L'Hermite and his Lantern

(moderator: this post can be deleted now. It was redundant.)

The bell....

Hadar's L'Hermite looks like a bell to me.

I read somewhere recently about bells "warding off" evil spirits also. Will hunt that down.

Thanks, Diana
terri

Here's one, but it's an article. It "rings" a bell, though, from my childhood:

http://www.noelnoelnoel.com/trad/bells.html

This one a bit more with the comment about the bells of Aaron's robe (Old Testament) giving announcement of Christ's entrance within the veil for us:

http://ww2.netnitco.net/users/legend01/bells.htm

terri

I'm not sure whether or not I have included this before (a quick search did not return a result), but this is part of what I wrote in my unpublished book on the chapter on the Hermit about twelve years ago:

• The Staff of the Hermit is often depicted with a serpent at its lower end, again linking it with the future Hermes he is to become following integration, and also linking it with the staff of Moses. One depiction shows the Hermit as possibly related to St Anthony, who holds a Tau cross staff, symbolising power and life, and a bell, which, symbolically, is equivalent to a lantern. Both bells and lanterns can be used as beacons (eg, at sea), and both were used to ward off evil.

jmd said:

I'm not sure whether or not I have included this before (a quick search did not return a result), but this is part of what I wrote in my unpublished book on the chapter on the Hermit about twelve years ago:

• The Staff of the Hermit is often depicted with a serpent at its lower end, again linking it with the future Hermes he is to become following integration, and also linking it with the staff of Moses. One depiction shows the Hermit as possibly related to St Anthony, who holds a Tau cross staff, symbolising power and life, and a bell, which, symbolically, is equivalent to a lantern. Both bells and lanterns can be used as beacons (eg, at sea), and both were used to ward off evil.

Click to expand...

Way cool, jmd!

I like this because so many of the decks depict the Hermit with a lantern. I think of it as the light in the top of the lighthouse, when I see the lantern...as a haven but also as a warning to ships who might be lost on the rocks otherwise.

terri

This is such fun this thread.
What about bells around the necks of animals, cows or sheep?
So that the shepherd or keeper didn't lose track of them.

Could the Hermit be blind, and using the bell and staff not only as protection but as his own guides?

I don't ever think about whether the people on the cards have all of their own senses intact. I've always assumed they did. Does it make a difference if the Hermit is blind? So that his inner vision becomes the more important sense.

I think too that if he is a cripple, or leper then his inclusion in the pack becomes complex due to understanding that there would be very few folk who would ever seek him out willingly. And so if he turns up in a spread he is bringing in a very important message, because by his very prescence you are put in mortal danger (leper) or you must consort with a filthy, smelly, blind, potentially insane (?) person who is denied by society and who denies society....

Or, he is exiled, maybe unwillingly, and when he comes into a spread he is bringing a reminder of the flotsam we don't want to see. The fringe people, the homeless, that are different, and who we would rather be blind to.

Nine Bells

The Canonical Hours and Telling Time
"Six AM was apparently considered the first hour of the day since it is called Prime. Nine AM was the third hour after that, or Terce. Noon would have been the sixth hour, or Sext. Three PM was the ninth hour: None. Vespers was the prayer service at sunset, while Compline came at the completion of the day, ie bedtime. There were sundials, water clocks, hourglasses, candles which burned at measured rates, and later mechanical clocks. These told the religious authorities when it was time for each portion of the day's prayers to be recited, and bells would relay that information not only to the members of religious communities but to everyone within hearing distance of the bells."

http://www.thescorre.org/literature/adept/41_Time.htm

Leper was more or less overcome with 15th/16th century. It accompanied the crusades, which had their story till 1291. Since then it was diminishing. It's unlikely that it was a theme to the Marseille Tarot. It was also not a theme to the Italian Tarots, which are older.

Huck said:

Leper was more or less overcome with 15th/16th century. It accompanied the crusades, which had their story till 1291. Since then it was diminishing. It's unlikely that it was a theme to the Marseille Tarot. It was also not a theme to the Italian Tarots, which are older.

Click to expand...

I was not implying that the Hermit is a leper. I was implying that he was an outcast.

Firstly, there is nothing to say that the Tarot (I'm not talking about the first cards found in museums) did not originate in the 12th century in France (not Italy). Please keep in mind Huck, that when I speak of The Tarot, I am not necessarily speaking of tarot decks.... So often here on Aeclectic we talk at cross purposes due to the word "tarot" which means different things for different people.

Secondly, symbols do have the wonderful ability to not limit themselves to one particular period of time.

I love the idea brought up in previous posts about the bell warding off evil spirits. When I told Bocher about elf's idea of a lunchbox (I did tell him that she was joking though!), and said that he therefore may have his sandwich in it, he said something like "Peut-être est-ce pour cela que le beurre est si rance dans cette lame" ("Perhaps that is why the butter is so rancid in this card.")

Am pretty convinced now that this lantern is a not a lantern and that therefore all Tarot books (Marseilles of course) need to be re-written. Except of course, jmd's unpublished book which we are all waiting for eagerly.

Fascinating thread. The "Ermite" of the Tarot de Paris definitely is ringing his bell. He pulls the bell's clapper with his right hand, sounding the awakening tone, calling the world to meditation and prayer, breaking away the little ego-center from its confines. On the other hand, the Conver Marseilles "Hermit" holds up the lantern, out of which golden light ripples and streams. As I look at the two hermits side by side I realize the Pythagorean perspective --- light has its voice, voice has its light. Here's a haiku :
What does hermit hold?
Lantern's light or ringing bell?
No choice in this gold.