jack_babalon | Putting the Hermit in Hermetic since '93 (Reply)

You are The Hermit

Prudence, Caution, Deliberation.

The Hermit points to all things hidden, such as knowledge and inspiration,hidden enemies. The illumination is from within, and retirement from participation in current events.

The Hermit is a card of introspection, analysis and, well, virginity. You do not desire to socialize; the card indicates, instead, a desire for peace and solitude. You prefer to take the time to think, organize, ruminate, take stock. There may be feelings of frustration and discontent but these feelings eventually lead to enlightenment, illumination, clarity.

The Hermit represents a wise, inspirational person, friend, teacher, therapist. This a person who can shine a light on things that were previously mysterious and confusing.

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Sometimes I think the Hermit is the same character as the Fool albeit a few years(cards) later.

The Fool (aka the Cosmic Hobo), bindlestick slung over the shoulder, whistling blissfully under the bright sun of a clear day, approaches the Event Horizon, the Catastrophe Curve, the Neitzchean abyss with it's habit of gazing back at you. This is one of those things you often hear makes angels tremble and while our Fool doesn't rush for no one, he is a 'stay the course kinda guy'. So despite the yapping of a small adorable dog, he takes that last step off the cliff and plunges right into, what is commonly refered to as in Occult circles, The Shit!

And so mote it be.

After all it's all well and good for the Magician to make a leap of faith! To offer the Kierkegaardian shrug at the outposts of reason, shit his pants and dive right in to the yawning jaws of Da'ath. And with any luck we'll hear a splash of the Holy Guardian Angel and a cry from the back of the Gimel Camel: "Hey come on in... the dogma's just right!"

But not our Fool, no sir, he instead must make the Pratfall of Faith.

"Dum-dum-dum-da-dum-dum-daaaa...oooaahhH!!!"

This slip of the foot invariably leads to adventure, to the one thousand trials of the will, to vicious duels with strange monsters, initiations into the savage mysteries of the Goddess, mapping the desert of thought in the sand, mortal combat with ones own doppleganger for possesion of the shadow, ghost stories whispered under the dark night of the soul, trapped in ancient mazes whose walls change with the shifting of the stars, a last minute escape from the chains of identity, a witness to war in the deepest bellies of hell, a stowaway on a ship of souls that sinks on the waters Lithe, there is surrender but not defeat, there is frustration despite there never having been a goal and then finally, for those who endure, there is Wisdom.

It is with that wisdom that the Hermit climbs back up the walls of the abyss.

"I've had enough, me!" he says brushing sephiroth dust off his robe in a voice eerily similar to that of William S Burroughs, "whyyyy I reckon i've seen enough foolishness down there to last me an entire after life time, kid. They allll think they know the score: The Wiseguy Thelemites and armchair kabbalists - the karmasites and the finks! They allll think if they get a running start they'llll leap further or falll faster and they don't find God, kid. They find the bottom and they find it hard!. Whilllle on the way down they see it..."

"What?"

"The wrong side of wonderful!"

"Sweet Jebus! How'd you make it out!"

"Wellll kid they say a magician never reveals his secrets and that a fool can't keep his. But the wisdom of the Hermit is this: There are no secrets!"

"Well that's a pretty bleak outlook there, doncha think Grandpa Dostoyevsky?"

"I didn't write the rules, kid... I merely quit the game while I was ahead. But don't lissen to an ol'man. Gowan and figure it out fer yoursellllf... there's a lot of cards left in the arcana. Take your chances with the Wheellll or go hang out with the 12th... but as for me? Well i'm not paid to stick around this foolishness one minute longer than I have to be. S'long Slllappy and good luck with Death, the Devil and the Tower!"