š“ Bear Bones Tarot: Tuesday, June 23, 2026
The Hanged Man ā The Light Is Already Above You
On the wisdom you can only receive when you stop struggling and let yourself hang.
šļø Part 1: For the Writers
The Hanged Man is one of the most misunderstood cards in the deck.
People take one look at a figure suspended upside down and assume itās about punishment, or being stuck, or some terrible fate befalling you. But look closer at our bear. Thereās no struggle in that face. No panic. He hangs from the great glowing World Tree, wrapped in his violet robes, one paw resting easy ā and just above him, on a slender rope, a woven crystalline lantern blazes with pink-gold starlight. The water churns below. The cosmos swirls behind. And the bear? The bear is serene.
Because the Hanged Man chose this.
This is the card of Odin on the World Tree ā the one who hung willingly, suspended between worlds, because there was wisdom he could not reach any other way. Not by working harder. Not by climbing higher. Only by stopping. Only by surrendering. Only by letting himself hang in the in-between long enough for the insight to arrive.
The light isnāt something you have to climb toward. Itās already glowing, right above you, in the stillness.
Hereās what the Hanged Man knows about the creative life:
Writers are brilliant at forcing. We push through the block. We grind out the word count. We white-knuckle the scene that wonāt come, convinced that if we just strain a little harder, a little longer, itāll break loose. And sometimes it does.
But sometimes the scene wonāt come because it isnāt ready ā because some quiet, submerged part of you is still working out what the story actually needs, and no amount of frantic rowing will rush it. (my dear friend and an amazing storyteller, Barbara Snow, taught me that!) Sometimes the breakthrough youāre chasing is waiting on the other side of a pause you keep refusing to take.
The Hanged Man puts a gentle paw on your arm and says: stop. Hang. Let it incubate.
This isnāt quitting. Itās not abandoning the work. Itās trusting that surrender is sometimes the most productive thing you can do ā that the chapter is composting in the dark, that the answer arrives when you stop demanding it, that the lantern was glowing the whole time and you just couldnāt see it while you were thrashing.
šæ Todayās Practical Magick
The next time you hit the wall ā the scene that wonāt crack, the decision you canāt force, the āI should be producingā panic ā try this before you grip the oar harder:
Set the work down. Lie back. Put one hand over your heart. And say quietly: I donāt have to force this. Iāll hang here a moment, and let the answer come to me.
Then go make tea. Or bread. Or stare at the ceiling. Let your brain do its quiet, invisible work while you rest.
Thatās the spell. Thatās the whole thing. šµš¾
š The personal pull is below ā for paid subscribers
This is where The Mojo Mama Bear gets bear-bones honest about what the card stirred up this morning ā and today, itās about being flat on her back and learning (again) to let the boat carry her.
