The Hermit

Glamorous and rich in meaning, card number 9 of the Greatest Arcans: Hermit.

The Hermit is on top of a snow-capped mountain and holds a bright and luminous lantern and a stick. Dressed in gray and hooded with his head lowered almost in reflection and loneliness but also in respect of light. The Hermit Seems like a lonely figure who in itself carries a bag of knowledge and knows that light will open his eyes to something else, he has accumulated wisdom and maturity, he does not need to ask but he gives, has security in himself and is aware of his psychological, but also spiritual and esoteric interiority, knows how to exploit his potential and wisdom without displaying it. He can only stand without feeling the weight of loneliness. The gray color – mixed between black and white – also this brings us to the universal knowledge of good and evil but also to the interior light that is hidden and used or communicated at the right time and the right people. Gray looks like a static and not important color as it encloses so many secrets and unites opposites. The snow of the mountain when it melts promises revival and change but also this natural process takes about 6 months and melting becomes water by feeding rivers and filling the soil of water thus bringing knowledge and nourishment but inner because water also symbolizes everything also do with feelings and emotions and subconscious and conscious. The mountain symbolizes the overcoming of limitations, in fact the old hermit walks on the top of the mountain but is near to Heaven.

The yellow gold stick seems to help the old wise to walk but in truth it shows only the path and the next steps and is his companion, the old wise does not rely on the stick but holds it by demonstrating control and command of his knowledge and the next steps. The stick is also a symbol of pilgrimage to knowledge and trials overcome.

The lantern that illuminates the path is one of the most fascinating and still studied symbols. Some see in the light the shape of the six-pointed star of David.

Number 9 is considered to be the number of the mystery that in fact multiplies always refers to itself, and if viewed three times, it symbolizes the image of the three worlds: celestial, terrestrial, infernal. But it is also the number of the end and the principle, and of the triads and the unknown. Mass and rebirth. Number 9 often assumes a liberating significance in numerology and encapsulates in and many significant aspects of the numbers that precede and compose it.

Always keep in mind the cards that are near the hermit if we want to interpret it as the card of the person because these cards will help us complete the analysis of the person both in terms of profession as well as age and personal characteristics.

The Hermit when interpreted as a person’s paper, in itself, refers to a person – most of the time male – older or much mature of his age, a person of wise and experience able to solve problems and help. In the work it could be a professional with great experience guiding us through a medical or therapeutic healing path or a person who for passion has given to a job where he helps and guides other people or a volunteer but also a person who has a deep inner faith apart from religions and institutions or a mentor or someone very wise who gives us unselfish counsel without manipulating us.

Reading the cards is a great help to interiorize the symbols. For example, the lantern is held in the hand to illuminate the path but shines on its own light and symbolizes wisdom and knowledge. The lantern is held in front and at a distance from the body of the hermit and partly covered by the cloak to mean that knowledge is a gift of all and the hermit does not hold it for itself but protects it and does not show its wisdom and still needs to learn because wisdom and knowledge are like an infinite well of which you never get to draw.

One of the meanings of this card is deep humility and prudence, concentration, modesty, knowing wait, seeking truth and justice.

The card indicates a moment that seems stagnant but full of hidden energy, a moment of silence and reflection in which the hermit helps us to emerge slowly but steadily from an unpleasant and uncertain situation or that we are tormented internally. It indicates a situation that unlocks slowly thanks to wise advice and help, often in fact the hermit happens in a reading where the consultant or the situation seems to be stagnant and out of doors, a melancholy moment and burdened with uncertainties in which we have the certainty that something has to change but we still do not know how to change it.