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The Hermit

MAJOR ARCANA · IX

The Hermit is card IX of the major arcana. On a dark mountaintop, an old man in a grey cloak stands alone, holding up a lamp with a star shining inside. Upright, he stands for reflection, seeking and time alone; reversed, for isolation, withdrawal and rigidity.

Name and number

Upright meaning

Keywords: reflection, seeking, solitude, caution, guidance

Having found inner strength in the Strength card, the traveler next journeys deep within. The Hermit is someone who withdraws from the world to look for answers alone.

The upright Hermit stands for time spent quietly with yourself: not acting at once but thinking it through, testing things against your own experience and conscience instead of asking others for answers. The lamp does not light the far distance, but it is enough to light the next step. He appears around study and research, sorting out your feelings, and long-term plans. He can also stand for an experienced teacher or adviser.

Reversed meaning

Keywords: isolation, withdrawal, rigidity, avoiding people

Reversed, time alone is read as having gone too far.

Shutting yourself away and avoiding people, refusing to hear anyone's view, feeling lonely yet unable to lean on others. Or the opposite: worrying only about other voices when you should be thinking for yourself. It is a card for finding the right distance between loneliness and the quiet of self-reflection.

What the picture shows

• The lamp and the star within it: in the Rider–Waite–Smith deck a six-pointed star shines inside. It is the light of wisdom, lighting his own steps and the path for those who come after.
• The staff: the experience that has supported a long road.
• The grey cloak and hood: he stays inconspicuous, hidden from the world.
• The snowy peak: a height reached alone.

History

The Hermit began as an old man representing Time.

In the fifteenth-century Italian Visconti–Sforza deck, the old man holds an hourglass. He is "Father Time," a familiar figure in Renaissance art, standing for the passing of time and for old age. In Italy he was also called "the old man" or "the hunchback."

In the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Tarot of Marseille, the hourglass became a hand-held lantern. Some link the old man with the lantern to the story of the Greek philosopher Diogenes, who carried a lamp in daylight saying he was "looking for an honest man." His name, too, became "the Hermit."

The Rider–Waite–Smith deck put a star inside the lamp and placed him on a snowy summit. The meaning shifted from an old man of Time to a sage who seeks truth alone and guides others.

Correspondences

Previous and next cards

• Previous: 8 Strength
• Next: 10 Wheel of Fortune
• The major arcana

Lucky colors for The Hermit