The Hanged Man Organic Tarot — Work in Progress
There is a moment in every creative journey when movement stops because transformation requires stillness. The Hanged Man has found me in exactly that place. This card has never felt like surrender in the traditional sense. Instead, it feels like the deliberate act of hanging between two versions of yourself: the one that brought you here and the one that cannot exist until you are willing to see the world differently.
As I assembled this collage, I kept returning to the tension between the natural and the constructed. Branches rise upward while the figure hangs suspended beneath them, rooted and untethered at the same time. Tropical leaves expand outward, refusing confinement, while the cosmos stretches endlessly behind them, reminding me that perspective is infinite if we allow ourselves to change our point of view. The golden vessel at the base became an unexpected anchor, not a weight pulling downward, but a quiet symbol that wisdom is gathered through waiting rather than rushing. Every element seemed to ask the same question: What if this pause is not an interruption, but the work itself?
The Hanged Man has become deeply personal as I continue building the Organic Tarot. There have been seasons when I believed productivity was the measure of my worth, where every unfinished piece felt like evidence that I wasn’t moving fast enough. But healing, grief, reinvention, and even artistic discovery have taught me something different. Some of the most meaningful growth happens when nothing appears to be happening at all. Roots develop underground long before branches reach toward the light.
Creating this card has also reminded me that letting go is an active practice. It is releasing perfectionism, certainty, timelines, and the constant pressure to explain every decision before it has had time to unfold. The upside-down figure is not trapped; they have chosen another perspective. They have willingly stepped outside the expected path so they can return with new understanding. There is tremendous courage in choosing not to force the next step.
As Organic Tarot continues to emerge card by card, I find myself trusting this process more than ever. Each collage is less about illustrating traditional symbolism and more about documenting the landscapes of transformation that exist within all of us. The Hanged Man asks us to believe that periods of uncertainty are fertile ground—that waiting is not wasted time, but sacred time. Sometimes the greatest act of faith is allowing ourselves to remain suspended just long enough for clarity to arrive on its own.
This card is a reminder that growth is rarely linear. Sometimes the only way forward is to stop reaching, loosen our grip, and trust that a new perspective will reveal itself when we are finally willing to see the world upside down.
