Directory: The Hanged Man
What’s Here:
Synopsis, A Word About Time and Pronunciation, Character List, Table of Contents
Synopsis:
The Hanged Man is set in world called Webbd. The book is divided into ten parts. Parts 1 and 10 begin and end at Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life, where LUGH (the hanged man) hangs upside down, talking to MIRMIR, the gigantic serpent who guards the tree. Each of the remaining eight parts corresponds to a period during the Neopagan Wheel of the Year and a Tarot card. Together, Mirmir and Lugh review the complete annual cycle through the interwoven stories of Lugh, his twin brother, DAR, and characters connected to them.
Mirmir narrates the experiences of each character as they navigate suspended intervals — times during which they feel frozen in failure, futility, grief, denial, and/or fear; times which are transformative, though nothing effective or useful seems to be happening.
Thus, we follow the journey of PERSEPHONE, daughter of the Corn Goddess. She straddles the threshold between a cherished childhood and womanhood, seeking her own power. She meets HADES and goes to the Underworld, where she finds a balance to her mother’s lush plenty, a lover, and new purpose and challenge in managing the Land of the Dead.
MARIA, a mother in Hades who has drowned herself and her children, re-enters the world, filled with self-loathing and grief. The crone witch, BABA YAGA, reveals what has become of her sons, releasing Maria from her search for their fate, and ruthlessly forcing her to craft a new life from the bones of the old one.
An orphaned exile and talented carver from a land of ice and snow, KUNIK comes to terms with his family history and his power to create and destroy.
MARY follows a mysterious piper through the birth pangs of spring and sets the annual fertility cycle in motion, learning to balance life and death, increase and decrease.
An adopted shapeshifter, MORFRAN, searches for his sister’s murderer, BLUEBEARD, and his biological family, discovering justice, compassion and ties to the sea.
With the help of guides such as the fabulous FIREBIRD and the WHITE STAG, as well as figures from and inspired by Welsh, Norse, Egyptian, Slavic and Greek mythology, the characters meet and part, exchanging stories, practicing sacred dance and drumming, playing and collecting marbles, and participating in rituals honoring natural cycles.
The Hanged Man explores intentional community, violence, social norms, sexuality, female power, and relationships and connections, not only between humans but also Dwarves, merfolk, nature spirits and various ecosystems on Webbd connected by magical portals, such as a desert filled with lost bones, the sea, a birch forest, and a cold northern land.
As the characters move through their individual suspended intervals, gaining insight, healing, new purpose and understanding of their interconnected roles, Webbd itself shows subtle signs of distress, paving the way for the next book.
A Word About Time and Pronunciation:
We in modern Western culture view time as a linear progression, as in telling a story from the beginning to the middle and the middle to the end. However, physicists hint that the idea of time might be considerably more flexible and complicated than a straight line, and of course, there’s a long history of writers and thinkers who have played with the concept of time in interesting, if confusing, ways. In addition, several spiritual traditions see time as nonlinear, including the concept of the wheel of the year, which likely has roots in traditions honoring the cycles of seasons. Cycles, of course, are by their nature nonlinear.
As a traditional storyteller, I’ve learned several ways in which an oral story might begin and end, including, “In a time long past and coming again soon…” This is a verbal cue to the listener/reader that we are out of time, traveling to inner and outer worlds of connection and understanding in which time becomes unimportant.
As you read this book, I encourage you to hold the concept of time flexibly. You will encounter stories being told before they’ve happened and characters, both familiar and unfamiliar, involved in stories spanning a lifetime, but not necessarily in chronological order! Our idea of linear time can be limiting. What can our imagination do when freed of time’s restraint?
I was born and raised in an English-speaking family, and aside from a smattering of Spanish, German and Latin, have read, written, thought, spoken and dreamed in my native language. This work is filled with characters from a variety of cultures and traditions and many of the names and terms I use have several different pronunciations on a cursory internet search. I respect and honor our cultural global traditions and resources and have provided readers with one or two available pronunciations, where appropriate, to the best of my ability. If you happen to speak Welsh or Egyptian Arabic and note an incorrect pronunciation, please forgive me! I’ve done my imperfect best to provide you with workable pronunciations to facilitate your relationship with the characters.
Cast of Characters:
(In alphabetical order)
Alexander: Brief lover of Rapunzel. German fairy tale.
Artemis: Carries silver bow; guardian of wilderness; mentor to Rose Red; consort of White Stag.
Baba Yaga: Hag who is Mother of Witches; Slavic.
Bald Tegid: A giant; Ceridwen’s husband; foster father to Morfran; father to Creirwy; Welsh.
Baubo: (BAW bo) Old woman who uses humor and dance to guide and help others. Greek.
Blodeuwedd: (bluh DIE weth); White Lady; name means “flower face.” Takes the form of an owl. Associated with spring. Welsh.
Brian: Husband to Liza; among settlers at Rowan Tree.
Briar Rose: Introduced as ‘Lost Woman’; Grimm’s fairytales.
Carlos: Maria’s second son.
Cassandra: Seer and prophetess; under the protection of Minerva; first met in the shape of a sparrow. Greek.
Ceridwen (KER id wen): Powerful enchantress. Welsh.
Chris: Son of Irvin and Margaret, brother of Clarissa.
Clarissa: Daughter of Irvin and Margaret, sister of Chris.
Creirwy (KREE ree): Morfran’s foster sister; daughter of Ceridwen and Bald Tegid.
Dar: Formerly the Dark Prince. A peddler. Twin to Lugh.
Dark Prince: Becomes Dar, Lugh’s twin, a peddler.
Demeter: The Corn Mother; Persephone’s mother. Greek.
Dvorgs: Dwarves who stayed below ground, avoiding the sun and people, especially women.
Dwarves: Race of short statured men who mine; smiths; gem masters; a branch of the Dvorgs who came above ground and mentored young women.
Elizabeth: Rapunzel’s foster mother, a witch. German fairy tale.
Eurydice: (yoo RID uh see) Brief wife to Orpheus; olive tree nymph. Greek.
Firebird: A large bird with glowing feathers who leads one to treasure. Slavic folklore.
Ginger: Dancer; eldest of 11 sisters; German fairytale collected by Grimms.
Gabriel: Older man among settlers at Rowan Tree.
Guy: Morfran’s father; half selchie, half human.
Gwelda: Giantess who becomes assimilated with Yrtym to form
Hades: Rules the Underworld; Persephone’s consort. Greek.
Hanged Man: Lugh (Loo); also, Billy in goat-foot aspect; Mary’s consort and male Seed-Bearer; twin to Dar.
Hecate: (EC a tay) Queen of the Crossroads. Greek.
Heks: Bruno’s mother; charcoal burner’s widow; midwife.
Hel: Runs a boarding house on the Northern Sea that is a threshold between one thing and another. Norse.
Hyash: Water
Irvin: Merman; father of Clarissa and Chris.
Juan: Maria’s lover; also, her oldest son.
Juliana: A middle-aged woman who stops waiting and rests in the embrace of the White Stag.
Kunik: An adolescent boy; mother human, father a polar bear; sees shapes within shapes.
Liza: Wife to Brian; among settlers at Rowan Tree.
Marceau: A merman. A sea king. Morfran’s maternal grandfather; Vasilisa’s father.
Marella: Daughter of Marceau; sister of Vasilisa; lover of Radulf.
Maria: Murdered her two sons and committed suicide. Also known as La Llorona. Hispanic traditional tale.
Mary: Consort of Lugh; mother of twins, Lugh and Dar; Seed Bearer.
Melusine: Morfran’s mother; a mermaid. French.
Minerva: Associated with wisdom, ingenuity, business and weaving. Symbolized by the owl. Roman.
Mirmir: A giant gossipy snake who guards and lives in/under Yggdrasil, Tree of Life. Norse.
Molly: Mary in child aspect.
Morfran: Foster son of Ceridwen and Bald Tegid, foster brother to Creirwy. Shapeshifter, magician; Welsh.
Mother: Mary in aged aspect.
Nephthys: (NEF this) Lady of Bones. Lives in desert. So old she’s a child again. Can take the form of a falcon. Associated with transformation; a life-death figure; Egyptian.
Norns: The three Fates; old women who live with Yggdrasil and Mirmir. Norse.
Odin: (O den) Wind God; head of Wild Hunt; owner of Valhalla; one-eyed; marble champion; father of Valkyries. Appears as Timor, Shabu. Norse.
Persephone: Demeter’s daughter, Hades’ consort. Greek.
Pim: Half human, half selchie, from the far North.
Rapunzel: Foster daughter of Elizabeth, a witch. German fairy tale.
Raoul: Creirwy’s murderer; Bluebeard. French.
Richard: Rapunzel’s brief husband.
Rose Red: Handmaiden to Artemis; consort of Rowan the fox; daughter of Queen Snow White. German fairy tale.
Rusalka: Nature spirits who assist Baba Yaga to guard the birch forest and rye fields. Shapeshifters; Slavic.
Skuld: A Norn; cuts the thread from Verdani’s spinning. What will happen; endings and beginnings.
Sofiya: One of the Rusalka; mate of Morfran; owl aspect.
Surrender: A rabbit.
Talcrys: Soil, mineral.
Timor: Old one-eyed woodcutter who saves Morfran from freezing; Odin.
Urd: A Norn. Winds the fiber from Verdani’s spinning after Skuld cuts it. What has happened.
Valkyries: Warrior women; daughters of Odin. Norse.
Vasilisa: Student of Baba Yaga; daughter of Marceau; carries fiery skull; guided by a doll in her pocket. Russian.
Verdani: Spins fiber under Yggdrasil; current events; what is. Norse.
White Stag: Enormous antlered white stag; guide; works with Artemis.
Yr: The sun.
Table of Contents:
Part 1: The Hanged Man
Tarot card: The Hanged Man: Life in suspension, a pause
Post #1
Part 2: Mabon (MAY-bone or MAH-bawn) Autumn equinox, the balance point between summer solstice and winter solstice. The second of three harvest points in the cycle, a time to complete tasks, measure success, give thanks and prepare for winter.
Tarot Card: Two of Wands: growth, movement, action, clear seeing; division and boundaries
Post #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Part 1 The Hanged Man, & 2 Mabon, Entire
Part 3: Samhain (SAH-win or SOW-in) Halloween; begins the dark half of the year and is the midpoint between autumn equinox and winter solstice. Fire festival; third of three harvest points in the cycle. Self-assessment and reflection, a time to let go of that which no longer serves. Ushers in a period of peace and rest.
Tarot Card: The Devil: Seduction by the material world and power, authentic experience
Post #10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Part 4: Yule Winter solstice. Return of the sun; birth and growth.
Tarot card: The Sun: New beginnings
Post #25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32
Part 5: Imbolc (i-MOLG) February 1; strengthening light, fertility and creativity. Awakening of youthful, chaotic energy. Midway between Yule and spring equinox.
Tarot card: Strength: Fortitude, passion, self-empowerment and initiation
Post # 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42
Part 6: Ostara (O-STAR-ah) Spring equinox; balance point between Yule and summer solstice. Increasing fertility and creativity.
Tarot card: The High Priestess: Female power and wisdom
Post #43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53
Part 7: Beltane May 1; fire festival; midway point between Ostara and summer solstice. Sexual energy and power.
Tarot card: The Lovers: Relationship (including with oneself), choice and sacrifice
Post #54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71
Part 8: Lithia Summer solstice; balance point between the culmination of fertility and growth and the beginning of diminishment. Maturity, fulfillment and consummation.
Tarot card: The Empress: Growth, fertility, personal power
Post #72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85
Part 9: Lughnasadh (LU-nuh-suh) August 1; first harvest festival; midpoint between Lithia and Mabon. Sacrifice, harvest, planning the next cycle of growth.
Tarot card: The Emperor: Kingship; healthy male power
Post #86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98
Part 9 Lughnasadh & Part 10 The Hanged Man Entire
Part 10: The Hanged Man
Tarot card: The Hanged Man: Life in suspension, a pause
Post #98
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