The Hermit: Poetry Prompts for Solitude, Perspective, & Observation
In Tarot, the Hermit asks us to forge out own paths outside of society, then return with a deeper love for it.
While a solitary figure on his card, the Hermit teaches us deep wisdom about the process of finding our place amongst all of life. The Hermit chooses a period of distance from the world in order to gain perspective, to hear something deeper beneath the stories others surround them with.
Sometimes we need to abandon the maps we've been handed in order to discover what is truly ours.
The Hermit teaches us to forge our own paths outside of society – not out of hatred, but because we care enough about truth to seek it out. And eventually, the Hermit teaches us to return, to light the way for those who come after.
Astrology - Virgo
Virgo is the Great Editor of the Cosmos, helping us notice and strip away that which is unnecessary in our lives. She helps us see where our lives have become too full, guiding us to make short-term sacrifices in service of the bigger picture. She wants to take the chaos of life and make order out of it; she wants to find perfection within.
As the sign of the Maiden and an Earth sign, Virgo grounds the mind in the things of practicality. She does not seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge alone, but so she can change the rhythms of her daily life. She is self-sufficient, turning inward because she knows she can sustain her self and in her self she can find truth.
Numerology - #9
As the last of the single-digit numbers, 9 represents the conclusion of one phase of life, and the opening of another. As one cycle ends, another begins in the grand spiral of time. In this way, 9 is expansive, opening us up to deeper initiations and ways of experiencing the world.
9 also reminds us that we are inherently flawed, imperfect, because it is the end of a cycle not the cycle. And once we've experienced some wisdom, the gap between what we know and what we don't only seems to widen.
9 is related to:
Themes & Mythology of The Hermit
- The Lantern - illuminates only the immediate steps, not the whole path
- The Staff - support; guidance from elders who cannot be on the journey with us
- The Mountain - distance, perspective, effort; earning the view
- The Cloak - protection and a turning inward
- Jesus in the wilderness - the desert strips away all that is unnecessary; if we make sacrifices, we achieve deeper wisdom
- The Buddha - leaving the world to serve it more deeply
- Desert Mothers & Fathers - early Christian Mystics seeking direct experience with Divinity
The Paradox of The Hermit
Writing Prompts for The Hermit
- Write about a journey that changed you. The destination is irrelevant.
- Write a poem. Edit it down. Edit it down again. What truth is clarified by brevity?
- Write a poem that includes something unsaid.
- Describe a seemingly insignificant object/moment until it becomes sacred.
- What would change if you only needed to see the next step?
- Write about a moment others overlooked.
Recommended Poems for The Hermit
“The Journey” - Mary Oliver
“Song of the Open Road” - Walt Whitman
“The Peace of Wild Things” - Wendell Berry
“The Thing Is” - Ellen Bass
“Love After Love” - Derek Walcottt
These prompts and thoughts come from my workshop series The Labyrinth: Poetry for the Contradictions We Carry, live at Ixora Collective in Colorado Springs, CO. Join us biweekly as we journey through Tarot, astrology, mythology, and poetry, writing toward the tensions, longings, paradoxes, and transformations that shape a human life.
