The Hooded One

French philosopher and journalist Albert Camus said, “in order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion; in order to serve men better, one has to hold them at a distance for a time.” And thus we have the archetype of The Hermit.
Whenever we see The Hermit, he is almost always portrayed as an elderly man holding a lantern. In this particular picture he is shown to be standing on the top of a mountain illustrating someone who has reached a certain pinnacle of wisdom, through age and experience. However, he still seeks answers as shown by the lantern he hold in his hand. The pole he is leaning on is reminiscent of the Ace of Wands which represents growth, so we see that through wisdom comes growth. When the Hermit arrives in a reading he is reflecting a person’s desire to have a bit of a retreat in order to think things through carefully. Depending upon where he shows up in a reading he can be indicative of someone actually over thinking things and needing instead to take a more intuitive approach to a situation
When using the Hermit for meditation, we may want to ask ourselves what situation in our lives we need to give some deeper thought to. Perhaps this is a time for you to figure things out alone without outside influences. The suggestion here is that you have more wisdom then you know. To help focus on the energy of The Hermit I would use a blue candle for it’s calming effect and a quartz crystal to add clarity of thought. For aromatherapy I would suggest black pepper oil which has the magical influence of increasing mental clarity.