The Tarot card picture of the Hermit is a gloomy one. That’s because of the solitude the card represents. Although it’s voluntary in the case of a hermit, solitude is still somewhat sad. It’s not chosen as a wish of separating oneself from fellow human beings, but for a certain purpose where being alone is instrumental.
Usually, it involves an effort to get to know oneself at depth. That's why the Tarot Hermit is often linked to wisdom. That can be discussed.
The hermit might find out plenty about himself and what goes on in his own mind, when avoiding the company of others. But that's in his mind, the ultimately secluded place where no one else can go. It rarely applies to the outside world, so the scope of any wisdom reached is limited, indeed. You go inwards to learn about yourself, but you have to go outside to learn anything about the world and your place in it.
On the Tarot card, the lantern in the hand of the Hermit and the dim blue background suggest night. The stillness and closed eyes of the Tarot Hermit suggest repose, even sleep. Indeed, the self-discovery one does on one's own is like a dream, fading away quickly when one opens one's eyes.
It's said that we're always alone at heart, in our souls. "I believe in the lust of the body and the incurable loneliness of the soul," said the Swedish author Hjalmar Söderberg. That's true, in a sense, but it's also true that we never are completely alone. We have so much in common that wherever we go, even inside our minds, others have done the same and discovered the same. We are alike.
Therefore, the experience of one person, no matter how internal, has some relevance to all others. In that way, the Hermit of this Tarot card can become wise.
But the wisdom reached by the Hermit has no substance before it's shared. What we discover in our loneliness becomes real when we share it with others and thereby discover that there's so much we have in common. In this manner, loneliness can be the way out of it.
It's not sure that the Tarot Hermit will come to that revelation. He seems committed to stay on his own, as if renouncing the world altogether. That leads nowhere. He must snap out of it, lift his head and open his eyes. Until then he's in sort of a coma.
Still, occasionally in life we all need the recluse of the Tarot Hermit. To contemplate what we have been through and what we can expect in the future, to heal from emotional wounds, or simply to get some rest. It's a healing process, but it's not a final destination.
A young man, in the act of dancing, has a pentacle in either hand, and they are joined by that endless cord which is like the number 8 reversed.
Divinatory Meanings:
On the one hand it is represented as a card of gaiety, recreation and its connexions, which is the subject of the design; but it is read also as news and messages in writing, as obstacles, agitation, trouble, embroilment.
A hand issuing from a cloud grasps a stout wand or club.
Divinatory Meanings:
Creation, invention, enterprise, the powers which result in these; principle, beginning, source; birth, family, origin, and in a sense the virility which is behind them; the starting point of enterprises; according to another account, money, fortune, inheritance.
Reversed: Fall, decadence, ruin, perdition, to perish also a certain clouded joy.
Ffosse…a long lost relative got in touch again with me very recently, and now wants contact so that checks out. I must admit when the invite came out of the blue my first thought was “do they need a kidney?”
Money…buying a lottery ticket today and you will be remembered should I win.
Strange chalices of vision, but the images are more especially those of the fantastic spirit.
Divinatory Meanings:
Fairy favours, images of reflection, sentiment, imagination, things seen in the glass of contemplation; some attainment in these degrees, but nothing permanent or substantial is suggested.
Its funny but since having my card I’ve not stopped thinking about it so much of it seems relevant to me or perhaps its my interpretation. Really interesting though
He is shewn as if upon a journey, armed with a short wand, and although mailed is not on a warlike errand. He is passing mounds or pyramids. The motion of the horse is a key to the character of its rider, and suggests the precipitate mood, or things connected therewith.
Divinatory Meanings:
Departure, absence, flight, emigration. A dark young man, friendly. Change of residence.
The Tower is evidently a card indicating disaster. The picture shows that clearly. But what leads to the disaster?
One legendary tower explains it - that of Babel, surely inspiring both the image and the meaning of the Tarot Tower card. Babel was built to reach heaven. This megalomania angered God, who crushed the tower completely - and made people strangers to one another, so that they would never be able to get together and repeat the feat.
The flash from the dark sky on the Tower card image is God's anger, and the people who fall from its height are punished for their hubris, comparing themselves to God by wanting to reach his abode. The crown thrown off the top of the tower is the symbol of utter human vanity. Great plans invite great failures. If the plans are too great, failure is certain. We invite it by aiming far too high.
On the other hand, what's the point of being human if not pushing the limits, aiming as high as we can ever imagine? If we never did, we would still be running from sabre toothed tigers somewhere in the wilderness. Our fantasy compels us to pursue our dreams. Sometimes it leads to disaster, as shown by the Tower Tarot card, but sometimes to wonderful success. So, how can we stop ourselves?
You have to decide on the best judgment today.
Who is right and who is wrong. It is difficult for you to make this choice, as in your heart you feel one thing, and yet in your head, you feel another. Think carefully. As your decision cannot be undone.
