Offering: December 24, 2022
A story is not always the right medicine
Image description: A person is tied by their feet and hanging upside down between what looks like two buildings with a ceiling between them. The persons arms are flat on their sides. The image is a still from Paolo Sorrentino’s 2021 film The Hand of God.
Dear readers, friends, and lovers of meaning,
First thing’s first: As promised, I’m doing a free live session on January 21 at 1pm EST for paying subscribers as a thank you for supporting the weekly Offerings. The session will include a possibly weird talk on The Magician (plucked out of obscurity, from the deep of last winter) and a q & a session on whatever topics under the sun you’re feeling curious about. You don’t need to register beforehand, just mark your calendar and keep an eye peeled for an email with more details as we get closer.
It’s been a thick time for me personally, and I’m trying to lean into the upside-down dignity of The Hanged Man which in my current imagining includes not grasping for wisdom where there is none. I’m in rural Pennsylvania for a few weeks building fires everyday, reading the first pages of Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, and re-visiting some classics Meditations on the Tarot and Pema Chödrön’s When Things Fall Apart.
I’m still contemplating The Hanged Man after last week’s Offering. I watched Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God on Netflix a few days ago which was gorgeous. Toward the end of the film, there’s a scene in a movie theater where on the screen is a person tied by their feet and strung upside down between what looks like two buildings with a ceiling between them. Hanged man, again. When there’s this much synchronicity, it feels right to listen.
I make meaning for a living, but I know that at times it’s compulsive; a way to feel in control when I’m not. I rely on stories to survive in more ways than one but if I’m not careful telling tales can be another weapon in a larger system of defenses meant to keep fear away when it comes. Maybe this is why I think The Hanged Man is one of the most beautiful cards in the Tarot deck; a visual for what it looks like to stay with unclarity when the stories that can guide a proper way forward aren’t available yet.