The Hanged Man in 7 decks
The same card as 7 decks draw it, five and a half centuries apart. What stays the same is the card’s core; what changes is where a reading can find something new. The meanings are written for the Rider–Waite–Smith picture; the descriptions here are of each deck’s own.
Side by side
Choose any two decks and read the pictures against each other.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A young man hangs upside down by one foot from a living T-shaped tree, his other leg bent behind to form a cross, his arms folded behind his back. His face is calm and a soft halo glows around his head. He is not struggling.
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
A young man hangs upside down by one ankle from a yellow rope tied to a green crossbar between two trees with lopped branches. His other leg bends behind the first, and his hands are hidden behind his back. He wears a buttoned jacket of red, green, yellow and blue. Grassy mounds lie at the bottom. Numbered XII, titled LE PENDU.
Rider–Waite–Smith
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A young man hangs upside down by one foot from a living T-shaped tree, his other leg bent behind to form a cross, his arms folded behind his back. His face is calm and a soft halo glows around his head. He is not struggling.
Tarot de Marseille
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
A young man hangs upside down by one ankle from a yellow rope tied to a green crossbar between two trees with lopped branches. His other leg bends behind the first, and his hands are hidden behind his back. He wears a buttoned jacket of red, green, yellow and blue. Grassy mounds lie at the bottom. Numbered XII, titled LE PENDU.
Tarot de Viéville
Jacques Viéville, c. 1650
Numbered XII, a curly-haired young man is shown upright rather than hanging upside down. He stands between two lopped tree trunks under green drapery, arms behind his back, one leg bent behind the other and one foot touching a beam laid across the bottom.
Visconti-Sforza
Bonifacio Bembo, c. 1450
A young man hangs upside down by one foot from a rope tied to a yellow wooden gallows frame. His free leg crosses behind the other; he wears green hose and a white buttoned shirt, and his fair curls hang towards the ground. The background is a dark tooled lattice over a mottled green floor with paint loss.
In the Visconti-Sforza deck the number cards show only their suit symbols, and the trumps are unnamed and unnumbered.
Sola Busca
c. 1491
A white-bearded old man in a green cap, purple coat and red skirt walks with a ribboned staff and holds up a lamp with a small flame. A blue quiver lettered S.P.Q.R. hangs at his hip with a bow. A crescent moon is at the upper left, the name CARBONE at the top right and XII below.
Sola Busca trumps are named figures matched to the standard trumps by number only.
Oswald Wirth
Oswald Wirth, 1889
A young man hangs upside down by one foot from a yellow beam set between two green trees with red lopped branches. His other leg crosses behind, his arms are behind his back, and small yellow and white discs fall on either side of him. The picture carries the inscriptions OSWALD WIRTH and PARIS 1889. Below are the number 12, LE PENDU and the Hebrew letter lamed.
Soimoi
Mike Koz, 2025
A young man in red clothing hangs upside down from the branch of a blossoming tree, one ankle bound with red rope and the other leg bent behind it. His eyes are closed, his hands are clasped below his head, and a sword hangs at his hip. Paper lanterns glow in the branches, and a torii, a bridge and a house stand by a dark pond rippling beneath him.