Tarotcard The Hermit Archieven

5 of Pentacles and the Lesson of Dependence

Half a year ago I wrote a blog post about pentacles 5 and the choice to sometimes place yourself ‘outside the group’ and go your own way, even if it means that it is often difficult and lonely. Just recently, I’ve read an article on a New Age website that was about experiencing gratitude and the ability to accept help from others. Immediately, Tarot card Pentacles 5 popped into my mind and I thought about how I could add this to the interpretation of this card. And when I was figuring this out, the tarot cards Justice and the Hermit also came along 😉

Tarot card The Hermit and the ‘Aleister Crowley’ of the Philosophers

Tarot card ‘The Hermit’ used to be my ‘favorite’ tarotcard when I was young and started learning the Tarot. I imagined that – when I was old – I would live in a super cute little house in the woods/on the moors/on a mountain and that everyone would see me as a lovely old and wise woman. I would help all people and provide them with (good) advice.

Unfortunately, as the years have gone by, I’ve turned more into a Swamp Witch than into a sage and I don’t have a cute little house in the mountains either. But that’s not what this post is about. It’s about Tarot card The Hermit and the comparison with the Greek Philosopher Diogenes. It is Antoine Court de Gebéllin who makes this comparison in his description of this Tarot card (see his essay on the Tarot that appeared in volume 8 of his book ‘Le Monde Primitif’). And it’s super interesting!