Making the Hanged Man

Last year, I joined a local tarot group on Meetup.com, so I could try to connect with some people who are into tarot. Don’t get me wrong – online interaction is great and I love it! But I felt like I needed more. I wanted to connect with people — in person — to talk about and practice tarot with. This group seems to have a few people who run different types of meetups. I’ve gone to one meetup where a small group of women got together and just practiced reading for each other, which was interesting and fun. I’ve gone to one of the monthly “big” meetups, where a large group gets together and discusses a particular topic (the one I went to — October –  discussed the “scary” cards, like Death, the Devil, etc.).

But the one I went to last night? That was my favorite.

Traditional RWS Hanged Man

It was a Create Your Own Tarot Deck party! It goes like this: discuss the card, then make your own version of that card as a collage. We met at a local art supply store. It was *really* cool, because it’s like a resale shop for artists, so there’s all kinds of weird, cool, interesting random objects there. So the woman who teaches the class there is a longtime tarot reader, and her partner kinda helps her run the class. Together with another friend, and the two ladies who own the shop, the have weekly — weekly! — classes* for this.

So, each week, they get together and discuss one card. Apparently they’ve only been doing the Major Arcana, and when they get to the end, they just start back at the beginning. (I think I have them convinced to at least do the court cards, too!) We talked about the card; its traditional meanings, our intuitive interpretations, its imagery and symbolism — using RWS as a standard. We all pased around the Hanged Man cards from the decks we brought. One chick had a hanged man from a deck (wish I could remember the name) that used naked people in all its cards. So yes, the Hanged Man was hanging upside-down and we all giggled at his hanging member.

*They’re classes because people like me had to pay $13 to attend (*so* worth it!), but it seems like the 5 core people don’t really have to pay. Hrm.

But you wanna know the best part? We got to collage our own cards.

Our 6 different interpretations of The Hanged Man

We got out a bunch of magazines and started searching for stuff that spoke to us about The Hanged Man. The idea is to create something that will help you remember and understand the meaning (traditional, your interpretation) of the card, personally. They had all kinds of magazines, including a ton of Playboys from the 80s, which had some *awesome* ads in them! This part was so much fun, and I wish we had actually started on time (I was 30 mins late due to traffic), because I ran out of time and had to finish mine in a hurry! But they even had a laminator, so my card is all super cool now.

Finally, we put all our cards together and took pictures, and when around the room to do a Show and Tell. It was so cool to see everyone’s cards and how different they were. I loved it! I will definitely be returning each week, as my schedule allows, because this was so much fun. I met interesting people I can relate to and felt comfortable with! I got to learn about and discuss tarot! And I got to MAKE THINGS!

Oh! Wanna see my Hanged Man?

My first ever collaged tarot card: Hanged Man

I know mine looks a lot like a RWS clone, which I kinda don’t like, but I ran out of time! My idea was to have my hanged man standing on the underside of the world, like he’s seeing it from a different perspective (y’know, since I’m in the northern hemisphere and stuff).

I liked the “hanged man” I chose because he looks meditative and comfortable hanging there. I also wanted a tree for him to be hung on, and I wasn’t especially happy with the one I chose (time, time!), so at least I blocked out some of the excess with marker.

Everyone seemed to really like mine, but I still think they were just being nice. I’m such a perfectionist, argh! So anyway, there he is.

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