Jenny-Li
Hey folks - anyone awake still...? 
I haven't been very active here, but I am very determined to continue my going through the deck, so here's my current thoughts on the Hermit.
I can also tell you that I have made my first CT-reading, and I liked the way the cards seem to speak with each other, I mean they correlate to each other in a very natural way. I have posted the reading in Your readings, if anyone should feel like giving me a hand. I didn't point out there that I used the Cosmic tribe, because I didn't want to put people off just because they didn't have that particular deck. But it is. I haven't posted my own thoughts about it just yet, but I will.
Anyways, the Hermit now:
http://www.stevee.com/images/t.mjr.09.jpg"
The image:
An "inverted silhouette" of a man stands against the blackness of night outside a stone door, through which the man seems just about to walk out. Above the door are 9 8-pointed stars and a stone cosmic eye. Outside is nothing, just the deep dark night and the waning moon. Instead it is within the man that draws immediate attention in the image. Within the contour of the man is a green open field, a meadow. As a solitary figure in the middle of the field is an old oak tree, spreading its rich branches over a good part of the meadow's yellow flowers. The sky above the scene is blue although scattered with dramatically flowing white clouds. It looks like the kind of meadow where light and shadow would change playfully until you were not quite sure whether you were awake or not.
The Hermit's left arm is reached out, and where it reaches out it resumes shape of flesh and blood. In his hand he holds a brightly shining lantern. It's light is bright but warm and "friendly". By his feet is a three-headed dog, a watchdog with a scary look. The dog is a little "faded" though, like a dream, like he's not really, physically, there.
Symbolism:
The stone wall symbolises the society, with its structures of norms, rules and expectations, it is the "world as we know it", it's everything we take for granted, and never bother to question. The Hermit is in the door, on his way out of that society, going out into the unknown darkness "out there". He's leaving behind all that we usually lean on, and he brings with him two things to guide him: Firstly, his lantern, which is symbolising the burning desire to find the truth for himself, not to be handed someone's truth without question, but searching for his own truth, following that inner voice of his own, telling him there is one to be found.
Second he brings his own inner peace and harmony. The darkness he enters is in fact that same inner universe, in which he visualises the scenery. The inner universe is what he enters the unknown to explore. This is a little like the Chariot, the charioteer shows us how to discover our true beings by peeling off the personas of known situations, by travelling to external situations where we don't feel quite at home and can just follow our own foot prints we find the pure role of self. But that was still the Outer part of us. The Hermit asks us to step into the Inner universe and do pretty much the same thing. If the Chariot teaches us to see our own behaviour for what it is, the Hermit wants us to explore our inner thoughts and desires, emotions and motivations.
The crisply white moon against all that blackness is also a sign of hope and light out there, hope that there is something to be found out there. I have very sketchy knowledge of what the waning moon as a symbol would symbolise, other than it is the symbol of something closing in on the end of a cycle - and I'm not sure how to relate that to this card...
The Hermit shows no fear or hesitation, he seems confident and secure even though he's facing this unknown darkness. There are of course no facial features to judge from, but his posture is that of a man inviting people into his house, into his backyard. Relaxed and easy-going.
The scene within the man is very calming and soothing, and I doubt that I am the only person who uses a scene just like this to enter a meditation, or a meditative journey. The clouded sky brings life and movement to the image, and one can almost feel the breeze in one's hair, smell those yellow flowers in the wind...! Symbolically the clouds can also stand for the mass of thought that pass through our minds all day long. They are a part of us, and of every journey we take, within or without.
The dog seemed odd to me at first, I have always regarded the Hermit card in most decks as friendly and harmless, but the dog here is actually a little scary. The book explains it as an element telling us not to take this inner journey lightly, because the things we find inside can be very frightening, disturbing and they may even rock our perceived world in one way or another. We must be prepared for that, and be prepared to deal with it.
This reminds me of a friend who is studying to be a stress-therapist, and one of the first parts of her education was psycho-synthesis. She always seemed like a stable person, and one who had come very far on her personal journey, but after that part of the course she was nearly a wreck. She says now, 6 months later, that she has had time to work more with the stuff that came up then, and she is OK now, but still very confused. I think one needs to enter a journey like that, aware that you can't prepare for what you may find, but that you will have to be prepared to face up to whatever WILL come your way. Be prepared for the fact that stuff will come up that you will need to deal with. And that is NOT something you do for fun, or take lightly.
Light and love,
Jenny
I haven't been very active here, but I am very determined to continue my going through the deck, so here's my current thoughts on the Hermit.
I can also tell you that I have made my first CT-reading, and I liked the way the cards seem to speak with each other, I mean they correlate to each other in a very natural way. I have posted the reading in Your readings, if anyone should feel like giving me a hand. I didn't point out there that I used the Cosmic tribe, because I didn't want to put people off just because they didn't have that particular deck. But it is. I haven't posted my own thoughts about it just yet, but I will.
Anyways, the Hermit now:
http://www.stevee.com/images/t.mjr.09.jpg"
The image:
An "inverted silhouette" of a man stands against the blackness of night outside a stone door, through which the man seems just about to walk out. Above the door are 9 8-pointed stars and a stone cosmic eye. Outside is nothing, just the deep dark night and the waning moon. Instead it is within the man that draws immediate attention in the image. Within the contour of the man is a green open field, a meadow. As a solitary figure in the middle of the field is an old oak tree, spreading its rich branches over a good part of the meadow's yellow flowers. The sky above the scene is blue although scattered with dramatically flowing white clouds. It looks like the kind of meadow where light and shadow would change playfully until you were not quite sure whether you were awake or not.
The Hermit's left arm is reached out, and where it reaches out it resumes shape of flesh and blood. In his hand he holds a brightly shining lantern. It's light is bright but warm and "friendly". By his feet is a three-headed dog, a watchdog with a scary look. The dog is a little "faded" though, like a dream, like he's not really, physically, there.
Symbolism:
The stone wall symbolises the society, with its structures of norms, rules and expectations, it is the "world as we know it", it's everything we take for granted, and never bother to question. The Hermit is in the door, on his way out of that society, going out into the unknown darkness "out there". He's leaving behind all that we usually lean on, and he brings with him two things to guide him: Firstly, his lantern, which is symbolising the burning desire to find the truth for himself, not to be handed someone's truth without question, but searching for his own truth, following that inner voice of his own, telling him there is one to be found.
Second he brings his own inner peace and harmony. The darkness he enters is in fact that same inner universe, in which he visualises the scenery. The inner universe is what he enters the unknown to explore. This is a little like the Chariot, the charioteer shows us how to discover our true beings by peeling off the personas of known situations, by travelling to external situations where we don't feel quite at home and can just follow our own foot prints we find the pure role of self. But that was still the Outer part of us. The Hermit asks us to step into the Inner universe and do pretty much the same thing. If the Chariot teaches us to see our own behaviour for what it is, the Hermit wants us to explore our inner thoughts and desires, emotions and motivations.
The crisply white moon against all that blackness is also a sign of hope and light out there, hope that there is something to be found out there. I have very sketchy knowledge of what the waning moon as a symbol would symbolise, other than it is the symbol of something closing in on the end of a cycle - and I'm not sure how to relate that to this card...
The Hermit shows no fear or hesitation, he seems confident and secure even though he's facing this unknown darkness. There are of course no facial features to judge from, but his posture is that of a man inviting people into his house, into his backyard. Relaxed and easy-going.
The scene within the man is very calming and soothing, and I doubt that I am the only person who uses a scene just like this to enter a meditation, or a meditative journey. The clouded sky brings life and movement to the image, and one can almost feel the breeze in one's hair, smell those yellow flowers in the wind...! Symbolically the clouds can also stand for the mass of thought that pass through our minds all day long. They are a part of us, and of every journey we take, within or without.
The dog seemed odd to me at first, I have always regarded the Hermit card in most decks as friendly and harmless, but the dog here is actually a little scary. The book explains it as an element telling us not to take this inner journey lightly, because the things we find inside can be very frightening, disturbing and they may even rock our perceived world in one way or another. We must be prepared for that, and be prepared to deal with it.
This reminds me of a friend who is studying to be a stress-therapist, and one of the first parts of her education was psycho-synthesis. She always seemed like a stable person, and one who had come very far on her personal journey, but after that part of the course she was nearly a wreck. She says now, 6 months later, that she has had time to work more with the stuff that came up then, and she is OK now, but still very confused. I think one needs to enter a journey like that, aware that you can't prepare for what you may find, but that you will have to be prepared to face up to whatever WILL come your way. Be prepared for the fact that stuff will come up that you will need to deal with. And that is NOT something you do for fun, or take lightly.
Light and love,
Jenny
