The Hermit, Judgement and The Devil (Tarot)

The Hermit Tarot card suggests that you are in a phase of introspection where you are drawing your attention and focus inward and looking for answers within. You have a strong need to understand, not just at the surface level but to really know why life is the way it is. The Hermit reflects that your consciousness has moved inward and you now realise that the truth and understanding you seek is within yourself and not in the distractions of the outside world. This is a perfect time to take a step back from your day-to-day life and deeply contemplate your motivations, personal principles and values. The Hermit reflects that you are engaging in a period of soul searching. You want to seek the truth at all costs. You desire a new direction in life and, as a result, have recently begun a journey of self-discovery and contemplation. There comes a point in life when we begin to question the status quo, knowing that there is a deeper meaning to life, and thus, we begin to search for it. This search is mainly a solitary quest because the answers do not lie in the external world but within us. Thus, the Hermit Tarot card indicates a time when you seek solitude and isolation from others. You need to be alone and you want to withdraw from the world around you. This is so that you can retreat further into your own private world and experience a deep sense of seclusion. Through meditation, contemplation and self-examination, you may begin to re-evaluate your personal goals and change your overall direction. You will look at your life with a deeper, more spiritual understanding and will begin to change some of your priorities as a result. There is a certain level of spiritual attainment that is associated with the Hermit. The appearance of the Hermit in a Tarot card reading suggests that you need to develop the true power of a spiritual master through deep introspection. Be content with being alone or associate only with those on your level. Do not waste time and energy on those not ready or not worthy. The Hermit represents the desire to turn away from a consumerist or materialistic society to focus on the inner world. Have you ever seen the movie or read the book, “Into the Wild”? After graduating from university, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness on his own. Whilst his story has a sad and tragic ending, his journey into the wild reminds me a lot of the Hermit, who seeks answers within and knows that they will come only with quiet and solitude. The Hermit has learned to help others with love and compassionate detachment. This Tarot card indicates that you have gone beyond the point of being critical and you can now understand and appreciate that the varied paths people choose for themselves all lead to the same higher purpose. You have reached a high enough level of spiritual attainment yourself that you no longer need to convince others of what they should do. You can honour silence and allow your inner light to shine out towards others as a means of communication. Meditating on the Hermit Tarot card teaches you to honour the wisdom within yourself. You must find your own light, shine it on your soul and create your own special path. Through meditation and visualisation, the Hermit allows you to get in touch with the wise person inherent within you. The Judgement card calls for a period of reflection and self-evaluation. Through meditation or quiet reflection, you may come to a point of deep understanding about the common themes throughout your life and what you can do or change to avoid these situations in the future. Judgement tells you that you are close to reaching a significant stage in your own journey. The Judgement card suggests that you have had a recent epiphany or an ‘awakening’ where you have come to a realisation that you need to live your life in a different way and you need to be true to yourself and your needs. You have opened yourself up to a new possibility – to lead a fulfilling life that serves your higher needs and that offers inspiration and hope to others. You feel as though you have had a ‘calling’ in life, and you are getting much closer to the point where you need to take action. Something that was lying dormant within you, some unconscious knowledge or truth is finally being awakened and brought into the light. With its theme of awakening to new life, the Judgement card suggests that you have reviewed and evaluated your past experiences and have learned from them. All the pieces of the puzzle of your life are finally coming together to form one, integrated picture of your life story. This integration has healed any deep wounds and you are now in a position to put the past behind you. Your memories no longer haunt you, and you are able to understand and value what has happened to you and what it has taught you about life. Now, you are ready to confront any unfinished business in your life, clear up any misunderstandings and view the future with peace and deep ‘knowingness’ in your heart. Judgement is about finding absolution. Through a period of self-evaluation, you will feel cleansed of your ‘sins’, wrongdoings and mistakes, and you will finally be released of your guilt and sorrow about the past. This represents a wonderful purging process and will leave you feeling refreshed and ready to take on any new challenges. The Judgement card often indicates that life-changing decisions are required but unlike those associated with the logical Justice card, these decisions require a delicate blend of intuition and intellect. You may be at a crossroads, aware that any decision that you make will bring about significant change. The choice can be an obvious one, or perhaps the only viable one. You know that this choice must be made and you are facing it with maturity and level-headedness. Your own judgement is impeccable at this time; you can trust it completely and know that you are on the right path. If you still require clarity on the situation, look to your past experiences and life lessons which will guide you on the right path. If you have endured challenges in recent times, then the Judgement card suggests that you may have some respite from these challenges. In fact, you may find comfort in sharing your experiences with others and healing within a group environment. The key here is that there will be others who have experienced something similar to you and who can show you the way to freedom from your troubles. Let them guide you and help you. The card of the Devil represents the hidden forces of negativity that constrain you and that trick you into thinking you are imprisoned by external forces ultimately out of your control. The Devil is an inner force within each of us. He represents our fears, addictions, and other harmful impulses. He is a master of deception and creates the illusion that you are involuntarily bound to him. However, the figures in this card are free to remove the chains from around their necks, indicating that they have freely given the Devil any power he has over them. When you see the Devil in a reading, ask yourself where you are feeling stuck or restricted in your life. You may be tricked into believing that you are being controlled by external forces when in fact you have created your own chains of imprisonment and powerlessness. A sense of hopelessness can accompany the Devil. You feel despair and have a pessimistic view of life because you feel that so much is outside of your control. You fear the worst, and this means that your fears have a hold over you and prevent you from leading a more fulfilling and optimistic life. What are the addictions or attachments restraining you from experiencing the freedom of the Fool? Are you giving yourself over to the illusion of helplessness and despair? Know that you have the power within to free yourself from the bondage of the Devil. The Devil often reflects actual addictions and dependencies in your life, such as alcoholism, drug-taking, unhealthy relationships, over-spending and the like. You think you need something and you are willing to go against what you know to be right and true in order to obtain it. You need to break free of these negative patterns of behaviour by acknowledging the hold that they have over you and the negative impact they are having on your life. Often they are behaviours that are immediately gratifying but which cause longer-term damage to your inner fulfilment. More generally, the Devil indicates that you are becoming obsessed and hell-bent on a particular idea, situation or endeavour. You are over-investing yourself in one area at the expense of other areas of your life. Often, the Devil card represents an over-dependence on material wealth. You may have become so fixated on becoming a millionaire or owning a fancy car that you have forgotten the importance of investing in your relationships or yourself. You have generated a belief that value lies in how much you earn or how much you own. You have created an unhealthy bond with these materialistic desires and you are now being controlled by this bondage.