The Hermit
The Hermit is major arcanum IX of the tarot. It represents inner search, voluntary withdrawal, mature wisdom, the silent master and the light one carries when walking alone. Associated with Virgo, it embodies the sage who illuminates his own path with his own lantern.
Origin and symbolism
In the early decks, the card was Il Vecchio ("the Old Man") and showed a stooped figure with an hourglass. The iconography evolved toward the hermit with a lantern that we know today. In the Rider-Waite-Smith, The Hermit appears on a snowy peak, in grey robe, holding a lantern in his right hand (with a six-pointed star inside) and a staff in his left. His gaze is downward: he concentrates inward, not outward.
The lantern contains the Star of Solomon (wisdom). The Hermit does not wait for others to illuminate him — he makes his own light. The snowy peak represents elevated isolation. The staff, support on one's own path. The card closes the first phase of the Fool's Journey: after the outer learnings (Magician, Priestess, Empress, Emperor, Hierophant), Chariot and Justice, the soul needs to retreat to integrate.
Meaning in a spread
Appearance in a reading: withdraw, listen to your silence, seek a master or be your own master, time of fertile solitude, do not decide yet, deepen, mature wisdom arrives, inner pilgrimage. The card is an invitation to retreat. What is not seen in the noise reveals itself in silence. It is also a card of mentors who appear when you are ready.
In shadow: pathological isolation, misanthropy, evasion of the world under spiritual appearance, bitter solitude, intellectual arrogance of one who believes he knows everything. The Hermit's trap is to confuse retreat with flight, or wisdom with human disconnection.
Also known as
- L'Ermite
- The Hermit
- The Solitary Sage