Lighting the Path in a Hermit year

The first night I was on retreat last June, the power went out. There were generators in the main building but not the others. I sat by the fire talking for a couple hours before making the walk to the other side of the property where I was staying. As I walked down the gravel road away from the dining hall I found myself in the deepest, most impenetrable dark I can ever remember experiencing outdoors. The sky was clouded over and my steps seemed to echo around me. Yes, a flashlight had been recommended on the packing list they sent me but I did not bring one, I only had the torch from my phone. The darkness seemed to absorb this tiny light, and only a small circle in front of my feet was visible. As I continued I started to hear all manner of critters moving through the woods. I remembered that there were bears in these mountains and started walking a little more loudly, moving the light from side to side hoping I wouldn’t surprise one.
The thought entered my mind, “Is this the night I die, mauled by a bear? I guess there could be worse ways to go…”
Time stretched and it seemed like forever before I saw the small sign pointing to my cabin. I carefully walked up the steep path and stepped through the door. I was relieved to finally be inside and navigated the dark room to my bed.

Later that week I told the story and how it reminded me of the iconography of the Hermit. This type of experience is very “on brand” for me lol. And in fact The Hermit is my soul card in archetypal tarot! So when I realized we were headed towards a Hermit year for 2025 I felt strangely excited.

They say there are no good or bad cards, but certainly there are cards that people are not excited to see, and probably the Hermit is one of them. We see a cloaked figure, holding a lantern that only illuminates the space directly ahead, otherwise surrounded by darkness. The term Hermit also has colloquial meaning, suggesting a loner, a recluse, or mayyybe a person who chooses to recede for some spiritual purpose. The use of the term hermit as a person who never leaves the house is an interesting extension of the archetype, whose surroundings are not visible in the dark but the absence of light appears to confine them. Or consider the use of the word in Hermit Crab: its shell is not its own, when it has grown too large for its temporary home it must venture out without cover and find a new one.

There’s a suggestion of loneliness, or at least being alone, that is also unwelcome to many of us. Honestly that was my initial reaction, something like “well great, alone forever!”  This is one of the shadows of this archetype— that the Hermit is forced to move through life alone, separated from community, living in the dark, trapped, apart from the beauty of life, and has given up. Much like a possible shadow of Pisces energy (the fish eating itself, or perhaps the Ouroboros), there might be an inclination towards melancholy and wanting what you don’t have. It can be a consuming state of mind.
But these are often responses to what others may project onto the Hermit.

I experience this archetype as one that reveals trust, wisdom, patience, and inner knowing. The Hermit cannot see beyond the next immediate step, but this is enough to step forward. The Hermit understands that some answers must come from within, and doesn’t need outside validation to decide when to move and when to wait. When embodying this archetype we are asked to practice discernment, and do the deep inner work (ok, shadow work) of examining our instinctual reactions to situations that are unfamiliar or frightening. We are tasked with confronting our fears of the unknown, and why the unknown would be seen as negative. Sometimes we are tasked with moving so slowly it seems we are not making any progress at all.

We might say that the light of that lantern is awareness, self-knowledge, keen perception, and intuition. The surrounding darkness is a place where anything is possible, the fecund void. And how much does one’s perception and belief inform what is possible? We may navigate the careful balance between dreaming and fantasizing, between imagining possibility and magical thinking. We may encounter obstacles, some of which we see before tripping over them and others that knock us off our feet.

The Hermit holds their own hand as they navigate, another a part of the medicine. But the Hermit may also be surrounded by support and simply unable to see it. Often in life it is a combination of both.
And here is where that spiral opens up into something surprising: we reconsider what it means to be alone, how we define support and who we need to get it from— we might begin to see our world as one that has many untapped resources if we can trust in what we can’t see (the unseen).


We’ll be exploring some of these themes on Wednesday in our New Year’s workshop, including the relationship between Strength (the archetype for 2024) and this year’s Hermit. We will do some journaling together, explore associations and symbology, and eventually move into a journey to meet a future self who can be a guide, helping to shine a light on the path forward (or hold your hand in the dark).
A reminder that this workshop is recorded for those who cannot attend live, and is downloadable so you can work with it as many times as you like.

I also made this playlist to support the shift into 2025: 🎧 Listen on Spotify
Sometimes with these playlists I like to imagine that someone is singing the lyrics to me, so maybe it is the Hermit who will offer a message to you…