Oracle Reflection & Spiritual Wellness Resources for COVID-19
I can tell you from experience: nobody gets super excited to see “The Hanged Human” in a tarot card reading.
It’s an easily misunderstood card. It’s packed with symbolic references and it is a part of the Major Arcana of the tarot, meaning that this card presents us with an overarching archetype to consider as we move through the circumstances.
It looks like someone is stuck.
And in a sense… they are.
However, there’s more to the story of the Hanged Human.
The Hanged Human card, as depicted in the Four Twenty Tarot Deck by Julianna Rose. I love the playful power of this deck as much as I love 420. ;) Shop here!
In Queering the Tarot, Cassandra Snow explains, “The card can be about restriction—sacrificing something you want now for more success further down the line, to make your point or to further your cause. In contemporary decks especially, this card has also evolved to be about letting go, releasing your need for control, and surrendering to your current situation.”
A lot of my work as a Black feminist tarot reader is inviting folks to pause and tune in
To practice deep listening
To consider the ancestral wisdom, flowing in the blood and in the wind
To study and to shape the signs, omens, and sacred texts
We don’t know why the Hanged Human is upside down. We don’t know how they got to this space of suspension. And we don’t get those answers in the tarot. We see the Hanged Human, their gaze fixed on us, saying, “We’re here now. In suspension. In between. What can we do from here?”
Is it just me? Has anyone else noticed an uptick in emails, meetings, workshops, programs, workshops, and other online busy-ness? Yesterday, a good friend of mine noticed an abundance of new experts on herbalism, virtual platforms, and digitizing workshops. Another friend faces pressure from their university to continue pressing on with “business as usual.” Capitalism pressures us from each side to continue to be “productive” at this time. But the undercurrents of our collective grief and exhaustion weaves its way through all our Doing.
Time, for many of us, has become relative. And while the colonial time-clocks try their best to keep on ticking, our relationship to the world is shifting.
The Hanged Human is an acknowledgment of where we are. There’s some wisdom in embracing a pause. This card asks us to use the time considering the things we need to carry on. What things do we need politically at this moment? What do we need personally at this moment? How can we create community in more accessible ways as an ongoing practice?
"Suspension" (or The Hanged One) as depicted in the Dust II Onyx Tarot Deck by Courtney Alexander. SUCH powerful imagery all throughout the deck. Shop here!
As a Major Arcana card, we can divine that this will not follow a colonial timeline. It is a part of a larger constellation of interdependent things. Put simply, we're likely to be here for a good while.
Traditional depictions of this card show a figure with an orb of light around their head. It’s said in tarot folklore that from this flipped position, the Hanged Human gains a new perspective. They become illuminated. They become more aware. From this position, we can look out and assess our surroundings. We can also contemplate our internal world of soul & spirit.
The Hanged Human calls us deeper into the spiritual practices that hold us in tough times. To put it simply,
This is when we practice.
Your personal practice could be meditation, early morning prayer calls, chanting, working with herbs, sitting at your ancestral altar, pulling cards, moving your body, casting circles, revisiting a text, journaling, unpacking the astrology, singing sacred songs, contemplation, bearing witness, and so many other things. Let the practice nourish you first. Make the magic easy, weaving it into the course of your everyday life. Ask the ancestors to help you remember the medicine that your soul requires. Remember that spiritual wellness is our portion - something that we can call ourselves and others back into whenever we’re in need.
Resources to Support Spiritual Wellness
Free Tools for Individual Meditation
Protect Yo Energy | The Black Bubble Meditation (Audio)
Written & Conceptualized by Jade T. Perry
Read by Candace SimpsonThe Clearing: Cultivating the Inner Sanctuary in Times of Stress
Offered for Triibe Chicago’s Rise Morning Meditation SeriesListening to the Intuition of the Body (Video)
Offered for The Mystic Soul Project Teach-In SeriesApps to Download:
Liberate
Insight Timer
Resources for Independent Study
10 things that shift in a crisis: Interactive Webinar
Free webinar provided by Tracc4Movements & Teresa P. MateusMagic for the Movement: Coping w/ Grief & Touch Hunger
Pay-what-you-can digital guide meant to support you as you infuse intuitive wellness into your everyday life. Guide contents:Grounding & Clearing Spiritual Bath
Rituals to Soothe Touch Hunger
The “Heart-Fixer” Herbal Brew Recipe
Magic for the Ears: Songs & Sounds
Grief Awareness Worksheet to help you to identify & communicate your needs with loved ones, care workers,
friends, and / or family in trying times
Find Spiritual Community
1:1 Spiritual Support
Healing in our Times
Looking for more spiritual practitioners for 1:1 support? Check out the Healing in Our Times Resource List & Mini-Directory.
Note: This is a crowd-sourced list of resources so please be sure to check out the individual listings for more information & use your discretion. Scroll on for Jade’s specific recommendations for healing services & spaces.
“Wednesday Night Study is a live, virtual, & interactive community of mystic & interfaith spiritual learning where we center BIPOC, QTPOC, and disabled / chronically ill teachers & re-imaginings of sacred text. We practice ritual and meditation together. We share resources with each other. And we CUT UP a lot! Lol! If you need a space to practice with other folks, join us on patreon.com/jadetperry at any level. ”
Trusted Community Wellness Partners, Classes, & Services
Haji Healing Salon
