The Hsiang-sheng is a comic turn
Posted on May 30th, 2008
by 
cate
cate
in Chinese theatre
a monologue or dialogue narration
Old tales of warriors
and concubines
outlawed
as the guardians of the New Life
thundered the capital
be morally cleansed
of the past
Official cultural policy to weed through
the old and let the new emerge
a good deal of party ink
red blood spilt and spat
in spite
when she first saw the script
it created a furore
the rogue philosopher grasping your red flower
by your painter friend
I was pleased to see its beauty
and your appreciation of it when I saw it
but you always spoil everything dont you
in spite
the ordinary ballerina struggles
with the history of the dance
and the comic turns
to the Hanged Man
hey
a monologue or dialogue narration
Old tales of warriors
and concubines
outlawed
as the guardians of the New Life
thundered the capital
be morally cleansed
of the past
Official cultural policy to weed through
the old and let the new emerge
a good deal of party ink
red blood spilt and spat
in spite
when she first saw the script
it created a furore
the rogue philosopher grasping your red flower
by your painter friend
I was pleased to see its beauty
and your appreciation of it when I saw it
but you always spoil everything dont you
in spite
the ordinary ballerina struggles
with the history of the dance
and the comic turns
to the Hanged Man
hey
Access: Public
comedy
August 2008 
THE HANGED MAN
Basic Card Symbols
A man hanging by one foot from a Tau cross - sometimes from a bar or tree.
His free leg is always bent to form a “4,” his face is always peaceful, never suffering.
Sometimes his hands are bound, sometimes they dangle.
Sometimes coins fall out of his pockets or hands.
note..never sufferering..is not the case…it is Houdini at a pause…not rest or resignation..but inner rest …insight bringing peace of mind.
the situation is bigger than the individual..the coins falling may indicate financial loss..or loss of connection to the material realm..as the figure is tied to the tree and inverted.
…giving inspiration from above…
Basic Tarot Story
The Fool settles beneath a tree, intent on finding his spiritual self.
There he stays for nine days, without eating, barely moving.
People pass by him, animals, clouds, the wind, the rain, the stars, sun and moon.
On the ninth day, with no conscious thought of why,
he climbs a branch and dangles upside down like a child,
giving up for a moment, all that he is, wants, knows or cares about.
Coins fall from his pockets and as he gazes down on them - seeing them not as money but only as round bits of metal - everything suddenly changes perspective.
It is as if he's hanging between the mundane world and the spiritual world, able to see both. It is a dazzling moment, dreamlike yet crystal clear.
Connections he never understood before are made, mysteries are revealed.
But timeless as this moment of clarity seems, he realizes that it will not last.
Very soon, he must right himself, and when he does,
things will be different.
He will have to act on what he's learned.
For now, however, he just hangs, as if underwater, observing, absorbing, seeing.
Basic Tarot Meaning
With Neptune (or Water) as its planet, the Hanged Man is perhaps the most fascinating card in the deck. It reflects the story of Odin who offered himself as a sacrifice in order to gain knowledge.
Hanging from the world tree, wounded by a spear, given no bread or mead, he hung for nine days.
On the last day, he saw on the ground runes that had fallen from the tree, understood their meaning, and, coming down, scooped them up for his own. All knowledge is to be found in these runes.
The Hanged Man, in similar fashion, is a card about suspension, not life or death. This is a time of trial or meditation, selflessness, sacrifice, prophecy.
The Querent stops resisting; instead he makes himself vulnerable, sacrifices his position or opposition, and in doing so, gains illumination.
Answers that eluded him become clear, solutions to problems are found. He sees the world differently, has almost mystical insights.
This card can also imply a time when everything just stands still, a time of rest and reflection before moving on. Things will continue on in a moment, but for now, they float, timeless.
Thirteen's Observations
Neptune is spirituality, dreams, psychic abilities, and the Hanged Man is afloat in these. He is also 12, the opposite of the World card, 21. With the World card you go infinitely out. With the Hanged Man, you go infinitely in.
This card signifies a time of insight so deep that, for a moment, nothing but that insight exists. All Tarot readers have such moments when we see, with absolute clarity, the whole picture, the entire message offered by a spread. The Hanged Man symbolizes such moments of suspension between physical and mystical worlds. Such moments don't last, and they usually require some kind of sacrifice.
Sacrifice of a belief or perspective, a wish, dream, hope, money, time or even selfhood. In order to gain, you must give.
Sometimes you need to sacrifice cherished positions, open yourself to other truths, other perspectives in order to find solutions, in order to bring about change. One thing is certain, whether the insight is great or small, the spiritual is mundane, once you have been the Hanged Man you never see things quite the same. ..the coins matter…
it is the mystic in the material material world….the querent is ungrounded…suspended..the next card is death…a physical death is a possibilty..Houdini died in such a feat..and Odin was wounded….malnourished…
….out of physical connectedness to the body….connected to the tree…
a child climbed the tree
a man hangs wounded and suspended
……….
Onto the next Tarot card, Death…