Suspension was one of the first ideas that popped into my head--yeah, really original, I know. But when something is suspended, there is the implication that it will not always be so, that it will move again, or that perhaps it will complete a transformation. He is waiting for the right moment, though, taking time to reflect on his journey so far. In his suspension, the man is also reversed-- he is seeing the world from a completely new and different perspective. He is also amazingly serene in this unorthodox position, indicating that he's okay with relinquishing control, with accepting things as they are, and putting his own interests to the side.
I've drawn asters and an aster aureole around the head of the Hanged Man. Asters are symbolic of patience, and I've limned his head in one to signify his self-sacrificing act. The flowers are late-bloomers, blossoming in early and mid-autumn when all other blooms have passed their prime--starworts--as they're called--like to wait to put on a spectacular show. And the bees love them, which is why I've drawn one. Bees are another symbol of self-sacrifice, as they are known for being social insects that work for the good of the colony.
Another symbol of self-sacrifice is the mourning dove caring for her (or his) eggs. Both parents incubate the eggs, with the male doing the morning to afternoon shift and the female taking over for the rest of day and into the night. The nest is rarely left unattended, and if a predator threatens, one of the parents may actually "deceive" the unwanted guest by flailing on the ground in pretense of a broken wing.
The idea of suspension as a stage in transformation is illustrated by the chrysalis hanging next to the man and the cicada buried in the ground. Some cicada species have extremely long life cycles; some species of the Magicicada genus will spend 13 or 17 years underground feeding on the juices of plant roots before they emerge from the soil as adults.
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