the tarot has spoken: calling all hermits!

janeharr — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 04:49:15 +0000

I didn’t exactly come to this card via a traditional reading, but it reminded me of a character in a short story of mine who “performs” the major arcana cards. And it does seem somehow precipitous since I’d been researching the word “recluse” when I happened upon the classic image (from the Waite deck). Also, I just started reading Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart (a Buddhist perspective on wholeness) by Mark Epstein, which examines the western notion of ego, something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. The Hermit is a very interesting case in this regard. In some respects, the hermit is independent of the social trappings of status yet in other ways too self-defined. SO, I’m going to take it as a sign for mulling. Plus, I love lists like this one that delineate fated/archetypal characteristics like some kind of mystical typology.