The Hanged Man — XII

 

Hanging Copper and Amethyst Star Tetrahedron / Merkaba, by scredgeometryheals

Anything that is hanging could be said to be a type of pendant,

early 14c., pendaunt, "loose, hanging part of anything," whether ornamental or useful, from Anglo-French pendaunt (c. 1300), Old French pendant (13c.), noun uses of the present-participle adjective from pendre "to hang," from Latin pendere "to hang," from PIE *(s)pend-, extended form of root *(s)pen- "to draw, stretch, spin." [OE]

So, ornaments are pendants.

XII The Hanged One—Winter Wonderland Tarot, by Joshua Franklin and Aaron Franklin

Here is a pendulous man on a "pendant," hanging on a tree. Ornaments are like fruit in that they are hung from a tree, but what is the fruitfulness of the Hanged Man?

The Hanged Man is called Le Pendu in the Tarot de Marsellies.

The Hanged Man, Tarot de Marsilles: Life in suspension, transition, apathy and dullness, boredom, abandonment, sacrifice, repentance, readjustment, regeneration, improvement, surrender 

He is not just hanging, he is hanging upside-down. He isn't hanged by the neck dead, but he is stuck. He can't do much physically from this position and it isn't comfortable either.

From Norse mythology the hanged man is Odin. Odin, in his quest for knowledge, sacrificed one of his eyes to Mimir's Well, located beneath the World Tree, for a drink of its water of wisdom, he stabbed himself with a spear, and hung himself on the tree, Yggdrasil, where he remained for nine days until he gained the knowledge of the Runes.

Since the runes' native home is the well of Urd with the Norns, and since the runes do not reveal themselves to any but those who prove themselves worthy of such fearful insights and abilities, Odin hung himself from a branch of Yggdrasil, pierced himself with his spear, and peered downward into the shadowy waters below. He forbade any of the other gods to grant him the slightest aid, not even a sip of water. And he stared downward, and stared downward, and he called to the runes. —Odin's Discovery of the Runes - Norse Mythology for Smart People

137.

I trow hung on that windy Tree

nine whole days and nights,

stabbed with a spear, offered to Odin,

myself to mine own self given,

high on that Tree of which none hath heard

from what roots it rises to heaven.

138.

None refreshed me ever with food or drink,

I peered right down in the deep;

crying aloud I lifted the Runes

then back I fell from thence.  —Hávamál, The Words of Odin the High One from the Elder Edda, translated by Olive Bray

"Yggdrasil, the Mundane tree", Baxter's Patent Oil Painting, from a plate included in the English translation of the Prose Edda by Oluf Oulufsen Bagge (1847)

Because of this, the World Tree is called Yggdrasil, which some translate as meaning "Odin's horse," Ygg(r) meaning "the Terrible One[as in One who evokes Awe]" (a name for Odin) + drasill "horse, steed," metaphorically meaning "gallows," from the idea of the gallows being "the horse of the hanged," so let us say instead here that the "gallows," galgi in Old Norse, is the "drasill ["possibly" from PIE *dʰer- "to hold, support"] of the hanga [Old Norse hengja/hanga "to be suspended"]. And it would make even morse sense to translate drasill as steed, rather than "horse" and say "steed of the hanged," since steed is from the same root as Old English stod [and stud (n.2) is reconstructed to be from PIE root *sta- "to stand, make to be firm," with derivatives meaning "place or thing that is standing" like a stud (n.1) from

Middle English stode "pillar, prop, post, upright timber used as support," from Proto-Germanic *stud- (source also of Old Norse stoð "staff, stick"[OE]

and saying "pillar" of the hanged makes a lot of sense compared to horse, which is, rather, said to possibly be connected to a root meaning "to run." 

Therefore Odin is associated with the gallows, which in English is from Proto-Germanic *galgon- "pole," from PIE *ghalgh "branch, rod," used in plural for the cross of cruxifixction in Old English. Therefore we could say too, he could be associated with the "fork," as in a "forked stake or post (as a gallows)", crux, or stauros, which all have similar meaning, being wooden devices for the purpose of execution, as discussed in the previous trump Strength. The resolution to "carry one's cross" all the way to to crucifixion or to "hanging" is an act of mental strength or fortitude which leads to the ultimate sacrifice, that of one's own life, in exchange for the greater good. However, hanging in this sense is not specifically death, but rather the suffering endured before death. Death, which is the next card on the fool's/hero's journey, card XIII, can result from hanging for a prolonged period of time, but hanging itself (when not done with a noose around the neck), well, . . . it just leaves one hanging, and a lot can go on mentally in that state of suspension. 

We could say in a way that we come into this world, as the hanged man.

Artwork by Ailis O'Reilly, 2014

We enter the world pierced by the wound of separation from our god selves, from the moment the chord it cut we drop into discomfort, sickness, pain, and hardship, and begin learning the language of ruin, from late Old English "act of giving way and falling down," from Latin ruina "a collapse, a rushing down, a tumbling down," which is incarnation upon this Earth, trying to find meaning and make sense of it all before we inevitably die. We, like Odin, desire to know the secret of secrets, i.e., to understand the runes, from Proto-Germanic *runo "a secret, magic sign, runic character." If we purposefully commit ourselves to find meaning and are dedicated in our quest for the highest knowledge and wisdom, somehow in our suspended state of suffering, affixed to this place and time upon the gallows of the World Tree, we learn things that would remain otherwise elusive to both gods and angels. 

Some people associate our view from Earth of the band of the Milky Way in the sky with the concept of the World Tree.

In recent history this view is much less prominent in the human psyche due to light pollution and our modern life style of spending more time indoors, however, in the past this view would have been the cause of much wonder, contemplation, and meditation during its periods of visibility.

It can sometimes be seen as a vast arching dome intersecting with the horizon. It is suspending, or spanning (both from the same PIE root as pendulum and pendulous, *(s)pen "to draw, stretch, spin") the sky. Or we might say the dome is drawn out across the sky like a great dragon or a long long (i.e., Chinese Dragon).

Western Han dynasty tomb mural of a warrior on a (long)dragon, found in Luoyang

Draw being from a spelling alteration of Old English dragan "to draw, to drag, to protract,"with a number of related words in different languages having the meaning "to carry," such as, Old Saxon dragan, Old Frisian drega, draga, and Middle Dutch draghen. 

So there is a common similar meaning shared between something that is drawn and something that is suspended or spans; dragan = "to draw" = *(s)pen

So then, perhaps, we might say the Milky Way plane as seen from Earth is also like another thing that can carry(dragan), namely, a horse, but more specifically, a steed or stud, if the Old Norse etymological origin for drasil (horse), is PIE *dʰer- "to hold, support." So a drasil, which is a *dʰer- "hold" or "support" for a rider, is something that is used "to carry", i.e., dragan. In English we call the animal a "horse," which is of "unknown origin",  however by some it is said to be connected to *kers- meaning "to run"(also source of similar sounding course which is a "run"n.) which would make it similar in meaning to equus "horse"(as in equine), Latin, from PIE *ekwo- "horse," said to be "perhaps" related to *ōku- "swift." So in English the horse is called after being a swift running animal, rather than an animal that holds or carries. 

Neptune's Horses, Walter Crane 1910

Etymologically speaking, then, the term "sawhorse" is a bit confusing since sawhorses are called after horses, presumably, due to their ability to hold and support (like a drasill), rather than for being like a horse in that they run or move swiftly.

For the same reason, the name for the World Tree being "Odin's Drasill," makes more sense when we consider the etymological origin of the Norse word, because trees(and gallows, crux and stauros) are like drasills in that they *dʰer- "hold, support and carry." And the word tree itself is from PIE *drew-o-, suffixed variant from root *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast.

It is interesting, then, that one Old English word for "horse" is hengest, as in henchman (14th c. hengestman, later henshman) said to be probably from man + hengest,

Old English hengest "horse, stallion, gelding," from Proto-Germanic *hangistas (source also of Old Frisian hengst, Dutch hengest, German Hengst "stallion") [OE]

And being something that "holds" or "supports," *dʰer-, could be a way to describe the dome of the heavens, and therefore the great branches of the World Tree, the thing that is firm and solid so it can hold and support, is called "Odin's Horse[Drasill]," so in other words, that would be the "hengest / hengst of the hanged," or perhaps we could say the gallows is "Odin's hengst,"or the "hanger of the hanged."

In any case this tree is where the god is hanged in order to gain knowledge like the sagacious long "dragon." Dragon being from 

Greek drakon "serpent, giant seafish," apparently from drak-, strong aorist stem of derkesthai "to see clearly," from PIE *derk- "to see"

The whole point of being the hanged man is to become sagacious like the dragon or long, and one might need to hang for a long time, and long for the time of hanging to be over with.

Long is from a Germanic root said to possibly be from PIE *dlonghos-, which is also the source of such words as Old Persian darga-, Persian dirang, Sanskrit dirghah "long." 

Sometimes things that are long can be difficult, they are dur "difficult, hard," and things that are hard can be hard due to their denseness [like a tree(*deru-) is *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast"]

It is interesting that Odin hangs from, Yggdrasil "Odin's Horse" and an Old English word for "horse, stallion, gelding" is hengest, From a Proto-Germanic root which is also the source of German word for "stallion" Hengst. Therefore, the translation of the tree, Yggdrasil, could be "Odin's Hengst" which is the gallows. And of course another way to describe something that is hanged is to say it is stalled in place (it can't move its place) like a stallion, from Frankish *stal, cognate with Old High German stal "stable." The stallion is placed in a stall to be stable in the stable. So "Odin's Hengst" is where he is stalled for nine days. And learning the runes hinged upon being hung. A hinge, cognate with Middle Dutch henghe "hook, handle," Middle Low German henge "hinge," fixes a thing in place. Which brings us to the Hanged Man in the Spanish decks.

In Spanish the Hangged man is El Colgado, from colgar "to hang," which comes from Latin collocare "to place / put; station; post; position," from prefix com "with" + locare "to place." So El Colgado would be the person who is "with a place (specifically)" which would be similar in idea to Le Pendu in that something hanging is "suspended" in place (in loco) and able to be located.

Dalí Tarot

Being fixed in place can make a person a bit loco after a while. How did Odin fare for those nine days hanging? Did he appear completely sane or did he come off as a bit of a colgado (9.b. "a nutter;" another use of the word)? You know? How does someone with any brains do that? 

The Hanged Man (Scarecrow), Halloween Tarot, art by Kipling West, 

"Be patient with limbo, suspended judgment, and postponed plans. Turn yourself upside down to effect change. Follow your own beliefs." by Karin Lee

[Are those Odin's Ravens, Hugin and Munin there at the top?]

Who purposely injures and hangs himself for love of knowledge or wisdom? Odín estaba colgado para las Runas, that is, Odin must have been enamorado "crazy in love" with learning the secret of the Runes.

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,

Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend

More than cool reason ever comprehends.

The lunatic, the lover and the poet

Are of imagination all compact:

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,

That is, madman: the lover, all as frantic,

Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:

The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;

And as imagination bodies forth 

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen

Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name. 

— Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

 The Hangged Man XII, Shadowscapes Tarot, Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

And he would have appeared just plane colgado in his "Eureka" moment, as he said, "crying aloud [æpandi "shrieking"] I lifted the Runes then fell from thence." I don't want to name any names, but lots of people have been called "crazy" for being excited (Nudy-Butt Archimedes, Rebel Yell Howard Dean, Couch Jumping Tom Cruise). The latter of those were figuratively hanged for their antics, and the former was actually killed.

After the Romas successfully captured the city in 212 B.C., Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier after he allegedly told the soldier, "Don't disturb my circles"—a reference to a series of figures Archemedes had outlined in the sand. Who was Archemedes, NOVA, pbs.org

So we could say Archimedes was literally killed for being loopy, i.e., drawing "loops." And that which is similar to a circle or loop is a bend. We might describe Odin as being a bit bent. He was bent on learning the secret of the Runes. The Hanged Man is traditionally shown bent or with one leg bent at and angle. And to be hanged is to be bent low or humbled, like another god man who hung on a gallows,

The Roman gallows was the cross, and, in the older translations of the Bible, gallows was used to describe the cross upon which Jesus was crucified (Ulfilas uses the term galga in his Gothic Testament. —gallows, Brittanica.com 

Cruxifixction - A Strasburgian painter possibly Hermann Schadeberg, [Some bent men on gallows]

When you are hanging you certainly have time to reflect "to think deeply or carefully,"or mirer "look at oneself," and one particular instrument of reflection (literally a "bending back") is a mirror. The word for mirror in ancient Egypt was [ˁnḫ ] ankh (a metal mirror), the same as the ankh hieroglyph which can be described as "a tau cross with an oval loop on top."

Egyptian Ankh Mirror Case, From Valley of the Kings, by Kenneth Garret

The top of the cross is bent like an anga "hook," PIE root *ang-/*ank- "to bend."

So we might say that another hung god(dess), Inanna, who was hung on a hook in the underworld, was hung on an "ang/ank" of sorts. [also discussed in Strength XI]

In Aleister Cowley's tarot deck the Hanged Man is literally hanging from (or hooked onto) an ankh and his foot is put in place (collocare ) at a very strict angle.

Alistar Cowley Thoth Tarot

The symbol that we know as an ankh was used both as a symbol and a hieroglyph in ancient Egypt. Ankh has the meaning of "life," but also, life, in a broad sense, such as the concept of eternal life, and the idea of a vivifying agent that causes one to be alive. It was often shown being held or carried in the had of gods/goddesses and pharaohs, sometimes being offered to another individual. 

Goddess Isis holding ankh to the nose of Queen Nefertari, tomb wall painting, Nefertari's tomb, Valley of the Queens

Therefore this concept of ankh it is similar in meaning to the meaning of the name of first woman in the book of Genesis, whom we know in English as, Eve, which is said to mean "life" or "living." Which name was transliterated to Latin as Eva, from the Hebrew name for the woman, חוה, transliterated to English as Havvah (hayyah) [among many other spellings], related to hayah "to live." To life! To life! L'chaim! So isnt it interesting if we spell Eve with an ankh [☥ = "life" = Eve], that the thing that the man is hung upon or affixed to is this "mother of the living"? or "mother of life, the woman♀︎? It is both the reason why we are here, i.e., life giving, generative, and at the same time, the implement of our crucifixion [being fixed to the World Tree in this time and space] and cause of [the experience of] death (because whoever is born is destined to die). But is also the reason why we truly see "weid" like God having "knowlege", דעת daath (from yada "to know").

"The Temptation and Fall [Ruin] of Eve", William Blake (Book IX, line 791, illustration Paradise Lost), 1808

"For God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing[i.e., having the lived experience of] good[what is pleasant] and evil[what is adverse]."Gen. 3:5

When Adam and Eve ate the fruit and gained daath "knowledge," they also gained death. But what if we say instead of "eating the fruit," that they"ingested" the "product/produce" hanging on The World Tree [incarnation] which is gnosis.

Pomegranate, photo by Julie O.

"You have eaten the sacred food of the underworld," said Ceres. Now you must return for half of every year to live with Pluto, your husband."

 

Suffering adversity isn't a punishment for receiving the "knowledge of evil" from the tree, suffering adversity is, rather, the consequence, because it IS the knowledge. Therefore it makes sense that suffering can lead towards wisdom (being like God), and so too, that entirely avoiding suffering can hold a person back (they remain in a state of innocence [not + harm/death] which is a type of ignorance "want of knowledge," like Adam and Eve before the fall). 

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:6

But why is it so important to be like God and to be wise? Is it worth it? 

Or is that entirely the wrong question? 

The fact is, as children of God we are destined to attain adulthood and be gods, that is, to be "like God," and not remain forever immature children. There is a time for being a child and a time for attaining or growing into adulthood. And when the child grows in wisdom and knowledge into their adult self, the child self necessarily has to die, which is a kind of evil, or at the very least it is bittersweet.  

The Hanged Chrysalis: caterpillar self dies, so that butterfly self can emerge, photo by Julie O.

But the combination of the adverse(bitter) with the good(sweet) makes life more rich, like dark chocolate and coffee with cream. It also makes one more rich or wealthy in knowledge.

Le Pendu, Le tarot dit de Charles VI, 15th c.

This hanged man looks as if he may be rich. But I'll be hanged if I know what he did to deserve this fate!

The Mighty Oak

   The Mighty Oak Tree, Fractal of the Day, by Jim Muth, 1999

Oak is a hard wood. The oak tree stands for strength and power. In Hebrew allon / allah is "an oak," or sometimes elah / elon is "oak tree[or other strong tree]; terebinth," which is similar to the term used for God and gods,  Eloah / Elah(Aramaic), from El (linguistically related to Allah), and Elohim (grammatically pl.). Elohim is the God of creation in Genesis. It means something like "the powers, the mighty." The oak is the mighty tree, and El is the mighty God.

Durable is from Latin durare "to last, harden," from PIE *deru "to be firm, solid, steadfast." So we could say, what is durable is like a tree. The word tree is in fact from this same root, from Old English treo, ultimately from PIE *deru, having a special meaning of "tree[oak], wood." The oak is the epitome of tree because tree simply means a thing of durability, stability and strength.

   Adoration of Osiris, Kha Funerary Papyrus, 18th Dynasty, c. 1567-320 BC, Egyptian Museum, Turin, Italy

Osiris was the ancient Egyptian god of resurrection and rebirth(notice his green skin indicating growth and life, like a tree). The name Osiris comes from wsjr, the transliteration of the Egyptian name of the god. The name is rendered with various different spellings, such as Usir, Usire, Ausar, Ausar, Ausir, Ausare, Asari, Aser and Wesir. Osiris was associated with the djed pillar which had the meaning "stability, continuity, regeneration." The djed was known as the symbolic representation of the backbone or spine of Osiris, as well as originally being associated with vegetation. 

The djed may originally have been a fertility cult related pillar made from reeds or sheaves or a totem from which sheaves of grain were suspended or grain was piled around. Eric Neumann remarks that the djed pillar is a tree fetish . . . –wikipedia.Djed.Origin and Development

The spine, as a pillar, is like the stalk or tree(*deru, support) of the body, or trunk, that supports the limbs and head. We might call the backbone our "oak"- bone in this respect. 

    Djed Pillar, Late Period, c. 688-332 BC, Egyptian, Faience, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Easter(in German Ostern) is a celebration at the time proceeding the first full moon after the spring equinox. Easter is the celebration of resurrection and new life. Ost is "east" in German. East is from PIE *aus-to-, *austra "east," literally meaning -to "toward" + -aus "sunrise(shining light of dawn)," from PIE *aus- (1) "to shine" especially the light of dawn. The dawn is a time associated with resurrection(as in the daily "rebirth" of the sun). 

If we compare this root(*aus-) with the name Osiris, aka Ausir, we could say he is the "bright, shining" (*aus-) + "eye" (ir in Egyptian). However, since Osiris was associated with the moon, perhaps this "bright eye" could be the shinning eye of the moon during its cycle, rather than the sunrise. Or specifically, perhaps, the rising of the Full Moon. Osiris was mythologically associated with the moon along with Thoth. The Eyes of Horus were associated with the sun and moon. Sometimes the left Eye of Horus, the lunar eye, was called the Eye of Thoth. In one myth Osiris is brought back to life after Horus gives him his eye to eat, which had been torn out by Set and then rescued by Thoth. The resurrected Osiris becomes the Lord of the underworld. Osiris/Ausir, like the moon, is one who shines in darkness.

The moon is a kind of shinning bone colored disc. In Latin os (ossa pl.) is "bone", from PIE *ost- "bone", in Greek ost is "bone." So Osiris could be the "bone eye," os "bone" + iris (bright circle) in appearance. Or the god of bone, i.e. Osseous, from Latin osseus "bony, of bone". 

    Full Moon/Shining(Aus) Eye/Bone Eye/Ash Eye

However, PIE root *os-  has the meaning ash (n.2) as in "ash tree," so we could say the moon is like the wood of the ash tree, which itself, in fact, looks similar to bone. Both the wood of the ash and bone are hard living organic materials. So it seems that the idea of bone is simply that it is a hard strong material similar in function to wood.

     Twisted Ash Staves - resemble bones

Ash(n.2) is from Old English æsc "ash tree," also with the extended meaning of "spear made of wood from ash"(from same root as Old Norse askr "ash tree," Old Saxon ask "ash tree"), from PIE root *os- "ash tree." There is a similarity with os as "ash," and os "bone"/ *ost- "bone." In Albanian asht is "bone." The ash is a tree with hard dense wood that is strong, but also elastic (or maybe we could say el-ash-tic). It ranges in color from shades of cream to light brown. The generic name for the ash in Latin is Fraxinus which also had the extended meaning of "spear," like aesc. Staves and spears need to be strong with a certain amount of elasticity like bones(to prevent fracture).

These words, ash and ask "ash tree," are similar to the Hebrew word for "tree, trees, wood," i.e, ets /etz/êṣ (pronounced ates) etseh(pl), as in the tree ('êṣ) of Life and the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 

And in Hebrew etsem is "bone, substance, self," also "wood, limb, strength," otsem "might, bones, frame," from atsam "be vast, mighty, numerous; brake the bones, be great." So tree and bone in Hebrew, like *os(ash tree) and *ost(bone), has the meaning of being a strong supportive organic substance. 

This at last is bone [eṣem] of my bone [meaṣamay] and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called išša / isha because she was taken out of iš / ish. Genesis 2:23 

Bones are also atsom meaning "numerous and mighty." Is that maybe atsom like awesome, as in, mighty and terrible? Bones are the pillars of the body. And bones can be sort of terrible and frightening when they are revealed under the flesh. Imagine a host "army" of dry bones given life like in Ezekiel. Terrible!

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the spirit came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great host. The Valley of Dry Bones, Ezekiel 37:10

    The Human Skeleton - An Awesome Figure

Atsam also has the meaning of "shut(the eyes)" (also atsah "shut, wink), a use of atsam "be vast, mighty, numerous[BDB],"  "break the bones, close, be great, be increased, be more, shut, become[Strong's]"

How is winking / shutting associated with greatness? Strange. Maybe it could be like the "winking" of the eye of the sun during an eclipse, which is a really awesome type of event. This kind of closing / shutting is a revelation that shows strength(the moon shuts the eye of the sun!) and majesty(the corona "crown" becomes visible) of the interplay between the sun and moon. Also, the time of the waning, "winking" of the moon brings about a new moon. The new moon is a time of potency, it is like the darkness right before the dawn. Like a pendulum at the bottom of a swing, it is a time when nothing remains to be lost, and then everything is gained. 

Yom Terruah, the Day of the Shofar Blast(which is technically a horn and not bone, but is bone-like) begins at the new moon in autumn, it is the end of the agricultural year, the time of reaping, and Rosh Hashanah "head(or maybe peak) [of] the year." It is the start of the High Holy Days, the Days of Awe(Interestingly, a or aw is the Aramaic word for "wood" corresponding to ets), which ends on Yom Kippur, "The Day of Atonement".

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever." Revelation 11:15

    New Moon, by Crystal Pomeroy, Global Light Minds

Atseh has the meaning of "backbone, spine." The backbone binds the body together and makes it strong like a tree(ash) in the body. Like trees and stalks, backbones grow with the body as well. They are not stone. The shutting of the eyes(atsam) in death allows for the rising of the soul to become(atsah "be more") something great like Osiris, by overcoming death. 

If you strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine. - Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars V, A New Hope, 1977

The osseous looking moon is resurrected each month in its cycle and thus is a symbol of a yin type of stability, like the djed pillar / backbone(atseh) of Osiris. It is a stability that exists within movement, yet is stable and sure, like the tides, and like the day itself. It is the stability that is not fixed, but organic and life giving.

Man / Adam, finally, becomes more fully like God Genesis 3:22 partaking of the knowledge of the tree. The eats(i.e., the produce/fruit from the ets[tree] that was consumed) first brings pain, but then it brings the remedy. And the remedy is transformative. Man is completed and made better because of the whole experience, like Osiris who was enclosed in the trunk of a tree The Story of Osiris and Isis. We might say Osiris was placed in "stalks," but this wood of his imprisonment, the djed pillar / stalk, then became the very symbol of stability and strength. Like the backbone of a body.

    The backbone(atseh) is the tree(etsem) and strength of the body. The endoskeleton[tree of the body].

I am the "spine"(ampelos "vine" in Greek, maybe something like providing ample"abundant"+ os "stregth") and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5  

"Christ calls himself a vine, because, as the vine imparts sap and productiveness, so Christ infuses into his followers his own divine strength and life." Thayers Greek Lexicon; Strongs 288 άμπελος

When you learn the lesson of the tree, i.e. the *deru "oak," you are learning a hard, durable lesson, that will make you strong; stronger than death even. But it can be a little terrifying(deru-fying). 

In the Norse Eddas, Yggdrisil, the World Tree, was an enormous ash whose branches extend far into the heavens. The spear of Odin(who was called Hoárr "one-eyed") was made from a branch of an ash tree.

    Yggdrasil, by Oluf Olufsen Bagge, 1847

Yggdrasil is said to be possibly from, Ygg(r), another name of Odin(possibly meaning "terrible one," terrible as in awesome)  + drasill "horse", Odin's Horse meaning "gallows", i.e., "the horse of the hanged." 

In Old Norse "gallows" is galgi from Proto-Germanic *galgon- "pole" (root of Middle High German galge "gallows, cross," Gothic galga "cross"), from PIE *ghalgh- "branch, rod." So this world tree is the gallows of the awesome God, Woden, the Hangi "hanged one,"  Hangatyr "god of the hanged," the seeker who bound himself upon a branch(*ghalgh-) of the tree, pierced himself with a spear(ash), and hung for nine days and nights(the number of completeness and finality) before the runes revealed themselves and their secrets to him(He was willing to hang there for however long it took, come what may). With the knowledge of the runes he became one of the mightiest beings in the whole cosmos.

      Hanged Man (on Gallows), 12th card of Major Arcana

Yggdrasil, the great ash, was Odin's gallows, or we could say Woden's wooden horse. This world tree can be compared with the the Milky Way, our "milky" circle,  galaxias kyklos (Gk), which forms a cross(galga) with the ecliptic. The Milky Way is representative of the cross of our incarnation in the flesh. The soul is fixed in a body at birth and enters into a world of pain with the stigma of original sin. We are all hanged men dying slow deaths, fixed or nailed to the xulon(Gk.) "thing made out of wood; staff, cross, pole, gallows" of the zodiac, at the time of birth. 

-for it is written, "Cursed(doomed to destruction) be every one who hangs on a tree(xulon). Galatians 3:13

    Galactic Cross, Conjunction of the Galactic Equator and the Ecliptic

The question is, "Are we using our time well?" Are we learning the secrets of the runes, or are we wasting away in pain, worry, anxiety, and fear until we are dead with self-loathing, guilt, and shame of the realization that we are pathetic worms hanging from a tree?

And why is a gallows called a "HORSE" of the hanged? 

Why is a sawhorse called a sawhorse?

It probably has something to do with the four legs; two on one side, two on the other, so that the equus("horse" in Latin) is equally balanced and is a vehicle of stability. Horses are very djed.

Sawhorse from The Marvelous Land of Oz, illustration john R. Niel, 1904. In The Careless Kangaroo of Oz he is given the proper name, Lignum(which is really just Latin for "wood").

Gulgoleth is "skull, head, census[head count]" biblical in Hebrew, from galal "roll, roll away, commit, remove" like the sky is the covering / shell / husk(skull) over the Earth, and is a great turning galgal ("wheel, whirl" in Hebrew), also from galal. So we could say our galaxy, i.e., the *g(a)lag- circle, is the galgal(wheel) that is our Golgotha, i.e. place of crucifixion.

At dawn the eye of the sun opens and everything is light. At sunset the great eye shuts and it is night. Shut, šwt is "feather" in ancient Egyptian. The shut of Ma'at  whose name means  "truth" pertains to mighty judgment. It was against this feather(shut) of Ma'at that the hearts of the deceased were weighed against in the Duat("afterworld"). When the sun sets it metaphorically travels through the underworld. Night is representative of the time of death and judgment.  

    Maat with Shut, Feather of Maat

The fan or the "shade"(as in, an object that causes obstruction of the light, like a lampshade or parasol) made out of feather/s(shut) makes shade(shut "shaddow"). A shade makes shade and a shut makes shut. Shade can protect (i.e., shut out harsh rays), and bring comfort and relief, but it also is a shadow(tsel in Hebrew, from tsalal "dark"), and a shadow is a tselem("image") of what is in the light, so the image that is shade(tsel) is dark, and maybe a tsala("lame") image and can be the cause of tsela("stumbling, limping, fall"). Remember Eve was fashioned from the tsala("rib, side;" "hillside" [so perhaps similar in the concept to the feminine and masculine channels "sides" in the body Ida and Pingala Nadis]) of Adam as he slept and was the cause of his stumbling(tsela), and a sideways glance from God as well(but they weren't trying to rib him, it was a very serious matter). Furthermore, shade reveals the fact that protection was needed from the sun and heat to begin with, and that the object which makes a shadow is itself not the sun. 

Then the LORD God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."

But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?"

"It is," he said. "And I'm so angry I wish I were dead." Jonah 4:6-9

Shade reveals weakness and this brings about judgment(like at night, when the sun, Ra, enters the Amduat and journeys through the hours of darkness to the hall of Ma'at [for judgment]) it is the time of seeing the truth(from PIE *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast," like tree, so maybe we could say treeth). We might say this time in the dark causes one *derk- "to see"(Ancient Greek dérkomai δέρκομαι "to see, see clearly"). People can be ashamed of their shadow selves and think that because they have a shadow they are bad.

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool [ruach "breath, wind, spirit"] of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:8

    God Judging Adam, William Blake, 1795, Tate Collection

Perhaps God was walking in the "truth" of the day, that is, the feather of Ma'at was a flutter? Breezes cool the skin, but they also fan flames. Knowing the truth can be either comforting or disturbing. Sometimes the truth hurts. The sun can scorch flesh, but truth can fan an inner fire that burns. The truth that the knowledge of good and evil provides definitely hurts, it brings itstsabon "pain, toil"Genesis 3:17, from atsab[like aw! stab] "hurt, pain, grieve," but this toil ends up being the cause of the crown(Estabon "crown," from Greek Stephanos) and glory of man, i.e., the happy fault, even if it is a crown of thorns. This itstsabon can be = It's a bon, i.e. "good" or a boon, a bonus. Or itstsabon can be a strong "bone" lessen of the tree, back breaking labor. It is a [purifying] puro/pyro πυρόω "fire"– fying labor.

    Christ Carying his Ets, El Greco, 1580

Etseb means "idol; labor, toil, sorrow, hurt, pain; hard earned goods." Etseb is also "vessel, jar, earthen vessel," otseb(varriation of atsab) is "idol"(as a fashioned image); mental bodily pain, sorrow, wicked," from atsab "to shape, fashion; carve," as well as atsab "displease; hurt, pain, grieve; troubled; image, idol," and atseb or atstsab is "workers, toilers." So the "carvers" make idols(images) and displease God, and therefore they toil and have sorrow in their minds, and the vessels of their bodies experience pain. But isn't the toil itself the making of idols? Toil begets toil? It seems that the ones who toil are the ones who fashion idols, they are not idle like Abel who pleased God, but they(like Cain) work hard and grieve God, interesting! Like Mary was idle at the feet of Jesus, but Martha was the one who was causing grief(atsab "idol"). Martha tried to take a stab at Mary, but Jesus would have none of it. Martha was just being an image(perhaps a shadow) of goodness. However, it was not what was really good. Her "idol," i.e. work/ toil, was taking precedence over spending time with Jesus, and it made her feel righteous, but that's not the way to happiness. 

one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:42

Mary was doing the better thing. She was taking enjoyment in sitting at the feet of Jesus. She chose the good portion, which is a better portion than toil. Better, which means good-er, is from Proto-Germanic *batizo- said to be [perhaps] from PIE root *bhad- "good." What?! Bad is good and good is bad. What is going on? Husbands sometimes say their wives are their the better half. Is the wife the better half, or is she the "badder" half? To be "bad" can be meant in a good way like when we say, "She's bad!," "a badasss!" The man was made *bhad-der and better by the union with his other half, his tsela "other side" i.e. his iṣṣa "wife," maybe his shadow, or tsalal tselem "darkening/shading image". 

It says in Genesis that the Lord God took from the adam, one  missal'otaw("of his ribs"), and closed up the flesh underneath Genesis 2:21. This is kind of funny because mistletoe which grows in oak trees was a most sacred plant of the druids and was ceremoniously harvested and used to insure fertility, among other uses. In Brittany it is called herb de la croix "herb of the cross", and in the 14th century it was called lignum crucis "wood of the cross" from a legend about it providing the wood of the Cross and then being denigrated to a parasite. After the LORD God took missal'otaw(of his [Adam's] ribs) he fashioned it into a woman so the man would not be bad which is "alone, isolated, separation" in biblical Hebrew, from badad "shoot, straggler, alone".

Is that why a person is hit with a shoot or switch when they are bad? Getting spanked and whipped does cause a feeling of being alone (bad)   :(

    Ash Smaker Spanking Paddle with Holes, $60 by SourdoughBreads, free shipping, Gift-wrap available, Amozon.com, doh!

Etsah has the meaning of "council, advice, design, plan, scheme" in biblical Hebrew (from yaats "counselor, advisors, give advice," so maybe that is yah + ats[perhaps a hard substance like tree(ets) or bone(etsem), like az / oz "strong, mighty, power"], i.e., "strength of Yah[the LORD]"). So did God have a tree(ets) in the center of the garden, an ets of strength(oz) and council(etsah), or might we say a "plan / scheme" in the center of the garden? The scheme of the knowledge of the good and evil? In other words, a tree of good(*bhad-) and atsab(toil, sorrow), given to man, the atsab(image), or earthen vessel fashioned by God.

So is it good or *bhad to leave your father and mother? Perhaps it is bad if you are alone, but if you have your helpmeet then it can be a good thing. The tree was the strength which comes from the knowledge of BOTH good and evil. It is a tree with a shining(*aus) hard wood lesson (like -*os "ash(n.2),"or *ost / -os "bone"). Like the light of dawn that only comes as a result of the emergence from darkness. It burns and bites, but in the end you are better. Ouch! 

From life's school of war: what does not destroy me makes me stronger. -Twilight of the Idols, Maxims and Arrows 8th, Friedrich Nietzsche

So the hard thing / pains(etsem) we endure, this plan(etsah) of God, is the backbone(atseh) of our existence, i.e., the esher / asher "happy" fault. But also the cause of our disgrace or shame, it is also the cause of our need to be covered / clothed. Shame is from PIE *skem-, from *kem- "to cover."  In Hebrew asham is "guilt, shame, guilt offering, sin, wrong." It's a shame that asham bars us from the garden, but in the end we become truly happy. 

    Adam and Eve Diven out of Paradise, from The Story of the Bible by Charles Foster. Illustrations by F.B. Schell, 1884

Dreary is from Old English dreorig meaning "sad, sorrowful," originally "cruel, bloody, blood-stained," from dreor "gore, blood," like being made out of the "bloody"(dam "blood") earth(adamah), or red(adom) earth, into an earthen vessel(etseb), i.e. a thing hardened(as in a fired clay vessel) or a thing that is hard(a wooden vessel). The itstabon(toil) that was a result of eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge was dreary drudgery. It caused atsehbeth "pain" for Adam and Eve. They had to endure the drudgery of the toil they brought upon themselves, but it finally was nothing more than the truth, or what was true, i.e., daath "knowledge"(the daath that brought death). It was a full knowledge. The opposite pole of the beautiful and pleasant is pain and ugliness. In order to really know the one, you have to also know the other.

Drudgery is from Old English dreogan "work, suffer, endure." Old English dragan "to drag, draw, protract." A dragon is a wise, sagacious, "sharp" creature. But is the life of the dragon a drag or drudgery? Maybe it is better to be innocent and not know, than to have to be the one who knows; who draws the bow, and lets loose the sharp arrow of truth that can be such an agent of pain. It's not a good way to get people to like you. Isn't it better to be blissfully ignorant? Think of young children, they don't know that Santa Claus isn't real, so they have a lot of fun, but then it can be a drag when they learn the truth. However, then when they have the knowledge, they can scheme(etsah) with their parents for other unsuspecting innocent children, and make the magic happen. This can be looked at in two ways. You can love it or hate it. The truth(tree-th) can ruin the fun, or you can get over it, and not let it ruin the fun. You can let yourself exist in the messy organic space of being a responsible, wise adult, but also allowing the childlike spirit of innocence to remain; wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove. We are not simple monotone creatures who are made to be in the image of the likeness of God.

And does God labor? He did rest on the seventh day of creation. So he must have been working, but his work was not drudgery. There is the saying, "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

    Tom Sawyer (Whitewashing the Fence ), Norman Rockwell, 1936

Work and activity is an opposite polarity of leisure and rest. The oscillation between the two creates the vibration and movement necessary for harmony. Lack of variation leads to hell. Too much work is hell, and too much leisure is hell. Too much hot is hell, and to much cold is hell. Too much good is bad, and not enough *bhad- is bad. So a certain kind of labor is necessary and good. A labor of love feeds the soul just as well as rest and leisure, but each in its proper place and time.

"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work." John 4:34

We can know that if our work is "work" and not pleasant, then we are not doing the work of the LORD. It would seem to be, rather, the labor that is idolatry(etseb). This is why Cain did not please the Lord. He thought suffering hard work toil was righteousness.

Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28

And what do we need to do in order to receive this light yoke?  We only need to ask. 

Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and never doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, "Be taken up and cast into the sea," it will be done. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. Matthew 21:21-22

When you ask or "ax" something of someone(ax was an acceptable literary variant until c. 1600) you are cutting the strength of the person you are asking. To ax is to cut the tree / ash *os or os, i.e., the marrow. How do we ask something of someone?... Would you? "Hey tree, would you lend me a limb?" 

Being asked can be kind of wood-y. Being asked can require a piece of you in the form of time, energy or money, like, "Hey mom, would you mind watching the triplets for a few days while I go on vacation?" Or there are annoying "Would you rather..." questions like this one I just took off the internet(they are like an ax to the brain), "Would you rather wake up naked and sore, without any memory of the night before next to the Burger King telling you, 'You had it your way', or wake up next to Ronald McDonald telling you that, 'You were loving it.'?" Lol. Cut it out! Wood is from Old English wudu, earlier widu "tree, trees, forest, grove; the substance(or self) of the tree." Would you like a piece of me?

When you care about someone, you don't mind giving of yourself, in fact, its your pleasure. Will is another way we ask questions. Will(v.1) is from Old English willan, wyllan "to wish, desire; be willing; be used to; be about(past tense wold)."

When someone asks nicely it is endearing. 

One possible origin of the name, Oscar, is said to be Gaelic os "deer" + cara "friend / lover." Is that, deer friend, the same as a dear friend? Os as "deer" in Gaelic comes from the idea of the breath of life being in animals[os is also the preposition "above, over; superior" in Gaelic and is a root in words such as "breeze(osag) and sigh(osnadh)]. This is similar to deer which is said to be perhaps from PIE *dheusom "creature that breathes," from *dheu (1) "cloud, breath". Oscar is also said to come from Old English Osgar "god's spear," os "god" + gar "spear." Os as deity is similar to the Old Norse áss "god"(æsir pl.) which is thought to come from a Proto-West Germanic root(*ansu-) meaning "life force"(this is reminiscent of Elijah encountering the presence of the LORD as the "still small voice" / "gentle whisper"1 Kings 19:12). This concept, then, of God's presence, i.e., the presence of Os,  being os, "breath/ life force" would connect it in concept to the word os (ora pl.)  as "mouth" in Latin, the mouth being the place where the breath, and words of command and creation(strong osseous words) come from. 

And God said, "Let there be light[or Heb.]," and there was light[or]. Genesis 1:3

Dear is from Old English deore "precious, valuable, costly, loved, beloved" (Middle Dutch dure, Dutch duur). Because those things which are hard (German hart) to attain are precious to us and dear to our hearts. So things that are dear are os "deer," like the animal(hart) that you hunt for food and provides you with nourishment for your labor, and the gift of life itself. Hard is from Old English heard "solid, firm, not soft," also "severe, rigorous, cruel," from root *kar- / *ker- "hard." Like being in the solid form of flesh, rather than spirit. Those in spirit do not have a care in the world. But those in the flesh toil and have many cares. Care(n.) is from Old English caru, cearu (from same root as Gothic kara "sorrow, trouble, care"). The things we care about cause us the most trouble. The things close to our hearts(kardia Gk.) are are often hard to acquire, from Latin ad- "to" + quaerere "to seek, obtain," (quaerere  also "to ask, seek, look for, strive, endeavor"). 

What we attain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: 'Tis dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods… – The Crisis, Thomas Pain, Dec. 23, 1776

A query, from Latin quaere "ask, inquire"(form of quaerere), is a question. It can be hard to find the quarry(n.1) "prey"(hard-sought). Sometime you have to dig deep(quarry[n.2]). It takes a seeker some one with sagacity(both words from *sag- "track down, seek out"), to finally hit the mark. And maybe a wielder of the spear made from hard wood / ash (fraxinus /æsc "wood; spear"), or someone skilled with bow and arrow(saggita); someone with mental strength, durability(like the oak), flexibility(like the bow made from ash / *os), and sharpness(like an arrow). In other words, strong(oz) like the gods(ōs).

In biblical Hebrew koach is "ability, might, strength, power," which is similar in meaning to Hebrew oz "strength, might, power." Koach(pronounced ko'-akh) sounds similar to cork. Cork is from,  Latin querqus "oak", from PIE root *kwerkwu-, a form of *perkwu- "oak". The covering(cork) adds to the strength(koach) of the tree, like corium "skin, derma", from Latin corium "skin, hide, leather," which is etemologically related to cortex "outer shell husk," from Latin cortex "bark of a tree,"[both from a different root than cork: *ker-]  Fir "pine tree," from Proto-Germanic *furkon is also said to be from PIE *perkwu- "oak." And fur is the covering or corium on animals, from Old French forrer, fourrer "cover with fur, line(clothing)," from furre "sheath, scabbard"(via notion of "covering"), from PIE *pa- "protect, feed." So the covering on trees, or animals can be said to be one of their strengths. The corium "skin, hide, leather" or cortex "bark" provides a protective layer like armor. It provides an outer core of strength that protects the inner core(or "heart" which is cor in Latin)   of strength, i.e., the wood, bone, or substance. 

  Cork Oak Cross Section, Quecus suber

The Querquetulanae were nymphs of the oak grove in Roman mythology. Like  the Dryads in Greek mythology were nymphs of the drys δρυς "oak" and the Meliae were dryades(wood nymphs) of the ash. 

    Dryads, Paul Delvaux, 1966

The feminine / yin / moon / bone / tree strength is a mighty strength as well as the male / yang / sun / rock strength. They are equal and opposite. And a unified harmony between the two is absolutely necessary for happiness. If one side of the body is dishonored in any way, the whole body is dishonored. And if one half is honored over the other, there is not balance. If each man(adam) could get this right in themselves on the inside, i.e. the marriage of the polarity of masculine and feminine in themselves, then they would all be strong, sturdy, mighty, shinning, excellent individuals, i.e. Christs in the world, and there wouldn't be any problems anymore. End of story. What is inside is reflected outside. Done.

This was hard work… but I enjoyed doing it ;)