IX L'Ermite

I have a lot of problems with this card, because one of its main pictorial elements was changed not long after the first appearance of tarot, and the meaning of the card was irrevocably altered. Originally, the old man held an hourglass, not a lantern, and the card was called "The Old Man," or "The Hunchback" (for the figure in the Visconti-Sforza version clearly suffers this disfigurement), or even "Time." I was gratified to see that when Luigi Scapini executed the replacement card for this trump in the Cary-Yale deck, he shows the old man carrying an hourglass.

This means that originally the card was a representation of our acute and constant awareness of our own mortality, of the inevitable and relentless passage of time, and its attendant onset of old age and dissolution. There is also a clear association of the trump's figure with the Greek god Cronos, who has persisted in our culture as "Father Time;" we still see him in cartoons, carrying his scythe and hourglass, at the turn of every new year. This interpretation is confirmed by a 16th-century Ferrarese card now in the Bibliotheque Municipale in Rouen, which shows Saturn carrying his scythe and standing with one foot on an hourglass (M. Dummett, "The Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards," p. 122).

The initial alteration of this card might have occurred with the appearance of inexpensive woodblock-printed packs, as the earliest ones, from the late 15th or early 16th century (numerous uncut sheets are in both the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest) show the old man with what is probably a lantern. Perhaps the hourglass was simply too difficult an element for the woodblock artists to execute in this relatively crude format. At any rate, this substitution changes the card's meaning, since the old man carrying a light is now a seeker after truth, looking to find his way on an unclear path, rather than a representation of the Greek god of time. By the time of the appearance of the Marseilles decks, the change had become firmly established, and the Old Man was now forever to be the Hermit.

Personally, I find this change unfortunate. One of the most commonly manifested and uniquely human attributes is our awareness of our eventual fate. Scarcely a day goes by that every person doesn't think of it, and it's one of a limited number of everyday feelings that life is made of. In attempting to understand tarot, I try to avoid arcane, abstracted, highly theoretical interpretations, and have a decided preference for concrete, specific, and tangible meanings. It seems to me that a symbolic set of pictures that addresses the human condition would not leave out the most common human experiences: romantic love, awareness of mortality, and so forth.

(catboxer)

visconti sforza

kaz

cary yale visconti

kaz

Mine follows the original, and is also a portrait of Dr. CG Jung taken just before he died.

I noticed last night this thread on The Hermit had been started, but didn't have the time to add to the thread.

I agree with catboxer that on some early Italian representations, as on the Visconti-Sforza, and in many non-Tarot Minchiante decks, that the figure appears to represent an aspect of Father-Time, or Chronos, though without the Scythe, reserved for the stage following old age. On the other hand, the old man, as Hermit (or Ermit), also has classical representations holding a lantern. I suspect the representations reflect two different meanings.

If the Hour-glass certainly tends to favour the reading as Time/Chronos. On the other hand, the Lamp may be quite appropriate if representing a mendicant friar, or a particular Saint, and the Spiritual Light they carry before them and shine upon others. Yet the Light is also lonely, as depicted by the 'feeling' of the card (for me, depicting that the Path travelled is one which each has to travel for him or herself).

Before I post more traditional Marseilles representations of the Hermit, I've attached a 1432 St Christophe woodcut representation. As in many iconographies of the period, various aspects of the Saint are depicted (or a story is indicated). If you look carefully on the right-hand side of the woodcut, you'll notice that the Saint is near the edge of the bank, in front of his hut, holding a lamp or lantern.

In the 1760 Conver version, as in, I would venture, the Marseilles versions, the Hermit faces the left of the card, holding a lantern.

Personally, I also prefer the lantern's shutter to be, as in some decks, open.

It is also, in my opinion, significant that the Marseilles decks utilise the additive form of Roman for their numeration. In old Roman, IX meant eleven (1 + 10), though it was unusual. This is the main reason why I suspect 'IIII' was used for 4, 'VIIII' for 9, etc..

Without wanting to dwell on the point too much, I do think that, if one thinks about mediaeval iconographic representations and various appelations, than St Christopher and the Light from the Lantern aspect fit quite well.

Christ is, and was, often referred to as the 'Light of the World' and the 'Light of Men' (Cf Bible John 8:12 & 9:5 et al., and John 1:4 for the latter). A mediaeval person familiar with especially the Gospels would undoubtedly find the representation from the card probably more reminiscent of its pointer as the Light of Christ which shines from the Heart of the being of the Hermit/mendicant monk then Chronos and our own mortality (which is, in any case, clearly represented later in the series with Death).

I've attached a copy of possibly the most famous (and more modern) representation of Christ as the 'Light of the World', by William Hunt, painted in the 19th century.

i haven't participated in this study group, but i have been reading your threads voraciously! i wanted to thank all of you. wow, the hermit as cronos. i'm going to be thinking on that one for some time to come! thank you!!!

zorya:

Thanks for posting. I've been hoping other people would jump into this conversation, and Diana and Kaz are participating sometimes. It's nice to know someone is reading this stuff.

jmd:

I don't disagree with anything you're saying. Certainly the hermit's lantern sheds the light of truth, and for a late Renaissance person that would have been the truth of Christianity. The Hermit, a person who exhibits all too typical human weaknesses and frailties, needs the light of truth to find his way along a difficult path.

However, my point is that this meaning for trump VIIII was an evolutionary development, not something that was there from the beginning. Certainly, if a picture's symbols are altered its meaning changes as well, and this is a change that I wish had not occurred, even though the concept represented in the Marseilles deck is beautiful and expressive.

I feel this way partly because I think the Visconti-Sforza card is an absolute masterpiece. Along with the Papesse, it's one of my very favorite cards in that deck, and the artist really hit his stride at this point.

Mortality is, as you point out, represented among the trumps by the Death card. But mortality and awareness of mortality are not the same thing. Remember, when the Buddha, in his youth, went out riding and was introduced for the first time to the pain of the world, he saw a sick man, a dead man, AND and old man. We live with the knowledge of approaching decline, dissolution, and death every day, and the inclusion of this element of human experience enriched the earliest tarots, which is why I've included it in my own deck.

By the way, I'll be gone and computerless for the next couple of days, as I need to travel to San Francisco for my daughter's 30th birthday. I'll check back in with you about Thursday.

Regards,
(catboxer)

zorya, I too am pleased to see you participate in these discussions, and hope to read your further reflections and thoughts here.

I have certainly had to reflect far more carefully regarding this card's representation.

catboxer, I hope your daughter had a wonderful birthday, and San Fransisco weather did justice to the day.

Your own card certainly reflects the aspect of the ageing and wisdom which ought to develop as one approaches the Omega of life, and the sands of one's personal life are slowly disappearing.

I therefore also agree with you that the Visconti-Sforza is masterly, both through its simple elegance and its clarity. I guess that I personally prefer the lantern.

I suppose that if one sees the cards as, as you so clearly put it, 'a symbolic set of pictures that addresses the human condition', then the representation of ageing certainly ought to appear - as ought, under that same assumption, infancy. This is where the deck certainly appears to leave certain things out.

One could also ask, given the context, why, of all common mediaeval Christian iconography, has the Crucifixion on Golgatha been omitted?

What has been omitted from the deck, as iconographies, probably tells us as much about the deck, given the milieu from which it arose, as what has been included.

As you said, some early Italian representations were of an hour-glass. The codification on the Marseilles, however, has maintained the Light/Lamp representation.

If, in a series of symbolic representations, and taken as a whole, one had to choose one or the other (whilst still acknowledging the wonderful aspect of each), I would personally opt for the Marseilles version, as it seems to point to something deeper than awareness of one's mortality: its transcendence.

Attached is the Camoin 1998 version.