“The Initiate understands that accomplishments take time. They are learning patience through long study, work, and introspection. There is a calm that comes from being able to hold the tension of waiting. The Initiate hangs in that calm, growing and becoming.” In most tarot decks, this card is The Hanged Man, a figure suspended upside down by one foot often with a peaceful face and glow about them. This was a card I struggled with. Historically, the style of hanging shown here was an execution used for traitors, and in some decks that is how The Hanged Man is written. Other decks invoke Odin hanging from the world tree Yggdrasil in his quest for knowledge. In The Resilient Tarot, this card is The Initiate, modeled here by @levitskibear , a dear friend and member of my community who recently experienced an initiation. Through knowing Karin, I came to better understanding of what this card COULD mean, and ultimately what I felt like it should mean for this deck. Initiation is hard, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and even physically. And it teaches us more than we expect it to, it teaches us that everything takes time. We come out of an Initiation with new knowledge, and also with new shaping of ourselves. We are still ourselves, but with new layers, almost geological in the forming. As I write this caption today, I sit with an important letter in front of me, an acceptance letter to the Master of Social Work program I applied for. I am embarking on my own Initiation, my own becoming. I welcome the transformation. Where are you being Initiated in your life? What big transformative work is helping you learn patience? https://www.instagram.com/p/BuM_rgrlx91/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1uqgoztzgo1uv
