The Hermit

The term “Hermit” is Greek for ‘in the desert,’ and it refers to the practice of early Christians to go out into the wild that the Romans did not control and spend time alone contemplating the deeper portions of their spirituality.

The Early Christians went into the desert for solitude but the modern-day equivalent is turning off your cell phone.  Giving facebook a break and shut down one or two of your screens.

The Hermit card is a reminder to separate yourself from the influences of the crowd and make sure you are following your own true north.

It can be easy to bop along on the surface of things and not ever really dive deep into your own consciousness, but eventually, you will feel full to the brim and utterly overwhelmed.  This is a great time to take some time away and quit taking in so much sensory input and slow down and just start processing all the things you already know.

This message can come in any area of your life too.  It may be a sign that its time to clear the clutter out of your life as well as your mind.  Do you really need an air fryer, an insta-pot, a Bluetooth-controlled crockpot, a pressure cooker, and a bread machine as well as a range and a full set of pots to make dinner?  Or will a frying pan and an egg get the job done?

As humans, we just love the next shiny thing.  But is the next shiny thing really the best thing for us or is it better to turn away from the clutter and figure out what is essential for life and who we are without all the stuff?

The Hermit appears about halfway through the Fool’s journey of the Major Arcana and usually is the depiction of a hooded bearded man holding a lantern up and looking back over the choices of the previous 8 cards.

The hermit card may show up in a reading for you to tell you that it’s time to sit down and take a long hard look at your choices.  It’s time to separate yourself from the emotions tied to them and just take an analytical look at the journey you are on.  

The mountain top the hermit stands on affords him a view of all the valleys around him and makes the choice of any direction simple.  But as the world is laid out before you it’s time to take a look at your own internal landscape and see if the experience you are having is really the one you want, or if it is time to head off in another direction.

When the fool set out on the simple path with his dog at his heels his path was clear and his joy was apparent as the Hermit contemplates the world below him and all the choices that are possible it seems he is utterly weighed down.  

The Hermit may come to you in a reading when you are weighed down by too many choices and is a reminder to find your joy in the journey again.

If you choose to read cards reversed in your tarot pulls the hermit may be a warning against analysis paralysis.

It may be a caution that you have removed yourself too far from the maddening crowd to make a difference anymore.

It can also be a caution that you are being too analytical and have removed too much heart from the decision-making process.  

There is a saying that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.  

The Hermit card could be encouraging to come down off the mountain and drink from the springs in the valley where spring has touched the ground and there is abundance for all.