Episode 172: Head Over Heels: On the Hanged Man of the Tarot

Weird Studies

The Hanged Man is arguably the most enigmatic card in the traditional tarot deck. Divested of any archetypal apparel – he is neither emperor nor fool, but just a man, who happens to be hanging – he gazes back at us with the look of one who harbors a secret. But what sort of secret? In this episode, JF and Phil discuss the card that no less august a personage than A.E. Waite, co-creator of the classic Rider-Waite deck, claimed was beyond all understanding.

The musical interludes in this episode are from Pierre-Yves Martel's recent album, "Bach." Visit his website for more.

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REREFENCES

Welkin/Gnostic Tarot
Sally Nichols, Tarot and the Archetypal Journey
Rachel Pollack, Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom
Yoav Ben-Dov
Our Known Friend, Meditations on the Tarot
Richard Wagner, ”Sigmund” from Die Walkure
Aleister Crowley, The Book of Thoth
Star Wars
John Frankenheimer (dir.), The Manchurian Candidate
Alejandro Jodorowsky, The Way of Tarot
MC Richards, “Preface” to Centering
Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace
Alan Chapman, Magia