Upright
Sacrifice, suspension, necessary delays.
12. The Hanged Man
A time to hang out.
Reversed
Victim mindset, false martyrdom, struggling with suspension.
Element: Water
The figure on The Hanged Man is strung up by their ankle, and they are totally okay with this. Their face is calm and they have a little halo around their head to create the implication of a martyr. Their position is the same as the dancer in The World, but inverted. This is someone who is suspended, perhaps martyred, but at peace with their sacrifice.
This is the attitude that this card brings to the world. It speaks of sacrifice and suspension, not unwilling but made with an understanding of its necessity. The Hanged Man can mean delays, but delays that are needed, such as a time of incubation or a time of calm before transitions.
When reversed, The Hanged Man struggles with their suspension. It speaks to feeling trapped or victimized by the delays, or perhaps to a kind of false martyrdom in which someone has exaggerated the circumstances against them.