Bohemian Gothic Tarot

IX THE HERMIT

Lighter or more conventional meanings

A time of isolation - physical or psychological - and contemplation * A quest for knowledge * Showing great patience, realising that it takes time to find spiritual understanding * Looking deep inside yourself to find an inner truth.

Darker, shadow or more hidden meanings

Being rejected and isolated by society * Occult practice undertaken alone * Turning your back on mankind * A desire to be alone in order to do something nefarious or questionable * Calling someone to the dark side * Attempting solitary magic, probably dark or dubious in nature * Being too isolated from others, this could affect your psychological well-being.

This is, in a purely visual sense, one of the simplest cards in the deck and some people may also find it one of the most frightening. A night scene, it shows little detail and so we are drawn straight to the half-shaded, but still startlingly bright, eyes of the cowled figure. He seems to be inviting us to follow him into the scene, but if we do so, where will he take us and for what purpose? This is not an invitation to accept without some serious thought, for this Hermit appears to be the guardian and guide to a quest or a pilgrimage, and we may be sure that much will be asked of us before we come to its end.

The Hermit in tarot indicates those times in our lives when we remove ourselves from society in order to delve deep into our own spirituality and beliefs. It stands for a solitary, internal-looking period in which, if we're successful, we will gain the kind of profound insight and awareness that can often only be found by searching deep within our own self. The "time out" taken can be brief or might last for a significant proportion of our life.

The quest that this card calls us to can be, literally, life-altering, or may more simply lead us to knowledge that we need merely to solve some immediate question or conundrum about our spiritual or moral direction. Sometimes, The Hermit can be read literally, indicating a period of being alone and cut off from others. But it can also point to an emotional or spiritual state that makes you aware of the need to draw on your own inner resources rather than looking to others for help or leadership. You can, at times, behave and think as a hermit even when there are crowds around you; it's a matter more of attitude than of the physical or social situation.

Some further ways to consider this card

Imagine that the hermit holds up his lamp and speaks directly to you. What would his message be?

There is another cowled figure standing in the background of the Bohemian Gothic justice card. If these two cards both come up in a reading how might they be related to one another?

I was twenty-one years of age, master of myself and of my fortune; but so deeply had the long chain of small unlucky circumstances affected me that I thought seriously of shutting myself up from the world to live the life of a hermit and to die as soon as possible. Death seemed the only cheerful possibility in my existence, and my thoughts soon dwelt upon it altogether.
- F. Marion Crawford "By the Waters of Paradise", American Mystery Stories.