Healing with The Hermit: The Tarot’s Ninth Major Arcana Card

(Based on the representations found on the Rider-Waite-Smith deck.)

If we accept the metaphor of the Major Arcana as representing the Fool’s journey, then it’s reasonable to imagine that the Fool might occasionally lose their way. Life is often a meandering, sometimes circuitous, and repeating path where, if we fail to learn an important karmic lesson, we are doomed to repeat it.

I’d like to think of the Hermit as the Fool’s wise guardian, not unlike a Merlin or an Obi-Wan. Perched atop a mountain peak — perhaps the same one from which the Fool plunged into their psychoanalytical abyss? — the Hermit appears to be shining his light on something, possibly gazing upon the Fool’s progress from on high.

An obvious connection between the Hermit and the Star card comes in the form of the lantern he holds. Perhaps the Hermit captured Polaris — one of the most famous navigational stars, which has been used by explorers and travelers since antiquity. If all these archetypes reside in the cosmos for eternity, then the Hermit could conceivably have brought this guiding light down from the firmament to help light the way for fools like us.

Virgo is the astrological ruler of this card. According to the traditional scheme of planetary rulership, Mercury is both the ruler of the sign and in its exaltation as well. Why is the planet of the mind exalted in a cold, receptive earth sign? My theory is that it’s only by concretizing mutable, airy ideas…