The Hermit — from Tarot of The Spirit, by Pamela Eakins

I am on semi-retreat this week, and so I asked Pamela Eakins, co-creator and writer of Tarot of The Spirit, if she would be able to make a contribution to our series on tarot, and she generously accepted.

My correspondence with Pamela has so far been limited to email, but her spirit has shone through in her interactions with me — and in her writing, which I have found to be both vital and woven with a depth that is also apparent in the images from the deck that she has produced with her mother, artist Joyce Eakins. You can find the website for The Tarot of The Spirit here.

I’ll be back on Sunday with the Weekend Tarot Reading.

— Sarah

Key IX, the Hermit, is the creative hand. This creative hand can be viewed as the Hand of God. It is also your own hand. It is the hand that magically creates, preserves and transforms the world.

Creation, preservation and transformation are the three points which define the divine circle of eternal movement. The Hermit is the Ninth Key, which is three times three. The Circle of Eternity, as symbolized by three, geometrically expands. This expansion denotes an incredible power. Thus, three is the number used for magical incantation. Three times three — nine — becomes the magical number because it always returns to itself: 9 x 1 = 9; 9 x 2 = 18, 1 + 8 = 9; 9 x 3 = 27, 2 + 7 = 9; 9 x 4 = 36, 3 + 6 = 9 …

The power of nine is extraordinary wisdom. The deepest understanding of the Hermit involves the knowledge that, like nine, in the end, we shall return to our Self in an infinitely recurring cyclical process. The secret of the Hermit is the knowledge that all that is, always was. It is the understanding that there is nothing new under the Sun. Everything that is, always was, and ever shall be. We discover this again and again.

This means that with all of your external searching for answers and all of your external searching for love, you paradoxically wind up right back where you started: alone, with your Self. What you learn is simple. There is one answer and that answer is love of Self.

What does this mean? Beneath all external layers and social conditioning to the contrary, the deeper you spiral on the path, the more you learn that there is one spirit and this is the spirit of life itself. You learn on this inward spiral that you are the soul, that you hold the light — the power of love — in your own hand: within. In coming to this realization … you become a guide for your fellow journeyers whose destination (as they will eventually realize) is simply their own heart.

The Hermit is the familiar archetype of the Wise Old Man (or Wise Old Woman) who takes up residence deep in the forest. He has no need of society. Historically, he is discovered again and again by spiritual seekers who have lost their way. He is frequently discovered by a “hero” who has temporarily lost his way. There are wonderful examples of the wisdom of the Hermit contained in the Tales of King Arthur, and, in contemporary times, in the movie trilogy Star Wars.

The Hermit is the Wise One who emerges from the dark of the forest like a sudden light, at first startling and then aiding the bewildered (but eternally grateful) hero. The Hermit generally offers simple provisions — a crust of bread, perhaps — but mostly food for thought. With few words, and through riddle and parable, he interprets the hero’s experience. The hero is astounded at the old man’s insight. The Hermit teaches the hero that (after travelling the world over) the destination is the hero’s own heart. He tells that each one must walk the path to the heart alone.

The Hermit is simple and has no desire for recognition as a teacher. He lives harmoniously with all forces. As a result of his deep understanding of the timeless nature of all things, he lives centered in the moment. He has no need of discovery. He understands eternal movement. He points to the still pool, and would have the hero study his own reflection to understand why he came. The Hermit would neither disdain nor exalt the hero’s process of discovery. He has no need to judge. Heroes come and go. All things come around again and again.

The path of the Hermit is the Twentieth Path [from the Qabalistic Tree of Life]. This path leads from the sphere of Chesed, the Universal Principle of Production, to the sphere of Tiphareth, the incarnation of the light and beauty of spirit. On this path, the love of goodness is awakened in the hero. After living the lessons of the Hermit, the hero will never be the same. After meeting the Hermit, the hero understands the meaning of his seeking. He understands why the Hermit is alone in the evening of life.

Key IX represents the evening of life: every generation “drumming out” in the evening. He is the third aspect of the Riddle of the Sphinx of Key VII [The Chariot]. (What has four legs in the morning, two at noon and three at night?) The answer, of course, is humanity: crawling on four legs in the morning, standing on two at noon, and supported by a cane at night. The Hermits’ cane is the Staff of Power. He holds the key to the workings of magic. The key is the power of love. Though he may appear to be a Fool, the Hermit is a very Wise Man., He lives alone, but he is far from being alone.

Through the Hermit, true primordial wisdom becomes known. When one follows the teachings of the Hermit, his true identity is eventually revealed. He is the archetype of the Father of Fathers. He is God incarnate. As Christ said, “No man cometh to the Father except by me.” The traditional archetypal portrayal of the Father — to whom one will return — is the Wise Old Man with the Long White Beard who Lives in Heaven. The Hermit, as the Wise Old Man, is the Father. In moving deeper we learn, of course, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that is to say, we hold the kingdom of heaven in our own hand. We hold it in our own heart. The kingdom of heaven is within. The Father is within. All life has one spirit. The pulse of life is universal.

These are the messages arising through the keen introspective power generated through understanding the Ninth Key. With this knowledge, we are empowered to create the world with our own hand. We are empowered to create the world through our own vision.

The Hermit, it must be said, is also the Mother of Mothers, the archetypal Crone, the Wise Old Woman. She represents the Universal Mother of Mothers, the Mother of all Creation. She, too, resides in the forest. She is not really wicked, as she is often presented in tales, but rather she has come to be quite misunderstood. This Wise Old Woman is the original Goddess, the one who gave birth to the universe. Politically, she was all but slain. She was cast into obscurity and her name slandered by a rebellious patriarchal system that envied her ability to bleed without wounding and her ability to give birth to all form. She is the very Crone who carried the life of the universe in her own bloody pool. But, like a dark shadow, she now remains only a specter behind the Old Man. It will take a great deal of belief and devotion to coax her out from behind this image. Nonetheless, SHE is the one who birthed the Hermit. She is the one to whom the Hermit must return.

At Key IX, we honor the Hermit and the Crone within: the force and form of the Universe. We turn inward, become introspective, and the lesson we learn is that we are not alone. We learn that we carry the ability to fill ourselves with a deep, meaningful and enduring love. We learn that we are love and that love is truly the substance that bonds the Universe.

Excerpt taken, with thanks, from “Tarot of The Spirit” by Pamela Eakins, Ph.D., companion to the tarot deck painted by Joyce Eakins.