Legacy of the Divine - Hermit

NatKat

9. The Hermit

Hermit is a card whose meaning and symbolism remains fairly consistent across RWS, Thoth, and Legacy Decks. All three decks feature the image of a hooded mysterious man holding a lantern. The Thoth Hermit has the additional symbology of Cerberus, the 3-headed Hound of Hades, a spermatozoa, and an egg entwined by a serpent.

Legacy of the Divine deck follows more closely the simpler symbolism of RWS – a hooded man with a lantern on a mountaintop. The RWS Hermit carries both a staff and a lantern. In LotD, these two symbols have been combined – Mr. Hermit’s staff is his lantern. The lantern has become a glowing crystal rather than a 6-point star or solar symbol as it is in RWS and Thoth respectively. The LotD Hermit is shown hovering over a high mountain river gorge which gives suggests the journey he took to arrive at the heights. He wears a necklace with the astrological glyph of Virgo, which is a nice touch as Hermit is associated with Virgo.

In Gateway to the Divine, Marchetti writes that he depicted the lantern as a crystal to maintain thematic continuity with the deck’s backstory. I personally see it as an alternative way of expressing the 6-pointed star lantern of RWS. This star is an alchemical symbol representing union of the earthly personal (upward pointing triangle) with the heavenly universal divine (down pointing triangle). In this case the crystal suggests to me that “inner light” of the divine which might become activated through our own efforts – and that such efforts always are undertaken alone in a place where other people can not accompany or help.

The Legacy of the Divine Hermit card is consistent in both meaning and symbolism with RWS and Thoth. I read it the same for all 3 decks.