tarot card meanings · major arcana · IX
the hermit — tarot card meaning
- withdrawal
- search
- the examined life
The lamp carried up the mountain; truth sought where the crowd is not (Waite, 1911).
reversed
Reversed: isolation, refusal to return — the same force turned inward, blocked, or overdone.
- isolation
- refusal to return
two philosophical anchors, cited
The examined life · Plato, Apology 38a; Republic VII (514a) (tr. Jowett)
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
The cave-dweller who climbs into daylight must go alone at first - and owes the cave a return visit.
Knowing without going out · Daodejing, ch. 47 (tr. Legge)
“Without going outside his door, one understands all that takes place under the sky.”
The journey the lamp lights is inward; distance is not measured in steps.
the question we would ask
What question are you avoiding by staying busy among other people?
how a reading is composed — and why it ends with a question, not a prediction.
go deeper: read the full essay on the hermit.