Tag: The Hermit

The Fool’s Journey through the Major Arcana: SunFest 2016: The Hermit

Posted C. LaVielleLeave a commentPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

Hermit: Ah, more seekers. And I suppose you’re seeking enlightenment too? (holds lantern so he/she can get a better look at the group. Hopefully they will answer in the affirmative.) Hermit: (nods sagely) Thought so. That’s what everyone seems to be looking for once they start looking. But the thing everyone usually ignores is that to find enlightenment, you must first enlighten yourself. (holds lantern in front of his/her face) Use that light to take a good, honest look at yourself. And if you are truly honest you will find that your body, mind, and spirit need work—usually quite a bit of work. To begin working with the spiritual realms,  you must first work on the physical realm. Turn your body and your home into a fitting temple for spirit. Find a discipline that will strengthen your body and sharpen your reflexes and practice, practice, practice. Feed your mind with study. If you are seeking enlightenment from the Multiverse, you must understand the Multiverse; and… Read More »

Moonshine and the Major Arcana

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

The Moon is all about the way we interface with the unknown, or the unconscious , or the astral plane, or the spirit world, or the realms of gods, daemons, and demons, or parallel universes. These are the strange and frightening worlds every hero must travel to complete his or her quest. Since the keys of the major arcana trace the story arc of this journey, The Moon is a pivotal card, casting its eerie shadows over many of the other keys. The card most obviously connected to The Moon is The High Priestess because the planet attributed to this card is the Moon. To make absolutely sure you get the connection most depictions of this card are loaded with lunar images. The High Priestess is the guardian of the threshold between the known and the unknown, the conscious and the unconscious mind, the hero’s ordinary world and the world he must enter to complete his quest. She can either help or hinder him as… Read More »

The Major Arcana and The Hero’s Journey: The Fool and The Hermit

Posted C. LaVielle1 CommentPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

And androgyne looks up at the morning sky and dances on the edge of a cliff. He/she could be either going up the mountain or coming down. The point is, He/she is going. The Fool is a card of beginnings, of endless possibilities, the card of the seeker. And old man stands at the very top of a mountain holding a lantern up against the night and looks down. He has arrived. There is nowhere higher for him to go. The seeker has found what he is looking for. And to make sure the reader doesn’t miss that these two cards are related, Coleman-Smith and Waite made them the only cards in the tarot deck that place their subjects high up in the mountains at the edge of a drop-off. (The Emperor has rugged cliffs behind him, but he’s not so high up, there’s no drop-off, and he’s seated.) The Fool (0) and The Hermit (9) are the beginning and the end of the ten-digit… Read More »

The Major Arcana and The Hero’s Journey: The Hermit, Part II

Posted C. LaVielleLeave a commentPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

When he appears in a tarot spread The Hermit, true to his Virgo associations, can give the reader a wealth of information. If the querent draws this card as a significator or its position in the spread suggests that The Hermit is the querent, the most obvious interpretation is solitude. When this will happen depends on its placement. Whether it will be a voluntary, pleasant, and productive solitude, or an aching loneliness that withers the soul and warps the spirit, or something in between depends on whether the card is upright or reversed, and what the cards around it say. It could also mean that this person is, was, or will be a seeker, the possessor of arcane knowledge, a teacher and guide for others, and/or ecstatically reunited with the Life Force. It may indicate the appearance of a teacher or someone with advice or a piece of information. If the card falls in the past, check the cards around it to see if the… Read More »

The Major Arcana and the Hero’s Journey, The Hermit: Part I

Posted C. LaVielle12 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

A bearded man in gray robes stands on a snowy mountaintop holding up a lantern and gazing down at the rest of humanity below. Have you ever held a lantern at eye level on a dark night? That dude can’t see a thing. As Manfred Mann would say: He’s “Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce*, another runner in the night”. The light that is blinding him is a six pointed star, the symbol of the union of that which is above with that which is below; of plugging into the universal life force described by the Strength card and becoming one with it. In The Tarot, A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages, Paul Foster Case compares this experience to intensely satisfying sex, and defends his statement as follows: “Prudes may quarrel with this comparison. Let them read the Song of Solomon, the mystical poetry of Persian Sufis, or some of the narratives of Christian mystical experience, and they will learn… Read More »