- Element
- Earth
- Arcana
- Major
- Attribution
- Virgo
- Feeling shows as
- A theme running the situation
- Stage
- The feeling has been taken away to be examined
The Hermit
as feelings
They feel something real and have withdrawn in order to look at it.
Why
The Hermit is distance that is not rejection, which makes it one of the most misread cards in a feelings position. As a trump it describes a theme large enough to be running the situation rather than a passing mood, which is why it outweighs the cards around it.
Upright and reversed
What it is like to hold this feeling.
A reversal is not the opposite of the upright card. It blocks it, delays it, turns it inward or takes it too far, and which of those depends on the kind of card it is.
Upright
The Hermit is distance that is not rejection, which makes it one of the most misread cards in a feelings position. Something has been felt strongly enough to require examination, and this person examines by going away. The silence that follows is usually about them and almost never a verdict about you. The card asks for time and does not say how much. What it rules out is performance: whatever they conclude, they will have concluded it privately, and it will be honest by the time it arrives.
Reversed
Reversed, the withdrawal has outlived its purpose. Solitude that started as reflection has become a habit, or they are using the distance to avoid a conversation that examining alone will never settle.
Reversed, a trump is a theme being resisted, delayed or lived out privately. The theme does not disappear when the card is inverted — it goes underground, which is generally harder on everybody than the upright version.
Where the feeling is in its arc
The feeling has been taken away to be examined.
The Hermit is a feeling carried off to be looked at properly. The withdrawal is purposeful and the examination is honest.
What is missing is the other person. Nothing at this position is decided in company, which is why it produces silence that has nothing to do with indifference.
Attributed to the sign Virgo, the mutable earth of discernment, refinement and useful solitude. A trump carrying a sign describes a climate rather than an event — the weather a feeling is happening in, and weather lasts.
The same card, four situations
It does not mean the same thing for an ex as it does for a stranger.
Each reading below is built from two things that differ card to card: what the element does to a feeling, and how far along that feeling is.
Someone you have just met
A zodiacal trump at the start of something describes the climate the connection is beginning in rather than a reaction to you. What it reports will still be true in a month, which very little else this early will be. Here specifically, the Hermit is a feeling carried off to be looked at properly. The withdrawal is purposeful and the examination is honest.
A relationship you are already in
Inside an established relationship a zodiacal trump names the season the two of you are in. Seasons are long, and what is happening is usually larger than the week it is being felt in. Here specifically, the Hermit is a feeling carried off to be looked at properly. The withdrawal is purposeful and the examination is honest.
Someone who ended it, or who you ended it with
For a connection that has ended, a zodiacal trump describes a condition rather than a decision. It says what the ending was made of and declines to predict whether the weather changes. Here specifically, the Hermit is a feeling carried off to be looked at properly. The withdrawal is purposeful and the examination is honest.
A feeling neither of you has said out loud
When nothing has been said, a zodiacal trump means the silence has a climate to it — a settled condition rather than a held breath, and conditions do not resolve because somebody asks. Here specifically, the Hermit is a feeling carried off to be looked at properly. The withdrawal is purposeful and the examination is honest.
The part most readings skip
What this card cannot tell you.
A feelings position is the one place a reader most wants to be told what they were hoping for, which is exactly why it is the easiest to misread.
- A card describes a quality of feeling. It does not identify a person, confirm that they are thinking about you at this moment, or guarantee what they will do next — and any reading that offers those things is selling certainty the deck does not contain.
- Feelings positions are the ones readers most want a particular answer from, which is exactly why they are the easiest to misread. If a card seems to confirm precisely what you hoped, that is the moment to check it against what has actually happened.
- One card is one input. A feeling that contradicts everything a person has done for six months is a card that needs the rest of the spread, not a card that has revealed a secret.
Keep going
A feeling is one position in a spread.
The full meaning of The Hermit — upright, reversed, love, career, money and the symbolism the painting carries — is on its own page. If you have not drawn a card yet, the reading below deals a real one.
