The Hermit (Tarot card)

File:RWS Tarot 09 Hermit.jpg

The Hermit (IX)

The Hermit (IX) is the ninth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.

Description

The Waite version of the card shows an old man carrying a staff in one hand and a lit lantern containing a six-pointed star in the other. In the background is a wasteland. Just beyond the wasteland is a mountain range.

Alternative decks

In some decks it is also called Le Moine ("The Monk") or Time or The Sage.

In the Vikings Tarot, the Hermit is Heimdall living at the edge of Asgard, standing ready with Gjallarhorn watching for the signs of the coming of Ragnarok.

In the X/1999 Tarot version made by CLAMP, The Hermit is Satsuki Yatouji.

In the Mythic Tarot deck, the Hermit is depicted by Cronus.

In the Sacred Circle Tarot, the Hermit is the Shaman.

In the Psycards alternative Tarot deck, the Hermit is the Sage.

In popular culture

• A stylised version of the Hermit can be seen in the illustration on the inside sleeve of the album Led Zeppelin IV (aka "Four Symbols") by English rock band Led Zeppelin. The illustration is credited to a "Barrington Colby", of whom little is known. It has been speculated that the artist was Jimmy Page himself.

• In the 1976 film The Song Remains the Same, Jimmy Page portrays the Hermit in a fantasy sequence during the song "Dazed and Confused". In the sequence, Page climbs a rock face towards the figure of the Hermit, whose face is that of an aged version of himself. The sequence was supposed to have been filmed behind Boleskine House, a property two miles east of the Village of Foyers near Loch Ness in Scotland. The house, which was owned by Page at the time, had been owned by the author and occultist Aleister Crowley.

• In Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Joseph Joestar's stand (Hermit Purple) is named after The Hermit

• In the 2013 film Now You See Me, the Hermit is the card given to mentalist Merritt McKinney when he is recruited.