Carpe Diem #195, The Hermit (IX) Tarot

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

The card for today gave me a few sleepless nights while I was researching all of the articles and books I already have gathered. I think this episode will be awesome, because this card which I have drawn, The Hermit (IX), is somewhat similar with the path I once trod ... and that path wasn't easy to walk. Let me tell you something about the path that I once trod to find myself.
I think I was around 20 when I first fell in love with a gorgeous girl. Her name was Heather and she was the first ever with whom I slept. She was, how can I say that without insulting her, a feast to sleep with (smiles), but this relationship wasn't meant to be for a long and everlasting life. After a relationship of almost two years we split up as friends. She had found a new man and I gave her back her freedom. The end of that relationship was the start of my quest to learn about my self. Questions like: 'Who am I? What do I want in this life? What's there in the world that I would learn about? A quest which led me to different ideas, places and lovers. A quest to become who I am now.
I started drinking and smoking and I led a promiscuous life. I tried all different kinds of esoteric things and I was lost in the occult world. I became a follower of the occult, magic and mystery and I used a lot of oracles and the Tarot to, what I than thought, help others. I went into that world very deep. It ruled my life and I couldn't quit. I became dangerously ill mostly mentally and I became suicidal. That brought me Insight and I took a decision ... I stopped with the occult and all that what has to do with that.
Several years later I met my wife and she was really my 'savior'. She also had some bad experiences with the occult, so we could help eachother.
I, however, used the occult knowledge again, but not as I had done. I started to write a novel like Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and I used all my knowledge to create a world in which the occult was used in the positive sense of the word. It was a big success this novel, not a bestseller, but my readers were all enthousiastic about it. After that novel a second novel followed. In that novel I used my philosophy of Life which I had now and still have ...
What has this to do with The Hermit (IX) let us take a look at his card from the RW deck. What do we see?

We see an old man, cloaked and hooded, who holds a lantern in his right hand in which a light shines in the shape of The Star of David, two superimposed triangles. In his left hand he has a staff. He stands in the snow somewhere in the mountains as we can see in the background.
He looks like The Fool, but is older than The Fool. He is similar with The Fool, but there is a big difference. The Fool gathered his knowledge and wisdom by walking / travelling through the world and to look around him. He saw the beauty of nature, the beauty of God's Creation. The Fool's knowledge is of a low, but lived, level, which I call external knowledge.. The Hermit gathered his knowledge and wisdom through meditation and contemplation on his own, maybe he used secret scriptures when he sat down to meditate and contemplate or he had spiritual revelations, because he was just alone with God's Spirit. His knowledge and wisdom I use to call internal knowledge on a high level.


anchorite
contemplates on love
seeking knowledge

seeking knowledge
insight the Inner Self
the hermit's choice


The Hermit (IX) closes the third trinity of the Major Arcanum and stands for the Holy Spirit. As The Hierophant represents God the Son, the Redeemer who walked among us, The Hermit represents God the Holy Spirit. It's through the Power of the Holy Spirit that we are in touch with our emotions to grow spiritually and physically.
The Light of the World, depicted in this card by the lantern in the right hand, is one of the names of Jesus. His Light shines upon us and He said of that Light: [...] "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so taht those who come in may see the light"[...] (Luke 11: 33)


let shine the light
don't hide it under a bowl -
share the Light of the World


So The Hermit fulfils this task. He lets the light shine and through that light we can see the ancient knowledge and wisdom in the Tarot, the divine Tarot.

A Hermit lives alone in his cave, home, hut or something else. He lives in absolute isolation of mankind. All his days and nights are for becoming wiser through meditation and contemplation. Through his perseverance he comes in contact with his Inner Self, with the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit.

As we place The Hermit on the Tree of Life we will find him in Chochmah, the second sephira, right after Kether and before Binah. So he is placed in the same spot as Adam. Chochmah is the sephira of wisdom and it's also similar with the 'Third-Eye'. The Hermit is internal knowledge and wisdom and he knows all the ancient mystical secrets and as we all know so did Jesus.

I told earlier that The Hermit lives in complete isolation of the worldly things and manners. As I was preparing this episode through research, the first thought which came in mind was the Temptation of Christ (Matthew 4: 1-11). In which the devil tempted Him, but He succeeded and withstood the temptation.
Also The Hermit (IX) is tempted to leave his cave, but he didn't because he would learn all and everthing about knowledge and wisdom,
Another thing which came in mind was the Prayer of Christ on the Mount of Olives (Luke 22: 39-46). He beseeches His Father to take the cup away. On that moment He was more human than ever, but He knew that He had to drink the cup.
After His ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit His disciples went into the world to spread His Words.
And that concludes our complete circle for this episode. We started with The Hermit who has come out of his isolation with the lantern lighted with the Star of David and leaning on the Staff of Knowledge spreading his secret and sacred knowledge, just as Jesus Christ did. The Hermit became part of the everlasting stream of wisdom, the 'perpetuum mobile'.


full circle of wisdom
through a hermit and Christ
shared with mankind


The Hermit (IX), a difficult card, but I think I have succeeded in my goal to bring the divine Tarot closer to you. I hope it will inspire you all.

This prompt will stay on 'til May 15th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will draw our next card, The Wheel of Fortune (X), later on today around 10.00 PM (CET).