“Awakening” can refer to the very moment that we begin to see reality in a brand new light, and so its arrival suggests big epiphanies, realizations, and revelations.
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This card may also show up for us when we are reaching the end of one particular cycle or life phase. As our current chapter comes to a close, we are encouraged look back and reflect on the journey thus far. Where did this path take us? How have we changed? What have we learned? 
 
(Those doing 12-Step work get the opportunity to “take a full inventory” as part of the 4th-Step; we may be drawn to borrow from this tradition for our own conscious self-examination and appraisal of our progress.)
 
The figures rising from their coffins--which many now find distastefully grim and zombie-like--are thought to symbolize the process in which all of our old stories surface, our hidden baggage is revealed, and our secrets emerge into the light of day. 
 
Once all our skeletons are out of the closet, we are then fully able to process memories and question old beliefs. We recognize that we need to acknowledge and own our historical burdens, taking full accountability as we move forward into the next phase of our lives. 
 
This transitional phase, where we begin to emerge from stagnancy, recalls the butterfly freeing itself from its once-safe, now-limiting cocoon. On the other side, we sense a potential rebirth, a second chance, a fresh start. We hope to atone for the errors of our past and feel the relief that comes when the whole truth is known. 
 
This card reminds us that ONLY once we are able to fully come to terms with the past, are we then able to move beyond it.
 

Yet another perspective on this archetype is the experience of hearing a calling, whether that shows up as an inner conviction to align with a newly felt purpose, or a recognition of a true vocation.

This wake-up call (loud trumpet! so rude!) inspires us to take a new direction towards a more meaningful existence; to make a difference with the time we've been given on this planet.


We may find ourselves contracting here around our deep fear of the unknown, our shame over past actions, or the terror of contemplating a true day of reckoning, and so we must now remind each other how to access the courage we found in Strength, the hope we found in the Star, and the willing surrender and equanimity we found in the Hanged One.

In the end, I refer back to the wisdom of Rachel Pollack, who notes "the person has already changed; the old situations, the old self, have already died. It is simply a matter of recognizing it... [otherwise] the person remains standing in the grave. [This card] implies that the reality of life has changed. The only choice is to follow." (78 Degrees of Wisdom)
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We can not ask them to give us activist cookies, to reassure us that we're the "good ones," to hold ANY of our own fear, anger, or distress.

Your therapist friends know this principle well: they can invite their clients to freely dump raw emotion in session with them, as they (hopefully!) can go dump on THEIR therapists and/or supervisors.

I can not count the number of times this week that I said, in response to someone struggling with guilt about discussing their own emotional responses: "How might you use ME and our session as a resource right now, so that you are more able to fully show up for the world in the way that it might need you?"

And then my own therapist opened up that same space for me.

See below/here about Ring Theory, or the "concentric circles of grief":

"Ring Theory [developed by clinical psychologist Susan Silk, is] a model of caring that clearly, concretely delineates appropriate versus inappropriate interactions with everyone around you during times of crisis or tragedy. Whether hard times have fallen on you or someone else, the basic idea is 'comfort in; dump out.'

...Now, also imagine a spotlight. Train it on the center ring, so it is most brightly lit, making it abundantly clear where the focus of caregiving should be. Now notice how the light is diffused across all the rings, which become more dimly lit as they span ever outward. It is also appropriate to offer comfort, but no complaints, to those in brighter rings than yours.

If you want to complain or seek your own comfort, it is only appropriate to impose upon people in your ring or better yet, the people in rings that are more dimly lit. That’s because they are naturally less directly afflicted by this crisis. The spotlight also demonstrates a key component of offering comfort: Never steal the spotlight!

If you’re in the center ring, it sucks, but you're smack in the spotlight and you can say anything to anybody. You can talk about your experience, express your feelings, complain, cry, despair, bitch, and moan.

If you’re in any outer ring, you too can talk about your experience and emotions, complain, cry, despair, bitch, and moan, but you can’t commiserate with anyone who is in a ring that is closer to the center than yours. And you can't shift the spotlight so that it brightens your outer ring at the expense of dimming an inner ring.
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...What’s interesting about these concepts is that they can be applied to any crisis — weather, medical, legal, social, emotional, environmental, financial, existential."