Not the "happy" wanderer....
Helvetica said:
The Hermit is a wanderer, after all, and someone willing to challenge the status quo and find his own solutions - "follow his own drum" (ah - lantern!).
Well, yes and no. The Hermit wanders out with his lantern, at night when he can be alone--but we all presume that when the sun starts to come up, and the world wakes up and people take to those roads, the Hermit will hie back to his hermit hole or house in the woods. A Hermit, after all, is by nature a bit misanthopic--not interested in dealing with people.
As unconventional as he is in his ways and thought, let's also understand that he's not really
challenging the status quo. To challenge the status quo you really need to display your eccentricities, to stand on a soap box and say, "Down with the status quo!" So far as the Hermit's concerned no one needs to know how very strange he is. It's none of their business.
If no one knows you're challenging the status quo...are you?
Think about the Hermit crab who is called that because he doesn't grow his own home like most crabs--but rather finds discarded shells and inhabits them. A home is important to Hermits--even if it's an abandoned shack, even if its temporary. They are not, like the Fool, eternal, happy wanderers, content to sleep out-of-doors. When the road gets too long or crowded with people, a Hermit wants that isolated retreat. A place that is his, safe from strangers, and allowing him the solitude he craves.
I have to agree that the cards indicate that this woman should not sell her retreat, her safe place, her Hermit hole. If she's gotten the Fool--ah, then the message would have been to sell and move; the Fool loves wandering and traveling and meeting new folk under the bright, summer sun. But with the Hermit, you don't want to sell that home--it'll just force you to keep wandering out in the cold autumn and winter daylight among all those critical people, no place to hide, no place for peaceful solitude.
