“The answer is in the form of a question.”
The Hermit tarot card is a silent thing that is as loud and evocative as the paper and ink it is made from. It means whatever the reader wants it to mean and speaks with the voice the reader projects upon it. All tarot cards are this way, but the Hermit card reflects this embodiment the strongest.
The popular image of the Hermit is that of a person that has removed themselves from civilization and has installed themselves in a desolate place. This is the ascetic that has removed themselves from the distractions of other people. The mystic that wants nothing to distract them from their holy and inspired contemplations. The removal does not always need to be physical. Here also is the academic that lives more in the library than in their bed. The researcher that sees more of the computer screen than the day sky. Here is the person who seeks to know and to understand everything and has chosen to remove themselves from as much human interaction as possible to bring themselves closer to their admittedly unreachable goal.
And yet, sometimes, the Hermit is willing to speak about their experiences. The Hermit tarot card does not lay judgement on an inquiry. It does not condemn nor support. Instead, the Hermit tarot card asks, “Why?”. It calls out when more investigation is needed and when to question an underlying assumption. In a one-card reading, it asks for the Querent to review what they are asking for and why. It doesn’t tell the Querent to go away, it tells the Querent to take a moment, contemplate the matter, and then to ask again with a new reading. In a multi-card reading, it indicates more research is needed into the topic to better understand what the other cards are saying. It rarely answers with a stark yes or no. But if the question is about whether to proceed with the knowledge already at hand, an upright Hermit answers “No”, and the reversed Hermit answers “Absolutely Not”. If the question is to remain in place for the sake of learning, the upright Hermit answers “Yes”, and the reversed Hermit answers “No”. The context of the question always determines the shape of the answer.
Ill-dignified, the Hermit answers with brutal silence at best or with red herrings if pressed for some comment. The academic that just wants to stay in the lab will send the Querent out for elbow grease before answering their query. The mystic that doesn’t want to be bothered with the messy business of other people will close their eyes and remain enigmatically silent to the person that is demanding an answer. As cruel as the silence can be, it is perhaps the most potent answer that can be given, if only the Querent is willing to put their ego in the corner long enough to listen.
When the Hermit appears in a tarot spread where each sub-topic is answered by one card, the Hermit will show where the Querent needs to learn more about that particular matter. But when the Hermit appears in a group of cards, it is the arrival of the sage back to society to connect the information represented by the other cards in the group. This connection is not always immediately attainable and usually takes some work by the Querent to see how everything works together.
If the Hermit card is drawn as a descriptor of the Querent, it is not saying that the Querent is hyper-focused or some person withdrawn from society. As a descriptor, the Hermit card says that the Querent has more knowledge and understanding of the matter than they may be consciously aware of. That before the Querent proceeds with the reading, maybe they should have a sit with themselves as they already have the answer to the stated question. If the deck is read with reversals, a reversed Hermit as a descriptor indicates that the Querent is being deliberately averse to the knowledge and understanding needed to proceed just as one cannot write in a closed book. In this way, the Hermit card tells the Querent what they already know, but only if the Querent is prepared to hear it.
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