the guidebook for the mesquite tarot says this about the hanged one:
the hanged one is up in the air: resting in the discomfort of being in-between, floating in the strange gestation of metamorphosis. they've begun the process of cocooning, of undergoing dedication, deprivation or sacrifice to emerge with a rounded perspective, with the wisdom that often comes with seeing another angle.
the hanged one finds calm, a willingness in this inversion. they undergo disorientation with purpose, knowing that it offers knowledge that isn't available in comfort. in the space so close to death, the hanged one finds surrender, leans into the unease, the awkwardness, discovers a kind of playfulness up there.
and honestly? this is pretty much exactly what it means to work with a pluto transit.
but what is a pluto transit, i’m sure some of you are asking. it’s when pluto, as it is now in the sky, interacts with a planet in your birth chart. transits of all kinds can be important, of course, but the outer planet transits bring a special gravity. they all move so slowly, and pluto the slowest of them all. so not everyone experiences a pluto transit - and some people experience many different ones.
last year, after learning about transits in my mentorship cohort, i looked at my chart to see if i was going through any. and, lo and behold, there was pluto at the top of my chart, sitting with my chart ruler1, mars, in capricorn, in my tenth house of career and vocation. i have made a habit of not talking about any day jobs on the internet, but suffice it to say, this lined up with some challenges at work.
this particular transit will be ending this upcoming week, days after my surgery. i am terrified, of course, but i know that this is a thing i have to do. i have to face this. thanks to astrology, i am looking at it as a spiritual initiation; who knows what i shall find on my trip through the underworld.
this will be my last newsletter for a little bit - maybe all of pisces season. we’ll see, my darlings, how my recovery goes and what i feel up for. in the meantime, though, be good to yourselves. i love you.
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this week’s deck: mesquite tarot
this week’s gems: amethyst, milky quartz, clear quartz
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previously, in the hanged man: 6/24/18; 2/3/19; 10/13/19; 10/20/19; 4/26/20; 7/25/21; 11/28/21
the chart ruler is the planet that rules your rising sign. i am an aries rising, and aries is ruled by mars, so it rules my chart.