Hermit as investigator?

[tigerlily]

Just a thought that popped into my head while looking at the card: the Hermit is actively searching in the darkness, and I already had him connected to research, so - I had this image of him, arriving at a crime scene, holding up his lamp to look for clues. Think of the Grissom character of CSI: a quiet Vulcan-type scientist, patiently tracking the criminal... fits my feeling of the Hermit, too.

A researcher, a scientist, an investigator... these interpretations can give some clues for readings that are different from the worn out philosopher/guru/you-should-consider-meditation meanings for the card.

What are your thoughts?

 

[214red]

to be honest i know what your saying, but i would hate to associate the hermit a card i like with something as mundane as a detective even a forensic one. Grissom has to understand someone else to solve a crime, the hermit to me is about yourself, not others

interesting concept though

 

[tigerlily]

Still, readings are mostly about mundane things. Most of the time we're not meditating or looking for spirit guides (well, I don't. I'm more a practical person). Justice can mean a lawyer, it's not always about cosmic justice. So the Hermit can mean that you evaluate a "dark" or confusing situation, looking for clues. It doesn't have to be P.I. appearing on your doorstep

 

[214red]

Still, readings are mostly about mundane things. Most of the time we're not meditating or looking for spirit guides (well, I don't. I'm more a practical person). Justice can mean a lawyer, it's not always about cosmic justice. So the Hermit can mean that you evaluate a "dark" or confusing situation, looking for clues. It doesn't have to be P.I. appearing on your doorstep

i know it can be about mundane things, but its insular not like Grissom for example he looks at crimes and solves them he doesnt look at himself and try and work out who he is as ajob.
i would expect a swords/air or a pents/coins card for this

BTW i love this type of debate, it opens things up..i might at the end realise i need to look at the card again

 

[tigerlily]

i know it can be about mundane things, but its insular not like Grissom for example he looks at crimes and solves them he doesnt look at himself and try and work out who he is as a job.

I'm not sure if I chose a bad example, or if we're seeing two different things in this character.

No, Grissom doesn't analyze himself or others - he's not a therapist. That's one of the meanings for the Hermit I'm trying to move away from here. Not to exchange it for something else, but to add to it.

Ok, try this from a different angle: the Hermit-as-therapist is looking into your psyche (the darkness in the card) with whatever analytical tools he has (= the lamp). That activity is in essence not so different from a criminal investigator that is looking into a crime scene with his tools. The common thing here is the active search for answers, for clues, for the tracks that people, actions, traumata... leave behind, and to make sense of those pieces.

What's important to me here isn't the question whether Grissom in his entirety fits all aspects of the Hermit to a tee. I only used him to illustrate the kind of action, the new quality I discovered in the card.

Does that make sense to you?

 

[rwcarter]

A researcher, a scientist, an investigator... these interpretations can give some clues for readings that are different from the worn out philosopher/guru/you-should-consider-meditation meanings for the card.

Those occupations/interpretations for the Hermit never would've occurred to me, but now that you say them, they make perfect sense to me.

A local DJ likes to say, "The truth is the light no matter where it shines." It just occurred to me that this quote could also apply to the Hermit. And I think it applies whether the light is shining outward onto others or inward onto oneself.

Rodney

 

[Major Tom]

the Hermit is actively searching in the darkness

I like your take.

You should have a look at the Hermit from the Thoth.

How about Hermit as instigator or path finder?

 

[Niklas Zweig]

Well, a scientist, bent over a microscope - I think the hermit could be this.

As to the detective, the method of criminal investigation since Sherlock Holmes is likened to the method of medical diagnosis. Discard the impossible, what remains, no matter how unlikely it sounds, must be the truth. I can actually see several major arcana connected to this:

The hermit as seeker for truth. But his view is not very broad, he's doing some pretty involved and detailed study (right - microscope).

The magician, because he manipulates things in order to see how they react to each other. But he's not very focused.

The hanged man and judgement, because the power of the elements cleans off everything that obscures the truth.

The moon, because the detective finds his way in dangerous territory, in back alleys and among the refuse.

The sun, because he brings light into darkness.

The emperor, because his hebrew letter is zade, being a fish hook. He pulls the facts into the light of the day. And he represents authority and is a generally quite active person.

Any more?
Niklas

 

[Skysteel]

Well, a scientist, bent over a microscope - I think the hermit could be this.

As to the detective, the method of criminal investigation since Sherlock Holmes is likened to the method of medical diagnosis. Discard the impossible, what remains, no matter how unlikely it sounds, must be the truth. I can actually see several major arcana connected to this:

The hermit as seeker for truth. But his view is not very broad, he's doing some pretty involved and detailed study (right - microscope).

The magician, because he manipulates things in order to see how they react to each other. But he's not very focused.

The hanged man and judgement, because the power of the elements cleans off everything that obscures the truth.

The moon, because the detective finds his way in dangerous territory, in back alleys and among the refuse.

The sun, because he brings light into darkness.

The emperor, because his hebrew letter is zade, being a fish hook. He pulls the facts into the light of the day. And he represents authority and is a generally quite active person.

Any more?

Temperance - combining seemingly disparate things to arrive at a more fundamental truth.

 

[Niklas Zweig]

Temperance - combining seemingly disparate things to arrive at a more fundamental truth.

Definitely!
~N.