9. THE HERMIT
THE HERMIT TAROT CARD MEANING
TAROT KEY MEANINGS
Light Seer (Upright): inner reflection, meditation, contemplation, soul searching, inner wisdom, spiritual mentor, experience, finding your guide within, taking time away from the chaos of a busy life, time out, ‘hermitting’
Shadow Seer (Reversed): withdrawing from society, isolation, loneliness, ignoring your inner voice, losing your sense of purpose, not trusting yourself
THE HERMIT OVERVIEW
She walks the path, using her lantern to guide her. At some point, she has to leave the traditional tools aside and walk the rest of the path alone. She has learned all she can from her current situation, and she drops her candlelight, her devices, her connections to other people’s opinions and voices… she even leaves her trusted cards behind… for she knows that it is time to hear the beating pulse of her own spirit. She allows her heart to lead her to the highest point of her inner-guidance system, understanding that this internal compass may change after she passes through this process of inner shadow and light. Here, at the precipice of her knowing, she spends time in quiet contemplation. She charges her faith. She listens. And she begins to feel her next level of being: Enlightenment. Awakening. Illumination. She feels. She journeys. She learns. When she is ready, she knows she must say goodbye to her hermit experience and return to her life below. If she doesn’t, she risks becoming too isolated and withdrawn. With gratitude, she leaves her steady candle burning brightly at the foot of the path, where it will illuminate the way for others. She no longer needs it to see where she is going. Her path has now been cleared.
MESSAGE FROM THE HERMIT
It’s time to find a pause in your busy life to spend some time in quiet contemplation. Make space for sacred aloneness and self-care. You may need some distance from the rat-race in order to find your true path again, and if you are feeling disconnected from your spiritual north, this time of solitary withdrawal will help you to find your way back to your guiding principles. Soul purposes and spiritual awakenings spring from this hermit energy. Trust your ability to move ahead in the dark with only your own strong light to guide you. If you’ve been on this path for a while, you may be trying to find your way by filling your days with new information and lessons from others. Take a moment to synthesize, and see what sage advice comes from the inside.
The shadow side of the hermit reminds us that even if we have retreated to our inner landscapes to heal after a traumatic event, we don’t want to remain there forever. Our goal is to discover, to process and to heal in order to welcome new knowledge back into our waking life. It is not an escape. Sometimes, we run the risk of being so deeply introspective that we lose our connections to others, or worse – in our constant struggle to heal wounds, we can inadvertently begin to integrate those same wounds and shadows as a part of our forever-identity and thus our forever-struggle. When in the deepest trenches of self-discovery, we must remember that our constant search for our own healing does not mean that we are not already whole and healed. Integrate and transmute this shadow, and move towards the light.
QUESTIONS FOR THE SEER
• What would your inner sage say if you asked it what you needed to heal?
• How comfortable are you doing things by yourself, and spending time alone?
• Do you give yourself permission to take time-out when you need it?
@stellarcreature Rising above a well-worn path to see from a new perspective. I love this.
@sfaelin To me the lantern represents external validation etc, which she left behind. She stopped giving her
power away and realizes that all she ever needs can always be found within.
@4emperor4 Is she sitting on a ledge? Or has her stillness risen her higher and higher?
@whitneyjensen Meditative. On the outside peaceful, but on the inside aching with creation, life force, and
light. Like a dormant tree, on the outside it looks blank but inside it’s actively cultivating, nourishing retreat, all
culminating getting ready to bloom. She relies on her own consciousness to rise up to a higher viewpoint. And
the lantern she has left below anchors to her earth while she explores another dimension.
@perlaccs Forget what you know or think you know. Forget what you learned or think you have learned. The
external light does not illuminate the path that your soul chose. Open your senses to the signals and listen to
your heart. The Mayans said Whoever follows the path of the heart is never wrong.
@noxtarot I get a total sense of wholeness from her. She’s alone but not lonely. And the aloneness has allowed
her to grow into her full being.
@financialsforcreatives I see her opening up to galaxies of inner knowing that are revealed as she quiets her
mind.
@matthewmilesnell I love this modern contemporary take on The Hermit. That place of total introspection
one goes to in search of a deeper meaning to life as we climb the mountain on our journey to greater spiritual
understanding.
