The Hermit

The 9th Key

Colour: Green yellowish
Sound: F Natural
Sign: Virgo (mutable Earth)
SIMPLE LETTER: Sexual Love

This Path connects Beauty with Mercy depicting a man standing alone in the desert holding his own source of light. It represents the point of origin of our manifest Universe. It is in direct contact with the Demiurge, the light of manifestation through the microcosm.

The word hermit comes from the Greek word meaning desert. An expanse of earth as indefinable vast as the deep dark endless ocean of Understanding. The Hermit represents the same energy as the Fool once it has been transformed in the projection of the microcosm through Understanding. The desert is a depiction of the most ordered existence of earth, represented as totally barren but with the potential for all life.

Since Virgo is attributed to this Path, we understand that the Hermit to be a pure, totally innocent virgin. The meaning, sexual love, is not to be interpreted as making love for this is a card of isolation and singularity. The sexuality is self-sustaining and self-contained. The image of the man on the card is also relatable to Moses who was able to control the Yod force or Sacred Fire as displayed by him turning his staff into a snake. Moses was also the intermediary between God and his people, carrying out his will. In this sense the Hermit is the hand of God.

The hand of the Hermit is open whilst in the Wheel of Fortune it is a fist. An open hand is not only a sign of ultimate power but also innocence as it is able to give and take freely. It is the path of communication between the Higher Self and the Spiritual Self.

The lamp in the cards refers to Beauty and its light the principle of manifestation.

The Golden Dawn refers to the Hermit as one of three great initiatory cards together with Strength and the Chariot. The Hermit may be considered the word, vibrating into a vast space, stimulating the development of manifestation which energises the principles of form produced by it.

It must be noted that to the Hermit is assigned Yod, whilst to the Emperor Heh and to the Hierophant Vau.