Welcome to Season 2 of
We are starting this season the same as we started our first season …. with a Tarot Talk episode. We are continuing our journey through the high arcana today.
The archetype of the hermit is a more familiar one in our culture.
From Merlin to the crone in the forest, the character of the hermit peppers our movies and books. A hermit represents the idea that living a life in solitude will deepen spiritual understanding
So, what does it mean to us as a tarot card?
Looking at this card, we see that it is simpler than most of our cards. I have always found this a bit funny … even in the most elaborate decks the 9th card tends to be a single figure alone in an empty landscape.
It typically depicts a male figure wearing a cloak, he holds up a lantern to light his way. Peering into the empty landscape of the card.
Sometimes the card is styled with the lantern fixed atop a staff shining in the dark. So, we naturally see all kinds of variations of that, with the hermit sometimes holding a staff as well as a lantern.
The landscapes we find the hermit in are often wintery or foggy, there is rarely any greenery around him. The colour scheme for the card trend towards blues, whites, yellows and occasionally browns.
It gives the card a very airy feel to it.
I’d like to point out one major part of the imagery that is fairly easy to miss.
For many years I didn’t pay it much attention.
The inside lining of the cloak is a different colour than the outside of the cloak, usually white or yellow, the lantern actually illuminates the lining.
The symbolism points to the Hermit’s work being an inner job. Taking our personal growth work to the next level. The work and reflection we are being asked to do are at a deeper level than we have been guided to do before.
The teachings I received on the Tarot as a whole, treat the high arcana as 3 groups of 7 lessons.
As we walk through them on a path of self-discovery, we learn occult teachings that correspond to the 3-initiations found in traditional witchcraft
This idea was presented to me in the context of the “fool’s journey” The 9th card is the second lesson for our fool in this set of archetypes. The themes of this card parallel the 2nd card of the first set of 7 Like the High Priestess card, the Hermit card asks you to look beyond the surface of a situation To seek the deeper truths and mysteries of life The Hermit teaches us that these truths are only found deep inside ourselves We need to turn towards the dark shadowy places and examine our wants versus our actual needs.
There is a defiant feeling that the lantern represents enlightenment. The idea is that knowledge attained in solitude and reflection will light ones way. Cutting through the fog of life’s mysteries.
It is in the solitude of winter the darkness of isolation that we find true enlightenment. We learn to peer into the dark recesses of our souls; examining the human condition. Our enlightenment can pierce the darkness and allow us to see what lies within the shadow aspects of ourselves. for the symbology that knowledge gained will light ones way
We have talked before about how a card can be a person as well as a conceptual representation of an archetype in your life. The Hermit is one of those cards.
Within a spread, this card can represent a hermit teacher who is coming into your life Even though the card depicts a wizened old man, the actual teacher can be anyone (male, female, youthful … you get what I mean right?) Often they are a person who is older than us. but they can be a person younger in years who has more experience than we do in the field they are mentoring us in.
The energy of the hermit teacher is patient but not soft and kind.
Remember this archetype removed themself from society to study. They are knowledgeable, deep thinking, reflective and do not suffer fools.
Think of Yoda shaking his head in disappointment when Luke fails to raise his X-wing out of the swamp. Yoda does not console the young Jedi or bolster his faltering self-esteem.
The bat-eared 2-foot-tall hermit simply turns towards the ship, uses the force to raise the x-wing out of the swamp, turns to Luke with a mic dropping “size matters not” and hobbles into the mist.
Once we have spent time diving into solitude and examining ourselves…..without the distraction of relationships or entertainment
Accepting that the roots of our issues lie in our thoughts and beliefs.
The supposed limits we impose on our lives.
Alone through the dark winter, we can find the light of truth..
add my featured decks to you collection
- The Llewelyn Tarot – by Anna-Marie Ferguson
- Legacy of the Devine Tarot – by Ciro Marchetti
- Deviant Moon Tarot – by Patrick Valenza
- Steampunk Tarot – by Barbara Moore art by Aly Fell
Jodi Anne 
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