The Hermit Tarot Card Meaning

The Hermit upright meaning

A woman leaves a party early and spends Sunday with her own questions. Nothing is wrong. That is the modern upright Hermit, a pause you chose. Biddy Tarot lists the keywords "Soul-searching, introspection, being alone, inner guidance", and Labyrinthos lists "self-reflection, introspection, contemplation, withdrawal, solitude, search for self".

Waite reads the card very differently. After "Prudence, circumspection" his list continues: "also and especially treason, dissimulation, roguery, corruption." The words "and especially" are his, so the dark meanings are the stressed ones. It is one of the darkest upright lists among the trumps, and soul-searching is not in it anywhere.

In his picture notes Waite calls the card one of attainment, and he says his Hermit is not, as Court de Gebelin explained, "a wise man in search of truth and justice". The old man is not searching. He has arrived somewhere, and he is holding the light up.

The Hermit reversed: isolation or hiding?

Waite printed the reversed Hermit in 1910 as "Concealment, disguise, policy, fear, unreasoned caution." Set beside the upright treason and dissimulation, We read it as the same dark side seen from the surface: what is being hidden, and from whom.

The three leading sites we checked agree on loneliness. Biddy Tarot gives the reversed keywords "Isolation, loneliness, withdrawal", Labyrinthos gives "loneliness, isolation, recluse", and The Tarot Guide includes "paranoia". Tarot.com asks the question the card seems built for: "Are you healing, or hiding?"

Biddy Tarot says the reversal can go two ways: too little time for reflection, or too much. One check separates them. If you are keeping something from other people, Waite's list fits. If you are keeping yourself from other people, the modern sites fit, and the fix is a phone call.

Is The Hermit a yes or no card?

Strength, the card before it, gets a yes from Tarot.com. The Hermit does not. That page says "the answer is NO" and adds "Separate yourself from others' opinions for the time being."

Zenithalign splits the card: upright is a Conditional Yes, and reversed is a No, blamed on "Unhealthy isolation, antisocial bitterness, or ignoring sage advice". The TarotAtlas lines we have on file stop short of a verdict. They say the upright card is a sign that "insights gained from introspection will help one grow."

So we read the upright card as not yet, or no, and the reversed card as no. The old sources leave yes and no out entirely, so this table is modern habit.

The Hermit in love: single, relationship, feelings

Single, or wanting space

For someone without a partner, the Hermit is time that is not waiting for anyone. Tarot.com calls it "a period of self-discovery" before you are ready to open up, and Labyrinthos says the card can mean "we may need some time alone" to understand ourselves before a new relationship. The Tarot Guide gives a second reading: "coming out the other side of a period of loneliness and solitude", and it also lists "celibacy or chastity".

In a relationship

Inside a couple, the card is about distance that one or both of you need. Tarot.com says so directly: "not a breakup vibe", but a pause to check in with deeper needs. The Tarot Guide offers two pictures, "an older wiser partner" and a pair who are "too focused on doing your own thing" to spend time together. Which one fits depends on whether the space is agreed.

The Hermit as feelings

As someone's feelings, Labyrinthos describes a person "taking time to reflect on their emotions" and the bond, one who may need to "step back for now". That tells you they are thinking but not which way, and only asking them settles it.

Does The Hermit mean a breakup?

On its own, no, and we would not read one into it. Tarot.com says the card is "not a breakup vibe". The reversed card is where sites see a split: The Tarot Guide says it "can also suggest one person withdrawing from a relationship while the other is still trying to hold on to it." If that describes you, talk to the other person; the card will not settle it.

Astrology side of the same question: Virgo compatibility with every sign · Virgo in love.

The Hermit as work and money

Three of the sites we checked read the Hermit at work as a question about the job itself. Labyrinthos gives "searching for purpose in career", Tarot.com asks "Are you climbing a ladder you actually want to be on?", and The Tarot Guide says you may be "wondering if you are in the right career".

Reversed, the sites turn toward contact. The Tarot Guide suggests "putting yourself out there career wise" after a stretch of working alone, and team projects. Tarot.com notes the upright card supports "solo work, research, spiritual vocations".

The Hermit as advice and as a person

Solitude is advice with an end date, and the sites say so. Tarot.com calls it "this temporary retreat", and The Tarot Guide says soul-searching is good "in moderation but too much can be damaging". Pick a length, such as a weekend, and name one person you will talk to when it ends.

Standing for a person, the Hermit is the one who shows instead of telling. The Tarot Guide calls him "wise, mature and knowledgeable". Waite's lantern line, "where I am, you also may be", makes him someone who lights the way for others.

Symbolism of the Rider–Waite–Smith card

• The lantern. Waite writes of the figure as blending "the idea of the Ancient of Days with the Light of the World". In his words, "It is a star which shines in the lantern."
• The six-pointed star. Wikipedia says the lantern holds a six-pointed star. Biddy Tarot and Labyrinthos both call it the Seal of Solomon, a symbol of wisdom.
• The mountain peak. Waite says the figure is "holding up his beacon on an eminence", which is why he thinks of it as a card of attainment. Labyrinthos reads the mountain as accomplishment.
• The staff. Biddy Tarot reads the staff as authority and power that guide and balance him. Labyrinthos agrees on authority and power.
• The cloak. Wikipedia, citing Eden Gray, calls the cloak "a form of discretion". Waite adds that the lamp is not partly wrapped in the mantle, unlike the conventional models.
• The mountain range. Behind him, Wikipedia says, runs a mountain range. Biddy Tarot reads the snow-capped peaks as spiritual mastery and growth.

Waite on the Hermit and occult isolation

Waite pushes back on an older reading. He says the card is "understood quite incorrectly when it is connected with the idea of occult isolation". He calls that idea "one of the frivolous renderings which we owe to Éliphas Lévi" and says the lamp means the opposite of hiding: "where I am, you also may be."

The Golden Dawn's Book T has nothing about solitude either. It reads the card as wisdom from on high and active divine inspiration, with an "unexpected current" in some readings. Its title, "The Magus of the Voice of Power, the Prophet of the Eternal", sounds more like a speaker than a recluse. Neither older source puts soul-searching in the meaning.

The Hermit and Virgo: the card's zodiac sign

Attributions from Book T (Golden Dawn, c. 1892; printed 1912).

The Golden Dawn gives The Hermit to Virgo: earth, ruled by Mercury, letter Yod. Mercury also rules card I, The Magician, so the first and ninth trumps share a planet. One uses the tools on the table, and the other has gone up a mountain to think.

Virgo's three minor cards in Book T are the 8, 9 and 10 of Pentacles: Prudence under the Sun, Material Gain under Venus, Wealth under Mercury. Prudence is also the first word on Waite's list for the Hermit. That overlap is in the sources; we do not claim it was planned.

The three Virgo cards of the minor arcana

Next Virgo season: the Sun enters Virgo on August 23, 4:13 a.m. EDT and stays until September 23, 2:01 a.m. EDT (2027, US Eastern time).

Virgo can be in your chart even if the Sun is elsewhere. In our count of 35,064 birth dates, 1930 to 2025, 58.9% put a planet in Virgo. The tool below checks yours.

Questions about The Hermit

Next to The Hermit

In the Major Arcana: Strength (8) ← The Hermit (9) → Wheel of Fortune (10).

Virgo on this site: Virgo zodiac sign · Virgo rising · Mercury in Virgo · Venus in Virgo · your full birth chart.

All 22 cards with their signs and planets: tarot card meanings.

Written by The Zodiac Atlas editorial team with the help of AI and edited by a person. Quotations are from Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot and the Golden Dawn's Book T, both in the public domain; the card picture is a 1910 printing of Pamela Colman Smith's drawing for the 1909 deck. Sign dates and planet positions come from the astronomy-engine ephemeris (tropical zodiac). Tarot and astrology are symbolic traditions; they do not predict events.