Although the figure in the Mitelli Hermit looks more like a workman coming home in the dark from the fields, with candle lantern, it is indeed one of my favourite 'Hermits'. I do wonder, given the few stars which sprinkle the night, whether it is merely meant to be a 'star' card. As I purchased my copy from Germany, and my High School German was far too long ago (and I was a lazy student of this language), I can translate little of the accompanying book. Such a complex language!
Though this is more related to the Pope, I find the inclusion of 2 Pope's in the Mitelli deck very interesting ... the standing Pope and the sitting Pope. Though the year of production of the original deck was 1718 or thereabouts, it does suggest that the schism was still an issue alive, at least, in Mitelli's mind.
The second pic is more for amusement ... My Dad as model for a seated Hermit. He was in one of his 'naughty-lad' moods and refused to stand still, but I like the idea of the Hermit seated. Remove the surrounds, change the clothing, picture the broom as a staff, add both the lantern and the hourglass ... for both seem very relevant and therefore requiring inclusion and we have it.
Why both lantern and hourglass? My father will soon be 85, and in spite of a brain hemmorhage, talks at length of issues related to such topics as reincarnation, karma, the akashic record, the meaning of life, essentially... he is pursuing the process of reordering his life's experience into a meaningful package, and the awareness of his own mortality is foremost in all our minds ... thus we have both the shining of the light on our inner and outer worlds to find meaning, and the freshness in mind of one's own mortality. Consequently, to me, both symbols are relevant.
Given the Diogenes story (thanks for the link Tom) my humour wishes to glue a rubber chicken somewhere on the picture, but that will have to wait for my 'spoof' deck which, I suspect will follow, or run parallel to this current creation. I already that the fool tumbling off the cliff because the dog has leapt up and pushed him over. Maybe an old dog lying next to my Hermit/Wise Old Man a là Jung/Diogenes figure would suffice?
And Kaz, I too, find the Soprafino Hermit a particularly superb image ... the deck as a whole. And, thank you too for your Jung as Hermit .... it is an idea that crossed my mind, but my skills in portraiture are not sufficient to have made that possible.
I had often wondered about the snake that appears on the Hermit card in a number of decks, and had not made the Moses connection. My knowledge of Old and New Testament is sorely lacking having not been brought up in a Judeo-Christian household.
Having just completed a 'Hermit' Year, there certainly is the element of initiation present, and of transformation, both of which are relevant in snake symbolism. Still, all of this is meandering off the TdM track. But then, I guess that it goes back to catboxer's original comments about the evolution of tarot from Chronos image to Christian hermit, and in later years, into a range of images male and female both.
Fascinating discussion guys, my thanks
mythos