The 78 Cards
The Hermit
Major Arcana, card 9. Astrology: Virgo.
The lamp carried alone. Time away from the noise to find your own answer.
The picture
An old man with a long white beard stands on a snowy peak. He wears a long grey cloak with the hood up and leans on a tall staff in one hand. In the other he holds up a lantern, and inside the lantern glows a star. His head is bowed and his eyes are lowered. The sky around him is a plain grey blue.
Upright
The Hermit has climbed as high as he can go, and he has gone there on his own. Up there it is cold and quiet, and the only light is the one he brought with him.
When he turns up, it is time to step back. Turn the volume down on everybody else's opinion for a while and listen to your own. Virgo rules this card, and Virgo likes to sort, sift and get things right, which is hard to do in a crowded room. Solitude gives you the space to hear yourself think.
Notice the lantern is held up, out in front. The Hermit finds his way by it, and anyone climbing behind him can see it too. What you learn alone you will one day hand on. He is the teacher who has done the climbing first.
Reversed
Reversed, the Hermit is usually too much or too little. Too much is isolation: the retreat that went on long after it stopped helping, the door shut to people who care about you. Too little is the person who never gets a quiet minute, who fills every silence with noise, company or a screen so the inner voice never gets a word in.
It can also be blocked, the lantern still lit and hidden under the cloak, wisdom you have and are not using. To tell which one it is, look at your week. If you have not spoken to a friend in a fortnight, come down the mountain. If you have not had ten minutes alone, go up it.
When it turns up
What would you hear if everyone else went quiet for a while?
The Hermit has also been a Tarot Card of the Week. Read that post to see the card at work on a real week.
If you would like the cards read against your own chart, my readings are here.
Related pages
The Number 9 · The Hermit as a Birth Card · The Twenty Two Paths
The 78 Cards
Every card in the deck, upright and reversed.
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