Timely Tarot: Walking the Inner Path to Wisdom with the Hermit Card By Lisa De La O Wyman
Timely Tarot: Walking the Inner Path to Wisdom with the Hermit Card
By Lisa De La O Wyman
Oh, what an unusual summer season it’s been, surely different from any other we’ve experienced. These strange times are testing the limits of our patience, optimism, and sense of certainty about who we are and where we’re going. Thankfully, we entered Virgo season on the 23rd, which can support us with its earthy energies of nurturance and focused productivity. With a keen eye for detail and skill for creating structure, Virgo can help us ground our anxieties in beneficial new routines that enhance holistic health and keep us connected to others through service. The Hermit card, which is ruled by Virgo, acts as our guide into this next chapter, lighting the path with their shining lantern. In the midst of the world’s current craziness, we can find greater peace and perspective by looking inward. The Hermit represents the value of introspection as a means of achieving illumination. The answers you’re so desperately seeking are not outside of you, not really. While the decisions of world leaders most certainly have huge impacts on our lives, what will truly bring each of us greater courage, self-trust, and understanding of our personal power is found within.
Ruled by the planet Mercury, Virgo is a mutable Earth sign, making it steady yet flexible. Communication and actions are practical, rational, and adaptable. Virgo energy is adept at the gathering and organization of information, creating infrastructures that both stabilize and streamline. The focus on efficiency when it comes to daily tasks and routines, and meticulous attention towards physical health (especially digestion) make Virgo a powerful inspiration in everyday living. Virgo experiences fulfillment through acts of service, where hard work must be about something more than self-interest. Refinement of one’s craft and the harvesting of its bounties for all bring deep satisfaction. Service without seeking praise is the fruit of the labor.
The constellation of Virgo shares a connection with Demeter, the harvest goddess of Greek mythology. Virgo is also associated with the term “virgin,” but in the sense that a virgin is a person who is sovereign unto themselves and chooses not to identify by their relationships. The Vestal Virgins of ancient Rome were priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth. They lived in the temples and tended the sacred fires for the community. Their chosen isolation from greater society was borne of dedication to a higher principle, and they brought back wisdom and knowledge to the collective from their quiet time alone in prayer and sacred duty. Like the Vestal Virgins, the Hermit removes themselves from society but not humanity. Their retreat, on some level, is in service of the human family and the world they share.
The Hermit card is number 9, and corresponds to the sign of Virgo. In numerology, 9 symbolizes the conclusion of a cycle and the potential of the new cycle to come. Like The Hermit card, 9 embodies an “elder” energy – it speaks to wisdom born of experience, a spiritual awakening and maturity achieved through walking a dedicated path. Teaching and humanitarian interests are connected with this number, as well as sacrifice for a greater achievement or purpose. The Hermit is an archetype of the crone/elder and keeper of wisdom, completing a cycle and offering up what they have learned for the benefit of others.
The Hermit card typically depicts an older person walking a dark path, illuminated by only a lantern. The surrounding terrain can appear sparse or severe and is intended to highlight the solitary nature of their journey. Traditionally, this card represents solitude, introspection, and a retreat or pilgrimage of some kind. But in looking underneath these surface meanings, we discover a deeper complexity and richness. Going on a retreat does not have to involve leaving your physical location. You don’t have to leave town - you don’t even have to leave the room. The path of the Hermit is, at essence, an inside job. While you’re certainly free to get away for a week to a Zen monastery or a cabin in the woods for solitary contemplation, you don’t have to. A true hermitage is not there to help you run away from your life but to urge you to get closer to yourself.
The Hermit card represents your inner journey away from the world in order to make sense of it through the attainment of self-knowledge. You need to see yourself apart from the reflection of others. Your engagement with your environment can distort your sense of who you are if you’re not making the effort to step inward and relate to yourself as a lone being – not a parent, partner, friend, boss, employee, or anything else. Who are you outside of those connections? What do you care about? What scares you? What gives you hope and enthusiasm about the future? No one else can give you these answers. In seeking them within yourself you are evolving your integrity. Rather than seeking to learn from another, you’re acknowledging and applying your own wealth of knowledge to your personal development –which in turn enriches every facet of your life both internally and externally. You become a light-bringer for yourself and others.
When I’m reading for someone and they pull The Hermit card, it’s often an invitation for them to spend more time on their own in quiet reflection. This doesn’t mean sitting alone in a dark room feeling isolated. Some great Hermit medicine is a solitary hike, strolling along the shoreline, planting and pruning in the garden, cooking, drawing, painting, writing, and meditation, to name just a few options. They key is to remove yourself from incessant chatter, feedback, unwanted opinions, excessive noise, and escapist activities. Channeling the Hermit means tuning in to YOU and whatever is going on with you. That’s where the juice is and where you’re going to find what you’re truly looking for, be it guidance, answers, or a greater sense of peace and acceptance. One universal piece of practical Hermit advice is limiting time on social media and TV, especially right now. While being informed is always important, consider reevaluating your definition of that. How informed do you need to be? Do you need to be kept up-to-date on every political squabble, the angry or fearful opinions of all your friends on Facebook, or the latest celebrity announcements? Virgo energy encourages you to focus on your holistic health. What does your mind, body, and spirit need right now? Are your choices feeding them or making them nauseous? You can channel your inner Hermit at any moment and access the strength, discipline, and illumination to carve a new path that is bright and blessed. Your power is limitless and by activating your inner light you shine brightly for us all.
Lisa De La O Wyman is a Tarot reader and writer based in Redondo Beach. At Tarot for Empowerment she works with individual clients, private parties, and special events. Through her work she seeks to connect people with their innate power as well as encounter the mystery in everyday life. She can be reached via Instagram and Facebook at @tarotforempowerment.