At this point on our hero's journey, the Fool has encountered some helpful allies, and gained some much needed assistance.  At this point, however, it is time to go deep within, and take a break from all of the other voices.

THE HERMIT appears on our journey, after we have become proficient in our ways of dealing with the world, have been successful at our pursuits, enjoyed interacting with the outside world, collaborating with others.....but at some point in our lives, we just want to be alone, isolated, to listen to our own inner voice.

Maybe we feel like we've gotten so caught up in our affairs, the doing of things, that we have forgotten how to simply be, to relax, and to hear our own inner guidance.  

The Hermit is different than the High Priestess in the sense that in order to really listen to his inner guidance, he is going to have to take a break from the outer world, silence the voices, and search for answers.  

The Hermit may feel that he has lost his sense of meaning, and has to recharge away from others.  This can be hard to do in our modern world.  We can't just go slip off to a cave somewhere and be a hermit, so we have to find other ways to disconnect from the constant bombardment of outside opinions and information.  

The Hermit card may also indicate a period in your life where you are immersed in studying, researching, or creating something.  It could be a time where you feel like you need to search deeply for answers.  THE HERMIT could appear when we are recovering from an illness or injury.

The Hermit may give us a creepy feeling when we get this card, because it can seem lonely, but we must always remember to make space for ourselves, because our uniqueness depends on our personal sense of seperateness from others.  And spending time alone or in quiet reflection makes us feel very grounded and stable, if at first it feels unsettling.

As we deepen in the tarot series journey, the complexity also grows.  We are still all of the other characters that we have been up until now, but we are more, and we need to anchor all of our experience in stillness.  It's time to process and make sense of all that we have been through, and make meaning out of our lives.

We want to take this period to integrate the lessons we have learned, so that when we meet the characters that lay ahead, we are ready, with hopefully not too many blind spots.  

Stay Tuned for our next tarot card, which is one of the Most Auspicious Cards in the Entire Tarot!  THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE!