The Hermit (tarot card)

Tarot card of the Major Arcana

The Hermit (IX) is the ninth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.

Description

The Rider–Waite version of the card shows an old man, standing on a mountain peak, carrying a staff in one hand and a lit lantern containing a six-pointed star in the other. In the background is a mountain range.

According to Eden Gray, his lantern is the Lamp of Truth, used to guide the unknowing, his patriarch's staff helps him navigate narrow paths as he seeks enlightenment and his cloak is a form of discretion.^[1]

Interpretation

According to A.E. Waite's 1910 book Pictorial Key to the Tarot, the Hermit card carries several divinatory associations:^[2]

9. THE HERMIT. Prudence, circumspection; also and especially treason, dissimulation, roguery, corruption. Reversed: Concealment, disguise, policy fear, unreasoned caution.

Examples

Pierpont Morgan Bergamo (15th century)
Charles VI (or Gringonneur) (15th century)
Jean Dodal Marseilles (1701-1715)
Vandenborre (1780)
Court de Gébelin (1781)
Renault (1820-1830)
Piedmontese (1865)
Oswald Wirth (1889)
Grand Etteilla (1890)
Lequart Marseilles (1890)
Papus (1909)
Tarot ReVisioned (2003)

In popular culture

A version of Pamela Colman Smith's Hermit designed by Barrington Colby is depicted on the inner jacket sleeve of Led Zeppelin IV.^[3]^[4]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hermit (Major Arcana).

^ Gray, Eden. Complete Guide to the Tarot. 1970. Crown Publishers, New York. ^{[ISBN missing]}^{[page needed]}
^ Waite, Arthur Edward (1979). The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. New York: Samuel Weiser. p. 284. ISBN 0-87728-218-8.
^ Untitled (Media notes). Atlantic Records. 1972. K50008.
^ Lewis, Dave (1990). Led Zeppelin : A Celebration. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-2416-1.

Occult tarot

Occultists

Major Arcana
numbered cards

O The Fool
I The Magician
II The High Priestess
III The Empress
IV The Emperor
V The Hierophant
VI The Lovers
VII The Chariot
VIII (XI) Justice
IX The Hermit
X Wheel of Fortune
XI (VIII) Strength
XII The Hanged Man
XIII Death
XIV Temperance
XV The Devil
XVI The Tower
XVII The Star
XVIII The Moon
XIX The Sun
XX Judgement
XXI The World

Minor Arcana
suit cards

Coins, disks, or pentacles	Ace Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Page Knight Queen King
Wands, rods, staffs, or staves	Ace Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Page Knight Queen King
Cups, goblets, or vessels	Ace Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Page Knight Queen King
Swords or blades	Ace Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Page Knight Queen King