L'Hermite - how may it be read?

I wonder... at times. I do.

Perhaps I have been reading a little too much Cathar materials lately, but with especially that green gown and blue vestment in the Camoin version, it reminds me that Perfects often travelled not only at night - and hence often also used lanterns, but also it was their inner lights that especially shone.

Still, in a reading, I am at times reminded that the situation of person has to perhaps take time to allow for the inner light of the situation at hand to show its own light, and thus reveal its own being.

Pushing for outcome is a little like pulling a shoot to speed the growth of the plant: it achieves nothing, except perhaps a premature death.

Attached is the Camoin version.

As a 9 (IX), I think of 3 x 3.

Completions.

Letting go.

Preparation for movement to a new level of development.

I am in a L'Hermite year (using Umbrae's method of bd + last 2 numbers of the birth year (11 + 3 + 04 + 18 )

The 18 as La Lune...also introspection, receptive, passive.

And reduced...9, L'Hermite.

As I look at both the Camoin and the Hadar, I notice how vertical the objects are, one in each hand. The lantern/bell? in the right hand and the walking stick/baton in the left.

The stick sometimes makes me see this figure as holding solid ground as one walks into the interior of the self, into the soul development.

I also think it could be used to beat off people who want to intrude during a time of introspection. Sometimes, there are so many things coming at us in life, I need to remember I don't always have to "catch the ball." Sometimes, I need to wave my big stick and say "NO! Not Now!"

Also, especially in the Hadar, L'Hermite's head is touching or almost touching the top of the card, as if to tell us that this figure has his head in planes above the material.

The three little lines on the forhead....one who has lived a life not always filled with joy. This material plane we are "stuck" in brings many trials and sadness, but we need to remember that there is a life beyond this plane and unless we take the time to reflect and meditate, we shall not see that we have a choice about what we think about what has happened to us, about how to look at it in a different fashion.

Wisdom, spiritual reevaluation, philosophical musings, perseverance.

terri

The Hermit walks his own road, and the light he holds is for himself. I used to think he was a guide for others but I think this card is more about finding ourselves, and following our own path. He is knowledgeable and wise as shown by his age, his beard and the colours of his garments, and would share his wisdom but he is wise through his own findings, he's a Sage. He represents spiritual developement, the need for solitude and meditation.

In a reading this card could be telling us to take time out, reflect on our own path through life, it could be telling us to seek solitude or to rest and do some deep thinking, or even to not be guided by others but listen to our conscience. It could be telling us to be self sufficient, and not to rely on others.

L'Hermite

By lighting his own way, he lights the way for others. He is not knowledgeable about petty, transient facts and opinions : he sees the Light that precedes the stars and all souls, he hears the "Music of the Spheres." Sophia is his bride. The World is his home. His Mind is Light-filled . If he is asked, he will light our way,too.

Let there be Light

I see him as an ally of La Papess, a keeper of the light,
but if the underlying meaning is the Dark of the Sun,
who really then are we seeing here? VIIII L'Hermite...

For it may be shown that both La Papess and L'Hermite
stand in opposition to V Le Pape and IIII L'Empereur,
the very figures contained in the components of V+IIII.

Nice to see that you wonder, jmd.

Tell us more about the Cathar prefects, and the meaning of the green gown.

The Cathar angle, makes of him a member of a persecuted society, as a Cathar, (or for that matter as an underground Jew, of which there were some in Spain, for example) I guess he would travel under cover of night to secret meetings. -- it makes sense, it is how I see the Hermit - as one who braves death and darkness to follow his heart, the slient bearer of secret/sacred truth.

L'Hermite

Fulgour said:

For it may be shown that both La Papess and L'Hermite
stand in opposition to V Le Pape and IIII L'Empereur,
the very figures contained in the components of V+IIII.

Click to expand...

This certainly makes sense to me. The Papess and L'Hermite cultivate the Sophia, the true inner light, while the Pape and Emperor establish outer coherence of form. As Firemaiden beatifully put it in the last post, the Hermit "braves death and darkness", as does the Priestess. Pope and Emperor hold the form, but they do not "brave death and darkness", at least not as essential to their life and being. Trevrizent, the Hermit featured in Book 9 of the Parzival epic (about 1200 ce) lives away in a cave, courageously conjuring his own understanding of the truth. He alludes to Flegetanus, an ancient philosopher who "saw with his own eyes ... things he was shy to talk about, hidden mysteries." This is not the path of Pope and Emperor.

L'Hermite is very special.

He holds his lamp towards the past, therefore he illuminates the past to understand the present and the future. To take an experience from the past, to analyse it and understand it and then use it for what is to come. To learn from it! He wears the beard of wisdom and so is cautious in his guidance. He has a profound mind. A man of few words but much contemplation and depth. Layer after layer - you can see them, can't you? Yes, there amongst his clothing. With each layer comes a deeper understanding.

I think his lamp helps him find his own path and helps us find ours. He doesn't show us the way as much as illuminate the path so we can find it ourselves.

He does not give answers but helps you to find the answers yourself!

He reminds us to take our time and contemplate our actions. To find our own meaning through the past and through observation, listening and reflection.

The inside of his cloak glows with illumination, he doesn't need the lamp, he lights the card!

Fulgour said:

I see him as an ally of La Papess, a keeper of the light,
but if the underlying meaning is the Dark of the Sun,
who really then are we seeing here? VIIII L'Hermite...

For it may be shown that both La Papess and L'Hermite
stand in opposition to V Le Pape and IIII L'Empereur,
the very figures contained in the components of V+IIII.

Click to expand...

And when you add II-La Papesse to VIIII-L'Hermite, you reach XI- La Force for such concentration of spiritual focus leads to a vitality that one only ever sees in very holy people.

I met a priest in Congo once - an Italian priest who had been there for 37 years. An incredibly dynamic and dedicated man, good-humoured and funny too. He was fully engaged in the community and saved the lives of several hundred people (to my knowledge: but probably more), as well as serving as a parish priest and all-round one-man NGO. But every now and then he would leave his flock and go walking alone. If he could get to a hill he would, otherwise, the forest would do. He called "doing his hermit". "God is everywhere and in everyone, but sometimes I need to be alone with myself to hear him." Once he had decided to built the stations of the Cross up a hill near Kinshasa. No-one wanted to go up with him - his parishioners said the mountain was full of devils. So he went alone to live there for a few days. When he returned, many people volunteered to do the work with him. Why? Because a hermit is stronger than any devil. His very aloneness and survival in such harsh conditions (most Africans hate solitude) show that he is blessed by God.

I've rambled a bit. In a reading I might see him as a call to follow a more spiritual path, a need to be alone. Or else, if the querent needs to be more outgoing, an agoraphobia that needs to be overcome. I see him a lighting a way: he can represent someone - or a book, a film, a song - to guide to another dimension of the world and of self, to bring one a step closer to spiritual awakening. An ex-boyfriend who was a mathematician and introduced me to Tarot, said the Hermit represented to him a mathematical formula that would make him step alone into the perfect unknown for days, and maybe step closer to understanding the patterns of the world and thereby elevating himself spiritually.

There is another dimension to L'Hermite. He's tough. He won't cut you any slack. He doesn't really need you. He's tough on him/herself, too. If he turns up in a reading, he can mean someone who can be a lone wolf (temporarily or as a matter of character), who will have impact on the querent, but who is on a lonely quest of his/her own. He is dominated by blue - a receptive colour - and looks to the past. He remembers he is human and of the earth - but his quest means more to him than any other person. It's worth noting when the querent is in a relationship with a Hermit.

Jewel...I like the idea of the light shining into the past....we are doomed to repeat our mistakes unless we learn from history...non?

jmd, I too would like a bit more on the Cathar's....

Did this having anything to do with the fall of the Templars?

terri