Mary El - The Hermit

[Bat Chicken]

http://www.mary-el.com/09.html

This is a fascinating Hermit. Like the earliest cards of the deck, he is faceless entity. The traditional element of the lantern of Light is here but the mountain is water and seems to emanate from him. It seems to imply, to me, the source of the Hermit's wisdom is from himself, his depths.

He seems to be made of water and the water in the background is very reminiscent of Hokusai's blockprint, "The Wave". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gr..._Kanagawa2.jpg)

Thoughts?

[Debra]

Quite unlike most Hermits, who look to be moving slowly in a high, dry landscape. The old Hermit cards show "Time" or "the Cripple," an old man with an hourglass and/or crutch --the lantern came later.

This guy doesn't look like he's contemplating great truths or seeking the nature of reality. He's barely staying upright, and with his gnarled hands and body posture, he looks buffeted by the waves, defensive. Tsunami, maybe? Hokkosai's Wave is a tsunami wave.

I want to rescue him from the storm, wrap him in a towel and give him some hot cocoa.

The candle is lit but how does it stay lit in this wall of water? Funny, we've had major rains here for two days now, flooding--my candles don't stay lit, just from the wind coming through the house windows.

[Laura Borealis]

I see the resemblance to the Great Wave off Kanagawa painting, too. But also, behind those waves, I see shapes that remind me of the sperm shape on the Thoth's Hermit card. One of the places where the Thoth influence comes through...

[Laura Borealis]

Originally Posted by Debra

This guy doesn't look like he's contemplating great truths or seeking the nature of reality. He's barely staying upright, and with his gnarled hands and body posture, he looks buffeted by the waves, defensive. Tsunami, maybe? Hokkosai's Wave is a tsunami wave.

I want to rescue him from the storm, wrap him in a towel and give him some hot cocoa.

I'm taking this one way too personally. I look at it and all I can think is, "That's my Dad." He has always been hermit-ish. This Hermit stands in a storm: my dad's name is Gale. Even his body is hunched and hands are curled in much the same manner as Dad's are right now as he fights his own personal storm in a hospital bed. That light dangles, so precariously, from one finger...

[Bat Chicken]

Originally Posted by laura_borealis

I see the resemblance to the Great Wave off Kanagawa painting, too. But also, behind those waves, I see shapes that remind me of the sperm shape on the Thoth's Hermit card. One of the places where the Thoth influence comes through...

Yes! I see those now that you mention it...

(((Laura))) There is the element of time and wisdom... and vulnerability. Your words brought a tear to my eye...

[Terrapin]

Originally Posted by laura_borealis

I'm taking this one way too personally. I look at it and all I can think is, "That's my Dad." He has always been hermit-ish. This Hermit stands in a storm: my dad's name is Gale. Even his body is hunched and hands are curled in much the same manner as Dad's are right now as he fights his own personal storm in a hospital bed. That light dangles, so precariously, from one finger...

That is really touching, laura. This is a really tumultuous looking Hermit. I think he's riding the waves of his own inner discoveries. Or maybe he is a hermit because of all the craziness around him. A hermit just starting out on his inward, much needed, journey--with all of the chaos still about him.

Something I'm noticing about this deck is that I think the images are presenting to us what needs to be done, not necessarily representing the circumstance as it is, but rather the solution to a circumstance. You know? It seems very advanced and pro-active in a way.

(Hope you don't mind me just jumping in once in a while as you all go through the deck in as a group!)

[Debra]

The more I look at it, the more I see him "losing himself"--his essence is sucked out, he's melting.

[Requiella]

WOW!! I love this Hermit!

Originally Posted by Bat Chicken

http://www.mary-el.com/09.html
This is a fascinating Hermit. Like the earliest cards of the deck, he is faceless entity. The traditional element of the lantern of Light is here but the mountain is water and seems to emanate from him. It seems to imply, to me, the source of the Hermit's wisdom is from himself, his depths.

Thoughts?

Yeah, I agree. Adding to this thought, the water seems to emanate from her/him because it represents the subconscious--notice how the water emerges from the head area. "Vulnerability" captures it nicely. Here, the Hermit is not only tapping into deep inner wisdom but is engulfed and overwhelmed by it. The message: Going inward and working through subconscious issues is scary!

Originally Posted by Terrapin

I think he's riding the waves of his own inner discoveries.

Exactly! The Hermit is directly below the High Priestess, so here we're going deeper into her subconscious realm of knowing. Maybe Marie is also connecting these two cards with blue as the dominant color?

[Mi-Shell]

I see the wave of time cresting over him, spewing white wisdom and deep blue emotion that are threatening to drown him.
Small swirls of yellow light hint at the glimpses of recognition we have in this sea of wisdom
Will they manage to unite with the light of his lamp -representing knowledge gained tamed and captured? Before the wave is also sweeping him – and so all of us away, onward, before we can consciously grasp it all with aging frail hands.

[Maskelyne]

I'm not quite sure what to make of this hermit. For one thing, I can't think of another deck in which the Hermit is associated with water, but not only is this one nearly one with an ocean wave, there is the glyph in the lower left corner: the elemental symbol for water in a circle.

Is the figure emerging from the wave, or merging into it? There's a curl of spray entering the hood - is the sea breathing life into this thing, or drowning it? I'm inclined to think the former because of what's going on in the upper left. The stylized curls of the breaking wave morph to delicate curlicues of spray, and above that the spermatozoids with glowing heads associate the wave with the generation of life. In some ways maybe connected with the Orphic egg in the Thoth. The opening of the cloak resembles the opening of a giant clam, or maybe some sort of oyster, and the bottom of the cloak resembles an octopus, whose tentacles spiral similar to the spray but in the opposite direction. Only the hands and the lantern evoke anything human.

I'm thinking the Self emerging from the chaos of nature, swept along by and barely differentiated from it, but reaching for the light of self-awareness. The figure only touches the handle of the lantern with a single finger - will he grasp it before he is re-absorbed into the wave?