night I purchased “Understanding The Tarot Court” by Greer & Little so that I can deepen my connection to the Royals of the Tarot, and hopefully also learn more about the aha! moments I had on Sunday evening. This morning, my Welsh card Throw was two Majors, both of which are connected in some way to the element of Water. Soooo, perhaps it is time to do another set of elemental absorption exercises, only this time I will see the elements through the symbolism of Tarot, and in turn, deepen my understanding of the cards themselves. And the first element I will work on? Water, of course.

As a very brief starting point, I see even numbers as having a more feminine essence, I see the elements of Earth and Water as being feminine, and I see the ranks of Queen and Page as being more feminine. Not necessarily gender-feminine, but rather energy effect-feminine; unless specifically directed to do so, I will be keeping my focus on energy effects rather than gender.

Early on this morning, soon after deciding that this would be my focus for the near future, I was given a lesson in the effects of water. I sat in my car as usual, doing my morning chakra balance before leaving for work. It was raining, and so I allowed myself to “unfocus” a bit as I watched the raindrops hit the windshield and then flow downward. I realized with a start that it appeared like the front of the car was levitating! I allowed my gaze and my mind to relax, and it happened again! Now, I know that my car was not levitating, but what I realized was that if I relaxed my focus for a bit, the water flowing down the windshield gave the illusion that it was not moving at all, and that the front of my car was actually moving upward. I was able to focus enough to make the sensation stop and then repeat the sensation several times, LOL, to the point where I was getting a bit queasy. Proof positive that the mind has an effect on what we see because the mind is interpreting information through the prejudice of my personal “pattern catalogue.”

Okay, side trip here. As I mentioned in my post on Sunday, it is our eyes that actually perceive light and dark, color and shape; our eyes transform sights into electrical data, which it then sends to the brain, via the web of nerves (our physical communication system), for interpretation. Like an email that we type and see on our computer screen that is transformed by our computers into zeros and ones and then transmitted on the “web” of the Internet to another computer, which then recreates the email (but using its own defaults whenever necessary), our brains receive the data and then recreate what the eyes have seen, filling in the blanks from our own pattern catalogue when necessary. This tells me two things: (1) the brain does not always see exactly the same thing that the eyes see, and (2) the brain can “see” from other sources than our eyes as long as the data to be interpreted is transmitted to the place in the brain that interprets electrical data as sights. If the data gets sent to the part of our brain that understands taste, we will “taste” it, and if the data goes to the part of our brain that understands feelings and emotions, we will “feel” it.

Okay, back to the topic of the day. After a few stomach-settling breaths, I brought my mind back to the topic at hand: Water and my two Major Arcana cards. The Hanged Man corresponds with the Hebrew letter Mem (which means water), and with the planet Neptune (named for a Roman God of water and the oceans, and horses), and The Horned One corresponds with the Hebrew letter ‘Ayin (which means eye), and the sign Capricorn (which is a Cardinal Earth sign).

The Hanged Man is about surrendering, and about the paradox of choosing to do nothing at all in order to actively find the answer to a question. It is the only card specifically based on a mythological figure, Odin; the image also usually refers us back to The Emperor, for The Hanged Man is usually shown with his legs crossed in a manner similar to The Emperor (except that sometimes the crossed leg is behind the other leg for The Hanged Man, while the crossed leg is resting on top of the other leg for The Emperor) The Hanged Man not only hints to us that we need to look at things in a totally different way, but he also tells of the possibility that our answers may come to us through sacrifice. As a side note, The Emperor is about order and structure, acceptance of leadership and the responsibilities that leadership entails, and using the mind, the intellect and the will to shape the world.

Basically, the element of Water is about feelings, emotions, and sensations, about adaptation, dilution and purification, about going with the flow, and about the subconscious, inner messages, intuition and psychic abilities. The planet Neptune represents spirituality and a connection to the subconscious, clairvoyance and idealism. The Hebrew letter Mem corresponds with the element of Water, and represents oceans and origins and the Mother. It is about transformation through movement, through surrendering to the movement.

The Horned One is similar to The Empress in that his energies are focused on the pleasures of the physical world, but while her focuses are based on outward creation, The Horned One is more about grabbing onto those pleasures and making them his own. The Horned One reminds us that consciously allowing something to happen can be a little different from surrendering to the flows of energy. The difference is that when we surrender, we are not encouraging the continuation of the effect; when we allow something to happen the way that The Horned One allows something to happen, we are encouraging and enabling it to happen and to continue happening. In some situations this is useful, but the addictive nature of the effects of this energy makes it very dangerous to use.

Basically, the element of Earth is about security, foundation, support, physical health, creativity and fertility, and everything we need to be physically healthy and happy. The sign of Capricorn represents ambition, especially with regard to power or position or money, self-disciplined persistence, being responsible and practical, and being able to use what one has for ones own furtherance. The Hebrew letter “Ayin” corresponds to the eye, and springs, holes that you can see through, and the source from which things emit, and it tells of a connection to the senses and to the sense of humor. However, it is also about destruction through antagonism, and the insistence on placing undue importance on sensory satisfaction and the emptiness that comes from indulging in this way.

So how does all of this relate to my elemental absorption exercise with water? I realized that water has enough of a connection to hold itself together, but it tends to assume the shape of things around it because it does not have enough structure to hold a shape of its own. Its weight and flexibility will always cause it to seek the lowest place, and it will contort itself however possible in order to get to the lowest place. If you split a body of water up into segments the water will allow that to happen, but if you combine them back together they will merge seamlessly and effortlessly, accepting the merge as easily as the split-up. Water will not flow uphill, so once it reaches its lowest place, it will most likely not be able to rise upward without outside help.

Well. Even though The Horned One is an Earthy card, I can see that the element of Water has some connection to it as well as to The Hanged Man.

I will have more to say about the Court cards once I get further into my book.

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