The Hermit card

Time will reveal the truth.

Supporting / Blocking Tarot Card

support

A supporting card in both internal and external learning processes, the querent is seeking truth and insights that will allow them to grow. There is a process in which the querent has conceived an idea, planned their actions, and brought it into reality. Now is the time of the Hermit, a time for patience—the results will come. All the answers to all the questions reside within the querent. In the quietude of the Hermit, they can receive them. The Hermit, in his solitude and need to connect with his inner truth, does not support relationships or processes related to partnership.

Relationships

Career

Finances

Relationships

Career

Finances

The Meaning of The Card

The Hermit card represents a stage on the path where the initiate learns purity and inner wholeness, observation without judgment, and the recognition and understanding of the essence of things. It is a stage of seeking truth, searching for meaning, and finding the quiet needed to allow the soul to observe and see the big picture—the whole. The card represents the connection between the person and their soul, a journey inward for self-discovery and finding the meaning of life. The Hermit distances himself from material concerns in search of spiritual significance. Unlike the Fool, who stands on the edge of a cliff ready to leap into the future, the Hermit moves forward based on the wisdom of the past. The Hermit returns to the place from which he set out, bringing with him new perspectives and understandings, a consciousness that illuminates the realities of life in a different light. Only a person who has touched their soul can, with humility, share their light with others. Thought separates the essential from the trivial. Emotion allows for non-judgmental observation. Spirit gives space and perspective to the principles of life and the inner wisdom that guides all things.

The Hermit card: The Meaning of The Symbols

Card Symbols	Symbol Meaning
Walking Staff	The staff symbolizes the search and support for the inner self. It represents authority, support, spiritual power, desires, and initiative.
White Beard	Wisdom, experience, tradition, respect, ancient knowledge.
Gray Robe	Authority, power, grandeur, magic; the gray color symbolizes the duality between black and white, protection, reduction, detachment, and compromise.
Lantern	The lantern symbolizes the light of wisdom illuminating the way. It represents spiritual enlightenment, dispelling darkness and ignorance.
Light Blue Color	Spirituality, infinite possibilities, and eternity.
Gray Color	The monotone gray of the card represents a neutral state of consciousness, an experience of calm and infinite expanses.
Mountains	The snowy mountain on which the hermit stands symbolizes a state of consciousness of stillness and pause. Mountains represent challenges, power, mystery, obstacles, yet the hermit walks confidently.
Blindness	The hermit’s blindness forces him to look inward, and although his path is slippery and dangerous, he sees it through his inner eyes. Blindness represents the search for inner truth, with no need for external observation.
Downward Tilted Face	Humility.

Mythology

Cronus, the god of time, represents the Hermit card. Cronus has all the time in the world to wait to regain his reign as ruler of the world, and so too should patience be given all the time in the world. ‘Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.’ — Jean-Jacques Rousseau ‘What we do not achieve by force, we achieve with time and patience.’ — Jean de La Fontaine A person connected to their inner truth has no questions; they have answers. Their inner world is clear and understood, and they do not need the reactions of others. When the Hermit card appears in a reading, one of its expressions is the querent’s unspoken request to return to balance.

Representation of the Card in a Reading

The card represents the power of patience, through which life processes are created. Desire and goal setting. Envision the process and initiate it in the physical world. After execution, all that remains is to wait and see the results—this is where patience comes into play. Buddha said, ‘When expectations cease, things begin to happen.’ The inner strength known as patience resolves this paradox. It allows one to desire and also to let go. Patience and time will resolve the question asked or the challenge faced by the querent. The answer lies within the querent’s own knowledge. Like the Hermit, the querent needs time alone to reflect, and the answer will emerge. This is a card of meditation, of taking a break. Without the distractions of the outside world, the solution will come.

It is important to remember that this is a card from the Major Arcana, representing the spiritual realm. The querent’s soul is in a place of seeking truth and finding patience. To fully realize the card’s message, the querent needs to turn inward and listen to themselves.