contemplativeFor the second day in a row I have received a card from Mansfield Park. It is Fanny, who represents the Hanged Man in the Tarot of Jane Austen, the deck I used.
On the card we see Fanny sewing curtains for the stage of a worldly play to which she does not agree that is it put on. She does this to help her friends, who want this play on stage badly. The archetype of the Hanged Man sacrifices his own needs for the higher good, just as Fanny does. Sometimes the Hanged Man is a victim, a victim of his own principles, or a victim because he cannot actively change his situation, he cannot choose to do something else than just ‘hanging’.
For Brigid and for the leper, the sword is the Hanged Man. To the leper who receives the sword, it represents the victim aspect of the Hanged Man. The leper needs the sword, otherwise he’ll die. He has no means to earn a living. It would be far more better if he could work or got paid because he is handicapped, but that is not possible in his society. For Brigid the sword (the giving of the sword) represents the higher good, the Hanged Man stands for, and the sacrifice he makes by standing for that. Brigid protests by giving the sword against living in a society in which people are too poor to live. She gives the sword to the leper because it is her principle that wealth must be shared. The figure of Fanny fits very well here, because Fanny actively stands for her principles, just as Brigid does. For the principle of sharing Brigid sacrifices her relation with her father, because she gives his possession away without his consent.
I recognize both attitudes in my life regarding the sword: the need to help because the world is not as it should be (Brigid), thereby repressing my own needs, and also the feeling of being a victim at those moments I ask for help, because I am not being able to do certain things myself (because of my arms).
