major arcana #12: The Hanged (wo)Man

[egypturnash]

edit: removed gender-specific label, added space helmet/halo.

Once upon a time, this card was "The Traitor"; in medieval Italy, traitors were executed by hanging them upside down by one foot. Over time, this became forgotten, and the striking image remained. Occultists found Symbolic Meaning "encoded" in the peculiar posture and linked the card with various rebirth myths, ignoring the imagery of an ignoble execution and substituting a sort of transcendent rising above the body.

Meanwhile, at one point it was common for medieval Italian decks to have the card we know as "Death" be unlabeled. Merely card number 13.

Trials, betrayal, transcendence - and possible death. Literal or metaphorical.