My practice of surrender lately has shifted. Maybe upgraded is the word? As The Hanged Man repeats itself for me, I have meditated on it. Mystical awareness and surrender have been meanings that I have closely associated with this card: a felt understanding of the cosmos and a complete release to What Is. But that surrender always had an element of the Unknown to it, like we are releasing to whatever may be. The Unknown can be so daunting, so dark and scary. But there is some comfort in not knowing exactly what the scary thing is. When we practice surrender to the unknown, we become open to whatever may arise from the depths. Maybe it will be good; maybe it will be “bad.” But how about surrendering to that which is patently negative, at least from our limited perspective? In this reading, you can see Justice peeking from behind Hanged Man. This card has shown up for me as well. It’s Libra season, after all.

Justice is an invitation into complete, even if brutal, honesty with ourselves regarding our situation. We take a hard look at our lives and see that yes, there are things that are fucked up. We acknowledge whatever’s fucked. Hanged Man beckons surrender to THAT. Opening to the scary and daunting realities that are KNOWN to us. When faced with these demons, we don’t close our eyes and surrender to “what may be.” We look at them in the eye and simultaneously let go of our tight grasp. We let the frightening thing be, we accept it, we embrace it. At first this process is terrifying. And after a while it is terrifying still. But then fear gives way to acceptance, which is at first feeble but then gets cloaked with a fighting spirit. On the other side of the cold curtains of surrender there is stillness giving rise to peace. The demons of manifest reality can only do so much before the human soul has them outshone. Their fickle existence start to dissolve as we surrender—to the known and the unknown.