Tarot’s #9, The Hermit - “Lighting Your Own Way in the World”

#9, The Hermit (RWCS Deck)
solitude, the inner journey, guidance

Yesterday morning we had one doozy of a Void of Course and it left lots of us feeling ungrounded and anxious.  Voids, of VoCs occur when the Moon is about to change houses and there are no more planets in the Moon’s present home to guide her on her way.  Lady Moon is left to drift without a celestial body to help ground and stabilize her energy.  (see blog: "A Void Is A Void, of Course of Course" or "Slipping Into The Moon's, Void of Course") Left to her own devices, Lady Moon drifts aimlessly and turns inward much like her tarot card, # 2, The High Priestess. 

There are times in our own lives when we likewise feel uncertain and turn inward.  We sit in our metaphoric towers using our intuition to guide us through the darkness as we reflect on our lives.  Sometimes the journey gets a little edgy, but nothing that can’t be handled with a bar of really good chocolate and our favorite book.  However, there are times when our fears and anxieties gain the upper hand and a tower feels too exposed.  That’s when we head straight for a cave – the deeper, the darker, the better.  This is the territory of tarot’s #9, The Hermit.

Where the High Priestess uses introspection coupled with delicate, high-mindedness, The Hermit, forges a path through the discomfort and travails that come from following one’s destiny.  His path is very rough at times because he joins the fray in the real world.  As a result The Hermit, who is further along the journey of the soul, needs a deeper retreat from the world in order to reaffirm his connection to Spirit.  The risks The Hermit takes in life and the demands he places upon himself are far more rigorous than those of the High Priestess.  Where she represents reflected light and a passive nature, he represents true illumination – the kind you carry with you to light your way in a not always serene world.

In the RWCS depiction of The Hermit, we see Diogenes, the Greek philosopher who, taking a vow of poverty, lived in a large clay urn in Athens’ marketplace.  (Close to shopping, reasonable rent) He carried a lamp through the streets looking for an honest man. #9, The Hermit, asks us to retreat into ourselves so that we can honestly assess what we’ve learned along life’s journey and plan for where we go once we leave the sanctuary of our cave. He also asks us to shine the lamp of enlightenment on ourselves; to put our lives in perspective.  That’s a scary thought, because we are our own toughest critics.  However, the cave of The Hermit gives us time to think and heal, to make adjustments to our life path as we find necessary.  Once we reemerge into the sunlight, our lantern is held firmly in our hand and we are ready for the next step in our journey.

LADY ORACLE

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Major Arcana's # 12, The Hanged Man

You are suspended, waiting for the breath of the universe to

#12, The Hanged Man from
"Shadscapes"© by
Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

resume.  Your world has inverted and you now have the unique opportunity to observe it from a completely different perspective.  Congratulations, you have become The Hanged Man.  He is not in distress.  His hands, usually tucked behind him, may or may not be bound.  His foot is slipped into a loop of rope or ribbon, much as an aerialist would position his foot to dangle above the crowd for sheer spectacle.  His face remains calm while he reflects on his circumstances and internalizes the information he gathers through his position of reversal.  

The Hanged Man is considered one of the most complex cards in the tarot deck.  It was originally labeled, “The Traitor” in medieval times, because hanging by one foot, or even being depicted that way was the shaming treatment reserved for traitors and infidels.  Some depictions show him with money falling from his pockets.  Again, we see the symbolism of letting go of the concerns and trappings of our ‘normal’ state to gain insight. Where #9 The Hermit withdraws into himself to seek his inner truth, #12 digs deeper and requires more of a commitment, or sacrifice from himself to gain wisdom about his relationship with the world around him. The Hanged Man tests what he knows about the world to see if the inverse holds true.  

What’s important to consider about #12 is that The Hanged Man is not stuck. His suspension is a matter of choice.  His position does require a certain amount of sacrifice on his part, but the true meaning of the word sacrifice is to make sacred, not to suffer. When the proper motivation appears he will right himself and resume his journey.  What he learns from his time observing the inverse of life will come with him.  He has completed an absolutely necessary stop on the soul’s journey towards life’s richest rewards.  After all, #12 is the inverse of #21, The World.

LADY ORACLE