the hanged man

As you may know, I have a hearty appetite for amateur divination. This afternoon I had my tarot cards read for the first time by a boy named David in a coffee shop in Bushwick. He was very serious about it, which of course was very exciting to me. 

The crux of the reading was to be the first card, which for me was The Hanged Man. When David flipped the card onto the table, he laughed and said this was very interesting. 

"The Hanged Man is one of the most mysterious cards in the tarot deck. It is simple, but complex. It attracts, but also disturbs. It contradicts itself in countless ways. The Hanged Man is unsettling because it symbolizes the action of paradox in our lives. A paradox is something that appears contradictory, and yet is true. The Hanged Man presents to us certain truths, but they are hidden in their opposites."

My feelings on tarot after the reading were inconclusive, so I'll probably do it again soon. I did find the imagery on the individual cards to all be strangely entrancing and beautiful.

"The Hanged Man has put himself in this position and there is no way he can win. And yet, that halo lets us know that he may be about to claim a sizable victory. He was not attacked, nor forced to be where he is, nothing is disheveled besides his hair hanging down due to simple gravity. With his hidden hands, he is not letting us see his manipulation of the situation. His bent leg indicates that he is getting quite comfortable being helpless. If The Hanged Man represents you in your reading, you are being advised by the Tarot deck to surrender, to change course or to let the universe solve a situation without your input."