HP Tarot – 12 The Hanged Man

"The Hanged Man is a difficult card when drawn. Typically it makes us feel like we've been hung out to dry. You have no firm ground under your feet, old securities have turned upside down, and you have little control over your situation or how to get yourself out of it. You kind of have to bear with it, take it as time to learn and examine your beliefs.

Sometimes the card can also indicate the need for some contrary thinking. Take a chance, don't follow your usual blind instincts, do the opposite of what everyone and everything urges you to think. Perhaps you just decide it doesn't matter so much right now. Take a dangle and enjoy the unexpected view...

Well, I had to pick "Snape's Worst Memory" for this one, even though it emphasizes all that is uncomfortable and unhappy about this card, and less of the positive aspects that can be found in it as well.

Still Snape teaches us a valuable lesson as the subject of this card. If we fight it (by lashing out and calling a good friend a mudblood, for example) we're only making it worse. This card can only be effectively dealt with by accepting a certain amount of humiliation and loss of control and bearing it with patience. The Sin-eater or the Sacrifice are better archetypes to tap into than Pride and Wrath."

Again, the artist gives a fascinating explanation of the tarot card. The Hanging Man, artistically represented here as Severus Snape's worst memory, sometimes means looking at the world upside down, she explains. All of the later Harry Potter books include this theme. For example: The "good guys" of the story believe in Harry and Dumbledore, despite the Ministry believing the opposite. With more difficulty, both the reader and the characters must believe in Snape (as does Dumbledore all along), despite appearances to the contrary.