The Hermit IX

[MystiqueMoonlight]

"Wonder alone; bearing the light and thy staff. And be the light so bright that no man seeth thee. Be not moved by aught without or within: keep silence in all ways" Aleister Crowley.

Colour: Grey
Astrology: Virgo
Herb: Juniper

Hebrew: YOD - Is the opposite of Aleph, it is a steady state, continuity. The finger of a person, the extended hand. Massculinity. All that which indicates the directing power and which serves to manifest it. It is the image of potential manifestation, of spiritual direction and of the eternity of time.

Rune: ISA - Contraction, transition, use caution when walking on the ice bridge. Difficult situations are overcome with caution and inner strength.

[isthmus nekoi]

Hermit falls under Virgo; an earth sign, which denotes fertility, hence the little spermatoza. Note the presence of the Orphic egg, Cerberus and the wheat. This brings to mind deaths of the son lovers (Osiris/Isis, Tammuz/Inanna, Christ/Mary) in relation to fertility and agriculture which of course gets tied in w/Persephone and female descent narratives.

As Virgo is ruled by Mercury, this shifts fertility to creativity; its relation to YOD. Crowley writes, "...[yod] symbolizes the Father, who is Wisdom; he is the highest form of Mercury, and the Logos, the Creator of all the worlds."

[rom]

The hermit is the Great reflection of the beatle in MOON [XVIII]. It is the journey to within, Cerberus the hell dog accompanies the journey.
The Hebrew letter YOD [Is also the first letter of the TETRAGRAMATRON] and represent the MALE principle in the most concentrate form SEMEN.
THE HERMIT is another way to reach TIFERET [the well balanced existence of the 6] THE HERMIT is the way from HESED [grace]. It is nice to see that "overdoing the hermit act" [beyond the balance of TIFERET] will land us in the in the path of the devil and on the way from TIFERET to HOD [also splendor like TIFERET but like an ECHO of it beyond the balance.... [8]]
There is also another "overdoing" possible this time from DIN [or GVURA] [5] to TIFERET leads the path of ADJUSTMENT VIII, overdoing it will result in DEATH XIII and will lead us from balanced TIFERET [6] to NEZACH [7] [eternity]. So adjustment [balancing and looking for justice, just as looking for the holly can be easily overdone.......

Crowley like OSHO preaches a new way of monkhood:

"Behold! these be grave mysteries; for there are also of my friends who be hermits. Now think not to find them in the forest or on the mountain; but in beds of purple, caressed by magnificent beasts of women with large limbs, and fire and light in their eyes, and masses of flaming hair about them; there shall ye find them. Ye shall see them at rule, at victorious armies, at all the joy; and there shall be in them a joy a million times greater than this. Beware lest any force another, King against King! Love one another with burning hearts; on the low men trample in the fierce lust of your pride, in the day of your wrath."

So THE BEST WAY I know to describe it is the TEFAL WAY [you can fry anything but nothing sticks to it, all remains unattached]

[Kaz]

kaz

[jmd]

The lantern, it may be observed, is projected out and formed from a finite space - it would otherwise be a regular octahedron, which it clearly isn't. Though this is the case, there is also an impression that the upper portion appears as though it is regular.

Overall, this gives the impression that though the upper part of the lantern, and thus the Light, is perfect, regular and stems from the infinite, the lower section is elongated, its elongation, presumably, proportional to the distance away from perfection which the carrier bears. In a similar vein, a shadow is at its longest in proportion to the obliquity of the Light source.

Both the sperm and Cerberus arise from below that horizontal divide - a divide which certainly gives the impression of dividing the card at its Golden Mean.

[Formicida]

Crowley like OSHO preaches a new way of monkhood:

"Behold! these be grave mysteries; for there are also of my friends who be hermits. Now think not to find them in the forest or on the mountain; but in beds of purple, caressed by magnificent beasts of women with large limbs, and fire and light in their eyes, and masses of flaming hair about them; there shall ye find them. Ye shall see them at rule, at victorious armies, at all the joy; and there shall be in them a joy a million times greater than this. Beware lest any force another, King against King! Love one another with burning hearts; on the low men trample in the fierce lust of your pride, in the day of your wrath."

I know it's been 3+ years, but does anyone know where this quote is from?

[Apocalipstick]

Book of the Law. Chapter 2?

Why do I know that? :confused:

[Formicida]

Thank you! I'm just glad someone knows :)

[ravenest]

OMG! Now Crowley is compared to Osho?

[rachelcat]

I don't know anything about Osho, but I am giving the Hermit a bit of a Buddhist twist. Can't help it!

Hermit
Yod, Virgo

We see the hermit from behind. He is peering through the tall waves of green grain at the greenish world egg and serpent (Orphic egg). In the center of the card is his hand holding a lantern which holds the sun. Its light shines out in beams throughout the card. In the lower left is three-headed Cerberus, who seems pretty happy and well-trained for a three-headed dog! On the bottom right is a sperm with a homunculus. Where do the light beams/triangles that don’t come from the lantern come from? That is driving me crazy! They seem to be coming from the upper left. I had an idea, and I’ve just confirmed—it’s the path from Chesed to Tiphareth. (Just as the light from the upper left of the Emperor is the path from Hochmah to Tiphareth.) And maybe the upper triangle points to Kether. Like, “yes, the path of this card is from Chesed to Tiphareth, but don’t forget its relation to Kether.”

The hand and the hermit’s body are both in the stylized shape of yod. Yod is the fundamental letter because it is said that all the other letters can be made from yods in combination. It is also the first letter of the name of God, and, as such, represents fire/wands. I’m thinking the creative, “in the beginning” part of God is represented here. That is accentuated by the world egg about to hatch and the fertile field.

Virgo is mutable earth and right before the autumnal equinox. The crops are not quite ready for harvest, represented by a Virgin, potential fertility. Crowley makes specific mention of Persephone, the virgin who is stolen (raped) and taken to the underworld. Her fertility is now beneath the earth, where it needs to be to help the plants grow! And the hermit is associated with Mercury as the psychopomp, the guide of souls to the underworld. He tamed Cerberus, who now obeys him. Mercury rules and is exalted in Virgo. (Now I guess I don’t know the rules for exaltation, if there are any . . .)

Instead of the lantern being a hexagon as in RWS, it’s an octahedron, two pyramids base to base. Octahedron symbolizes air, maybe accenting that the Hermit is an avatar of airy Mercury.

Ok, I’ve followed along with Crowley pretty well—until I get to “spermatozoon developed as a poison.” Huh? Is this like some myth of the dangers of masturbation? No help from Snuffin, although he talks a good deal about sex magic.

What I didn’t get from Crowley is that the sperm is also the Hermit’s wand or staff. And the head looks both like a snake’s head and a fetus.

He also says the three heads of Cerberus are speech, action, and thought. I have seen them as past, present, and future. The present head is above the others, since all that really exists is the present. The past is gone and the future doesn’t exist yet!

He also points out that the egg is form and the snake is force. (Matter and energy. Limitation and expansion. Etc.)

In a reading: Potential for creativity. Meditation with the potential for enlightenment and understanding of other states of being/mind. Mindfulness of the present moment. Being active in the spiritual realm.

[Professor X]

In Book 4 Liber ABA page 658 Crowley explains how Cerebus is affiliated with the unicorn,the horse and the ox.

The Unicorn is speech. Speech must be controlled by the Hermit.
The Horse is action. The Hermit is on a solitary quest where he gains the wisdom to control his passions.
The Ox is thought. Through the trials on the physical the sprit helps the Hermit gain control of the thought.

All that is represented the 3 headed dog Cereberus. It really adds even more depth to the Hermit card.

So according to what I have read here the Spermatozon the the staff of the Hermit? If so I was wondering where his staff was because I didnt see one on the card.

Here is something I put on a different thread about the Hermit card:


Here is something else I have discovered about the Devil card.
It has a relation with The Hermit card. Here is how.

Page 245 of the Secret Doctrine- Anthropogenesis says:


Satan or Lucifer, represents the active or as M. Jules Bassiac calls it,the 'Centrifugal Energy of the Universe' in a cosmic sense. He is Fire,Light,Life,Struggle,Effort,Thought,Consciousn ess,Progress,Civilization,Liberty,Independence.

Now in Liber ABA Crowley states that the Symbols on the Hermit card represent the powers of the Yod which are:

Life- Serpent
Light- Lamp
Love- Wand
Liberty-Wings
Silence- Cloak


You can see that the qualites of the Hermit card are very similar to what is ascribed to Lucifer. Plus the Hermit represents the Sun Gods when they go off into the wilderness to get tested and grow in enlightenment. It represents Jesus going off into the mountains/wilderness to be tempted by "Satan". After meeting with Satan Jesus is wiser than before. It is the same for all the characters throughout history that story applies to. They meet with Satan and come out WISER AND STRONGER THAN THEY WERE BEFORE.

Not only that but look at what path on the tree of life continues on directly after The Devil at path 26. It is Virgo/Hermit at path 20. Once the individual encounters Satan they undertake new journeys where they are wiser than they ever were before. Satan is crucial to anyones spiritual and occult success. He is the light bringer that gives them wisdom.

The powers of the Yod explains why they always show the devil with wings and why wings are on the Baphomet.

The Hermit is the enlightened student of the Devil who goes out and recieves high standing in the world and universe afterwards.