The Hermit tarot card meaning: upright, reversed and symbols

The Hermit is card IX of the Major Arcana, the card of quiet wisdom. An old man stands alone on a cold peak and holds up a lantern. He is not lost. He has gone somewhere quiet on purpose, so he can see by his own light. Here is what the Hermit means upright and reversed, the symbols in the 1909 card and the history of the lamp.

At a glance

• Upright keywords: solitude, reflection, inner guidance, wisdom
• Reversed keywords: isolation, loneliness, withdrawing to hide
• Number: IX (9) in the Major Arcana
• Element: Earth Later tradition
• Astrology: Virgo Later tradition
• Yes or no: Maybe Modern

The element and astrology come from the Golden Dawn system of the 1880s and 1890s, not from the first tarot decks, and the yes or no lean is a modern reading habit. Use them if they help you remember the card, and skip them if they get in the way.

The card: what Pamela Colman Smith drew

Smith drew the Hermit in gray on a gray and white peak, with only the lantern glowing. Waite wrote that “it is a star which shines in the lantern”, and that the raised light says “where I am, you also may be”.

The lantern and the star

Inside the lantern is a six-pointed star. The Hermit’s light is his own understanding, earned by experience. He holds it up, so the light also guides others who climb after him.

The staff

A long staff supports him on the hard path. Wisdom takes time and steady steps, not leaps.

The snowy peak

He stands high above the world, in cold and quiet. Solitude can be a workshop for clarity, not an exile.

The gray cloak

His cloak is plain and gray. The Hermit does not need to be seen. The work he is doing is inward.

Upright meaning

Upright, the Hermit stands for solitude, reflection, study and inner guidance. He withdraws in order to see clearly. Distilling experience into understanding is the work.

In a reading, make room for chosen quiet. The Hermit may ask you to step back from noise, to look for a mentor who has walked far, or to become that steady light for someone ready to listen. Wisdom earned in silence comes back to the path eventually.

Reversed meaning

Reversed, the Hermit can mean lonely isolation, withdrawal as a way of hiding, or refusing advice you need. It asks whether you are on the mountain to see, or only to disappear.

Reconnect where solitude has become a locked door. If you do need more quiet, schedule it without burning bridges. Loneliness and chosen solitude feel different in the body. Learn to tell them apart.

Reversals are optional. Many readers never use them and read every card upright, and that is a complete way to read. If you do use them, decide before you shuffle what a reversed card will mean for you, and keep to that choice for the whole reading.

In love, work and spirituality

Love

Upright, needing space to understand your own heart, or a slow and thoughtful partner. Reversed, disappearing instead of explaining that you need space.

Work and money

Stepping back to refine your skills, research, working alone. Reversed, isolating so long that opportunities pass by unseen.

Spirituality

Retreat, meditation, study, a time of looking inward. Reversed, using withdrawal to dodge responsibility.

As feelings

As feelings, the Hermit shows someone thoughtful and reserved, perhaps needing time alone before they can say what they feel.

The Hermit as past, present, future and advice

• Past: A time of solitude that taught you something.
• Present: Step back and reflect before you decide.
• Future: A period of study or retreat, or a mentor appearing.
• Advice: Make time for quiet, and trust your own light.

A Major Arcana card names a theme, not a sentence passed on your life. When the Hermit shows up among mostly Minor cards, give it extra weight: the theme of solitude runs under the whole question. If it keeps coming back over several days, write down what was happening each time. Patterns like that teach you more about the card than any list of keywords.

Is the Hermit a yes or a no?

In modern yes or no readings, the Hermit is a maybe. He asks for more time and reflection before you act, so the honest answer is often wait. Tarot is better at showing the shape of a situation than at handing down verdicts, so if the question really matters, turn it into an open question such as “What do I need to know about this?” and draw again.

Affirmation and journal prompts

Affirmation: I seek wise solitude and bring what I learn back to life.

Reversed affirmation: I leave isolation that only hides me and ask for light when I need it.

Journal prompts:

• What would I hear if the world went quiet for a day?
• Who has been a lantern for me?
• Is my solitude right now chosen, or is it hiding?

The history and art behind the card

In the Tarot de Marseille pattern the card is called L’Hermite, the Hermit. The earliest Italian cards called him the Old Man or Time, an elderly figure with an hourglass, a reminder that time passes for everyone. Somewhere along the way the hourglass became a lantern, and the old man became a seeker.

Court de Gébelin read the lantern as the lamp of the Greek philosopher Diogenes, who searched for an honest man. Waite disagreed and said the Hermit is not searching at all: he has already found the light and holds it up for others. Smith’s 1909 design follows Waite’s reading.

Waite also rejected a popular nineteenth century idea that the Hermit stands for occult secrecy, wisdom hidden under a cloak away from ordinary people. He blamed Éliphas Lévi for that reading and called it frivolous. For Waite the lamp is held up, not hidden. That detail turns a lonely card into a generous one: the point of going up the mountain is to light the way for whoever comes next.

When A. E. Waite published The Pictorial Key to the Tarot in 1910, he listed these divinatory meanings for the card: “Prudence, circumspection; also and especially treason, dissimulation, roguery, corruption.” Reversed, he gave: “Concealment, disguise, policy, fear, unreasoned caution.” Waite himself called the fortune-telling meanings of the trumps “artificial and arbitrary”, and on this site I read the picture first and treat lists like this as history.

In the modern teaching map called the Fool’s Journey, this card belongs to the second stage, meeting the world’s tests (roughly Strength to Temperance): courage, solitude, change, fairness, surrender, endings and balance. This map is a teaching aid made popular by twentieth-century guidebooks such as Eden Gray’s, not a medieval doctrine. Use it when it helps.

A spread for the Hermit

Use this spread when you need quiet to find an answer.

1. What do I need to step back from? The noise to turn down.
2. What does my inner light show me? What I already understand.
3. Who or what can guide me? A mentor, a book or a practice.

Lay the three cards in a row, read each one on its own first, then read them together as a short story. Write one sentence for each position and one small action you will take.

Common questions

Is the Hermit a bad card?

No. It is a card of reflection and inner wisdom. It can feel lonely, but it is often exactly the pause you need.

What does the Hermit mean in love?

Space, slowness and reflection. Upright, take time to understand your feelings. Reversed, do not vanish without explaining.

Is the Hermit a yes or no?

Usually a maybe or a not yet. Take time to think before you decide.

The Hermit with other cards

• With The Lovers: needing time alone before a big relationship choice.
• With The Moon: a confusing time that calls for quiet reflection, not quick answers.
• With The Hierophant: looking for a teacher, or becoming one.

Related cards

• The High Priestess: another card of quiet inner knowing
• The Star: a guiding light after the storm
• The Hanged Man: another pause that changes how you see

Keep learning

The Hermit is part of the lesson Strength to Temperance in my free Tarot for Beginners course. To keep walking the Major Arcana, read the card before it, Strength or the card after it, Wheel of Fortune, or go back to all the card meanings. For every card with keywords, affirmations and examples, see my book The Novice’s Guide to Tarot. If you would like a printable cheat sheet for all 78 cards, my 45-page Tarot Workbook is on Etsy.

Sources

• A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (London: Rider, 1910), Part II and Part III, section 3.
• Pamela Colman Smith and A. E. Waite, the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot (London: Rider, 1909).
• Nicolas Conver, Tarot de Marseille (Marseille, 1760).
• Eden Gray, A Complete Guide to the Tarot (New York: Crown, 1970), epilogue “The Fool’s Journey”.
• Lauri Mukkala, The Novice’s Guide to Tarot, entry for The Hermit.