Comparative Tarot 09: The Hermit

[Rose Lalonde]

The Hermit

 

Please see the discussion thread if you'd like some background about the study group.

 

As a visual start, here are the Tarot de Marseille Conver, the RWS, and the Thoth. (You don't have to compare your deck with these, though, if you have another deck in mind.)

 

If you'd like to add a small image of the card you're discussing that would be great. If not we can google it.

 

You can write about the same deck someone else did.

 

Feedback on comments about this card are welcome here! For general questions and suggestions, please use the discussion thread.

 

 

Asherah Tarot

Green Witch Tarot

Victorian Fairy Tarot

[Rose Lalonde]

Asherah Tarot

 

 

There are similarities to the 3 cards in the original post, but the big stand out is that the Hermit, who faces the opposite way, is a woman. In the Thoth in particular this is a very masculine card, despite Crowley's references to Persephone. (His Hermit has a fully formed human in the sperm pictured, a holdover from an older theory that the male provided all except a fertile space for growth. And he likens the card's sign of Virgo to the receptive earth of Hades -- again womb as space for growth, with Persephone playing the part of seed underground.)

 

The Asherah Tarot subverts yin as always feminine and yang masculine, even in just the metaphors in tarot. The woman is meant to be the goddess Hecate, and her coat her cocoon. This Hermit isn't the only one to feature a butterfly (eg Tarot of a Moon Garden), but I especially like the tiny tornado on the wing here, for the butterfly that flaps its wings, and eventually we get a tornado on the other side of the world. It works with the idea of the Hermit as storing up energy for a higher purpose. In both the Asherah guidebook and the Book of Thoth, it's mentioned as sexual energy stored up, like Persephone hidden in Hades until spring and new life. This card points to that story as well; the Narcissus flowers that lured her into Hades are here.

[GreenFaerie]

That Asherah Tarot Hermit is beautiful! I love all of the female symbolism. :) The Hermit is one of my favorite cards in general; I am almost always drawn to Hermit cards. (I didn't feel up to tackling the Strength/Justice debate tonight, so I skipped ahead!)

[GreenFaerie]

This is the Hermit from the Victorian Fairy Tarot. I LOVE this card. I am an INFJ, very much a bookish, quiet, introverted sort of person who needs solitude and quiet time to produce scholarship and quality work. I enjoy sharing my space with those who would like to share it with me, but otherwise I would much rather be alone. And while the hermit in his tree trunk seems a little lonely, he also seems very safe - the tree is strong, and his owl friend protects him, as well as bringing wisdom to him. Someone would truly have to want to find this hermit - they would have to desire his knowledge and maybe even his friendship to find this woodland hideaway. Strength is needed to survive in the woods, and also to absorb the wisdom that can be found there.

[GreenFaerie]

This next Hermit is from the Green Witch Tarot, and this is another card I was immediately drawn to. No loneliness here! Deer (does more specifically, but deer in general) are my spirit animal, and the deer in this card stands so close to the Hermit, as if they are friends and companions. In addition, this card always feels like Yule to me, with the snow on the ground and the warmly lit home in the background, as if the Hermit is welcoming you home and inviting you into a space of warmth and light, a place of peace and happiness as well as knowledge. :)

[sandrang123]

This is the Hermit from the Victorian Fairy Tarot. I LOVE this card. I am an INFJ, very much a bookish, quiet, introverted sort of person who needs solitude and quiet time to produce scholarship and quality work. I enjoy sharing my space with those who would like to share it with me, but otherwise I would much rather be alone. And while the hermit in his tree trunk seems a little lonely, he also seems very safe - the tree is strong, and his owl friend protects him, as well as bringing wisdom to him. Someone would truly have to want to find this hermit - they would have to desire his knowledge and maybe even his friendship to find this woodland hideaway. Strength is needed to survive in the woods, and also to absorb the wisdom that can be found there.

 

I love this Hermit card, too. (And am an INFJ.) :)

[Rose Lalonde]

I'm INFJ as well. I don't know if you two saw the AT forum MBTI poll, but despite being rare out in the wild, we were the largest group in the poll. And adding all eight extrovert types together, as a group they'd still have come in 4th behind INFJ, INFP and INTJ.  Possibly why the Hermit is a popular card with so many tarot readers!

[GreenFaerie]

Wow, that poll is so interesting! I wonder if INFJs (and just Is in general) dominate tarot reading, or if the results of that poll also have to do with the fact that Is might spend more time online, and might feel more comfortable sharing with others online? Regardless, it makes me  very happy to know that there are more INFJs out there, and that there are so many in our tarot community. :)