October 14-16, 2011: IX - The Hermit
-
http://association.tarotstudies.org/images/HebrewLettersA/yod.gif
IX
THE HERMIT
(Virgo)MEDITATION COLOR: Yellow-green.
HEBREW LETTER: Yod, hand. Also, “power, strength, assistance,” ideas associated with hand. “Axle,” on which the Wheel turns (cf. Kaph). “Finger” of flame. I = Identity = iota (Greek i: minute particle or spark). Initial letter of Y.H.V.H, with correspondent meanings. Foundation letter of the whole Hebrew alphabet and all Qabalistic doctrine.
CARD NAME: Hermit, meaning one who is solitary, or outside of society as such, comes from the Middle English heremite, from Medieval Latin heremita, from Late Latin eremita, from the Greek eremites, from eremia, “desert;” which, in turn, comes from eremos, “solitary.” That is, it means essentially the same as Yechidah, “the only one,” the distinctive consciousness attributed to Kether.
ESOTERIC MEANING: The Consciousness of Will. It is the pattern of all creatures. By this consciousness, one knows the actuality of Primordial Wisdom.
TREE of LIFE: Tiphereth to Chesed. (Links ‘Beauty’ and ‘Mercy’; or the Ego-center with Memory. Tiphereth is the lantern, or Guiding Light; Chesed the summit of the Ruach, opening onto the infinite heavens above. The sanctification of the EGO or SELF in the RECOLLECTION that the HGA is the One Self mirrored in each personal expression of self. Ascent to spiritual aristocracy.)
ESOTERIC TITLE: The Prophet of the Eternal, the Magus of the Voice of Power
TANTRIC & ALCHEMICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The Spermatozoon in the womb, a bearer of Solar Light.
DIVINATION: Wisdom or illumination from within; secret impulse from within; practical plans derived accordingly. Retirement from participation in current events. Active divine inspiration. Prudence, circumspection. Sometimes “unexpected current.”
http://lh3.ggpht.com/-npIuowm8v3g/RxMHYT2anII/AAAAAAAAGtg/pNPapDy3dHA/T09_IX_the_hermit.jpg
-
I am the Hermit and I seem to be chased by the shadow of the dogs of labor, created by my own hand and called which way. For as I separate myself from the delusion of things called want, ***which way ***still beckons me to go lustfully wherever.
I shy away from ***which way ***as I hold my sacred jewel, the sacred light within the jewel lights my way and divides the night ahead of me like it was blades of tall grass and shows me the path to the egg of knowledge which has the snake coiled about it as wisdom coils itself around all knowledge and keeps me distant so that I may not learn all the knowledge at one setting and sometimes because of my fear I may not learn any at all.
My jewel I hold slightly behind me so that all that have seen me pass may see that it has seven sparks of light. Three of the sparks appear to contain or hold a sail that seems to point towards the same direction as the great cross in the middle of the lights.
The cross represents the many paths I can take and the seven sparks the paths within the paths. All of them lead to a certain type of illumination.... only if I had of knew that all led to a certain type of illumination, it would have made it easier for me to say that it does not matter which way I go.
But the darkness makes it hard to see, so I say that I must choose the one that is most right and my delusions of grandeur always show that the path behind me is the best, so I turn not to see what is behind me and just press on.
-
Thank you for sharing your insights ZO!
Hermit is my Soul Card, and i , as expected, somehow simply sank into its story... I felt i/he was walking through the corn fields, digging away the grain; the tree-headed Cerberus was following him joyfully, albeit every single head of his was telling its own story - which some might find confusing, given that they would pay attention to what this unusual creature had to say.
I felt the Hermit was drawing the light from the underworld, which in his hand materialized into the sun - which, in its turn, shone into the future.
The Hermit hid his face behind the mask representing Ibis and had impregnated the egg merely by his look.
From that egg, the time started going backwards, crossing the rays of light at the Hermit's palm.
At the very spot where the Hermit stood, there was no time, he was the end and the beginning. -
And here is the pic of my meditation setting:
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii15/magicturtoise/Hermitjpg.jpg
-
Check out this: Jimmy Page meeting the Hermit (Dazed and Confused- Bow Solo)... amazing! (4:53)
(The video gets silly for couple of seconds, but still it s well worth watching! )
-
I've just finished meditating on the Fortune trump and I am ready to post my notes from the Hermit now. I sensed that there was a very intimate connection between these two cards. To me, they represent two stages of one process and they bring to mind the formation of HABITS.
Here are my notes from the Hermit:
Blue background - Chesed...water...initially I considered it to be the waters of the subconscious but given the position of this card on the tree I don't think that anymore.
The Orphic egg...a meme...a transmittable unit of consciousness waiting to be fertilized
Wheat field - fertile soil...the wheat conceals the egg...
Hermit - Mercury as Virgo...showing the way...lending a helping hand...going beneath the surface of things
Crimson robe - the understanding of that which is growing beneath the wheat
rays of light - there are 2 sources of light rays in this card...the first source comes from out of the upper right hand corner of the card...given the position of this trump between Chesed and Tiphareth, I'm inclined to believe the light above the lantern illustrates the overflowing quality of Chesed.
The Hermit has his back toward this light (as well as the light of the lantern). This kind of illustrates a certain amount of passivity and humility. He's humbly tending to the egg under the wheat. However, he is not too busy to provide the Light of the Lantern and show The Way to others with his Lantern.
Sperm - There is a sperm cell and egg on this card. The Word in the Sperm will fertilize the Egg and in the next Trump we get to see what happens.
Three-headed dog of Cerebus - The dogs of reason. The curse of Virgo and it's overanalytical tendencies.
The number of this trump is 9 which instantly brings to mind the 9th Sephirah, Yesod.
One thing that struck me as very peculiar was intensity of energy I experienced when I visualized myself in a yellow-green light. My mind began to rush and I tranced out much easier with this trump than any other.