The Hanged Man as Intentions: To Wait, and to See It Differently First

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Hanged Man as intentions is a plan on hold on purpose. Here is what I would read in it, upright and reversed, and why the hold is not a no.

If you want the short answer, I would read the Hanged Man as intentions that are suspended. In an intentions position the card suggests the person means to pause whatever they were planning toward you, deliberately, in order to see it from a different angle. They are not planning to approach and not planning to leave. They are planning to hang there until they understand, and they are calm about it.

This is the figure upside down from the tree with the serene face. They intend to stay there for now. They intend to come down with a different view.

The Hanged Man upright as intentions

Tina Gong's the Hanged Man guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with surrender, suspension, letting go and a new perspective. When the card lands in a position that asks what someone intends toward you, I read those meanings as the shape of their plan rather than as a promise about what they will do. Feelings and intentions are different questions; the Hanged Man as feelings covers the first, and this page covers the second. The Major Arcana overview at Biddy Tarot is a useful second reference.

Upright, I read the Hanged Man as a person who intends to reconsider: what they want from you, what you are to them, what they would have to give up. The pause is sincere and it is the work. Whatever they intend after it will be different from what they intended before, and they do not yet know how.

What I would not read into it is rejection or a decision. The Hanged Man has not left. He has stopped, and stopping is a different act with a different ending.

What the card does not tell you

The card does not confirm what the person will conclude, how long the suspension lasts, or that it ends with them coming toward you. No card lets a reader see another person's plans. What a card can do is describe the kind of intention that fits the person's behaviour, and give you something to check against what they actually do.

The Hanged Man reversed as intentions

Reversed, the Hanged Man as intentions describes a pause that has become a stall: a person using suspension to avoid deciding about you, or one who has hung there so long that the intention has drained out of the waiting. It can also describe martyrdom: an intention to sacrifice for you loudly and resentfully.

In your own question, ask whether the person's pause has thought in it, or whether it has simply become the way things are with no conclusion in sight. A reversed card as intentions is a prompt to compare what is said with what is done, not a diagnosis of bad faith.

The Hanged Man as an ex's intentions

Asked about an ex, the Hanged Man as intentions can suggest they are looking at you and the relationship from a new angle and have not finished. That can lead to a return and can lead to a clean, kind goodbye. The card is one of the most honest in the deck about not knowing yet. My guide to asking a psychic whether an ex will come back explains what a reading can and cannot say about that question.

The Hanged Man as a new person's intentions

For someone new, this card describes interest that has paused for thought, often because the person senses it might matter. Give it room. People who hang like this tend to come down with something decided, and pushing decides it the wrong way.

What their intentions look like in action

Look for thoughtful stillness: warmth not withdrawn but no advance either, a sense of considering rather than avoiding. A Hanged Man intention is a held breath. If it looks like a turned back, read a different card.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the question you asked, what the person might be re-evaluating, and how long you can wait with your own feet on the ground. The third note is your protection.

For comparison, the Hermit as intentions and the High Priestess as intentions describe different intentions. The the Hanged Man card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Hanged Man as a person and the Hanged Man as a yes or no cover the other questions people most often ask of it. For a personal interpretation, my guide to a love psychic reading online explains how I work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.