the hermit
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 22 Oct 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| loveinspirit |
22 Oct 2004 |
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what does the hermit mean for others plz???????
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| Fulgour |
22 Oct 2004 |
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Imagine yourself walking down a long hallway lined with doors.
On each door there is a name, and you have paused before the
door marked VIIII L'HERMITE. What will you do next? You can
think about what might be behind that door, where it might lead
to, but unless you are comfortable making assumptions about the
unknown, you realize you will have to open the door and go in,
for this door is for you alone ~ and here you are now...
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| WalesWoman |
23 Oct 2004 |
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My first thought is Alone...needing to know something, to seek it out, rather than being taught (Hierophant) Everything is in darkness and the only way to find what you need to know is to follow that light (the spirit). It has literally meant being alone with my thoughts, to dig deep into my psyche, to take time off and find some peace of mind. To withdraw from the world of men and enter the world of the mind or spirit, but always there is some lesson that comes from it, that makes a breakthrough and revelation, one of those Eureka times when suddenly you understand and everything starts making sense again. If anything, to learn to live with yourself, and enjoy your own company, rather than filling it with distractions that divert you from facing and accepting yourself. Maybe it could be Know thyself, find the Light of the Spirit within.
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| RedMaple |
23 Oct 2004 |
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The Hermit is one of my favorite cards, maybe because I am someone who needs solitude - not every day - but on a regular basis.
The Hermit card shows those times we need solitude, and also being comfortable with our own company. I find that when I am without other human company that I become aware that I am never really alone -- the world is so alive - I become aware of all the life around me.
It is also a going inward, a looking for truth, a listening for the inner voice. Shutting off the radio, tv, computer, etc being in the silence for awhile.
RedMaple
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| WalesWoman |
26 Oct 2004 |
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Good thoughts Red Maple! I was thinking when I first started reading that the Hermit always sort of scared me. Oh NO! I'm going to be alone! The fear of being alone, as in not in a relationship or being isolated from others. And then I realized how often people use noise to fill their lives or to avoid being or feeling alone, TV most especially to avoid silence, work, children, social stuff, always being busy and that more than likely they were avoiding silence because the only thing to listen to were their thoughts running around in their heads, and did not want to hear them. I know some who never turn off their radios or TV, leave them on so they can fall asleep. That is some major escapism!
Then there is the other flip of the coin, using things to isolate oneself from yourself and others, like the TV, there is very little interactive communication possible, shutting everything else but what you are focusing on. (makes me nuts to be sitting next to someone and feeling like I'm the only one really there)
I love my solitude times and seek time outs as often as possible, other times I have no other choice, but I learned along time ago, if I can't live with myself, how can anyone live with me? So I think the Hermit helps us to do just that.
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| ferrous |
26 Oct 2004 |
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With all these ideas on what the Hermit means to each person, I think that I can truly relate to that card now.
As much as I love having company & love having someone to talk to (to talk at some would say :D), I also don't mind my own company at all. I can quite easily listen to my own undulating thoughts.
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| krazymayj |
27 Oct 2004 |
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with age comes wisdom, thats what they say. when your older, you learn what to say, especially what not to say. with age comes the caution that spawns from the scars of past burns. we learn from our mistakes, and that makes us older. we learn how to coverup our foibles, to disguise our intentions. and the older we get, the more sneaky we get. in the sixties they used to say "never trust anyone over thirty" that still works today, in my experience, but ive seen many a thirty year old in the body of a child.
sometimes our own fears get the better of us, preventing us from acting when we really need to just throw caution to the wind..
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| Neville Surrell |
27 Oct 2004 |
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To me The Hermit is saying that you can only really Know yourself in times of solitude as there is noone other to communicate with.Subsequently it is at these all too rare special times of peace that we can get to know our own truths. For this reason the Hermit is a card I hold dear to my Heart. How many of us are in the truly enlightened state of knowing ourselves. Neville
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| northsea |
02 Nov 2004 |
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wisdom gained through worldly experience (versus the abstract principles of the hierophant). "where I am, you may be also" the hermit has climbed mount everest, and is willing to offer guidance to those that follow.
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| Ace |
06 Nov 2004 |
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Glad you posted that, Umbrae, I was thinking the same thing. Most RWS decks, the Hermit stands on the Mountain (a metaphor for life challenges) and sees how far he had come already. (the Robin Wood does this very well)
The WorldTree tarot shows the other aspect of the Hermit, meditation, time alone for contempation. Mainly, I think of it as: stopping on the way to digest my past experience before going on to add NEW experiences.
I sometimes tell people to do their resume when I see that card. NOT because they will be fired, but to see what they have achieved and what they still want to achieve in their goals.
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| Fulgour |
06 Nov 2004 |
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Millions of people live the very sort of lives that hermits
of old are considered peculiar for. What does it mean to
"fit in" and be a part of the mainstream marketplace...?
Life is often a very singular experience, a personal event.
Looking at The Hermit we see he isn't an very ordinary sort
of recluse at all, but a wise wanderer, following his own light.
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| krazymayj |
08 Nov 2004 |
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lonliness may be attributed to his uniqueness, but his uniqueness may be only in his perception. its dark, and he is only looking at whats in front of him, only whats in front of him. his past is either forgotten, or already dealt with and filed away where it makes no more impression. in age you get stubborn, and quite unwilling to admit past mistakes, the inability to face the past in one who is unable to shine light on it.
the old cliche, too,"alone in a crowd" one who has shut off outside ideas in favor of his own light. not always a good thing. we need the objectivity of others to rectify our own perceptive mistakes
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| RedMaple |
08 Nov 2004 |
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Umbrae and Krazymayj,
These are shadow sides of the Hermit, to be sure. I usually don't think of those because it has been such a postive card for me.
Wales Woman, I first encountered the Hermit as the Crone in the Motherpeace deck -- and I, too, felt "oh, no, I'm going to be alone" as in "unloved." But solitude does not mean being cut off from people, nor does it mean being unloved.
I grew up the oldest of 6 children, in a household that included a grandmother, and only five rooms, so there wasn't any time for solitude, and even desiring it was considered aberrant. My alone time was always outside, in a field, a tree, walking the lakeside in the morning before anyone else was awake. So I guess there was a bit of the Hermit in me even then.
RedMaple
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The the hermit thread was originally posted on 22 Oct 2004 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.
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