12. The Hanged Man.
The gallows from which he is suspended forms a tau cross, while the figure, from the position of the legs, forms a fylfot cross. There is a halo about the head of the seeming martyr. It should be noted first that the tree of sacrifice is living wood, with leaves growing from it; secondly that the face expresses deep entrancment, not suffering; thirdly that the figure, as a whole, suggests life in suspension, but life and not death. It is a card of profound significance, but all the significance is veiled. It has been called falsely a card of duty; but we may exhaust all published interpretations and find only one variety. I will say very simply on my own part that it expresses the relation, in one of its aspects, between the Divine and the Universe.
-White, A. E. _The Key to the Tarot_
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