Welcome to Tarot for Scholars, a resource that helps you weave the deep wisdom of tarot into your daily life and work. In each post, we offer reflections and prompts for exploring your own inner world and unlocking the unique creative power of your scholarship.
The Hermit
About this card
The guidance to be found outside the hustle and bustle of daily life, and outside structures of striving and achievement. Seeking or offering mentorship. Withdrawing into the quiet wilderness in order to hear your own inner voice, or holding your lantern aloft to guide others. The wise figure for whom solitude and retreat are important parts of their role in their society — because in solitude, they access knowledge and wisdom that they can bring back for the good of all.
Other interpretations
Margy’s cards, clockwise from top left: Radiant Tarot; New Chapter Tarot; Cosmic Slumber Tarot; Shining Tribe Tarot; Elemental Tarot; Navigators Tarot of the Mystic Sea; Spolia Tarot; Tarot of the Spirit.
Helen’s cards, clockwise from top left: Moon & Stars Tarot; Light Seer’s Tarot; Japaridze Tarot; Canes Arcanae; Star Spinner Tarot; Muse Tarot; Tarot of Mystical Moments; Forest of Enchantment Tarot.
Questions and prompts
Who are your most valued mentors? Name one mentor who has interacted with you personally and one, living or dead, whom you’ve never met but whose work has deeply influenced you. How have your mentors lit your path as a scholar?
How have structures of striving and achievement discouraged or distracted you in your work? What Hermit practices help you step outside those structures, if only for a moment, so you can rebalance and reconnect with your own inner voice?
What light are you carrying in and through your work? What are you illuminating? How do you imagine your light guiding or warming others?
Thanks for joining us for Tarot for Scholars! Your hearts, restacks, and comments brighten our day. 💫
Yours in scholarship,
HELEN SWORD is a scholar, poet, award-winning teacher, and founder of the WriteSPACE, an international writing community with members in 30+ countries. Her research-based books, articles, and online tools empower scholarly writers to write more clearly, confidently, prolifically, and with greater pleasure.
Visit Helen’s website here.
MARGY THOMAS is the creator of ScholarShape, a body of work dedicated to elucidating the patterns of Story-Argument across genres, disciplines, and life itself. Through services and DIY resources, Margy helps scholars use Story-Argument patterns to design their work — and to find its deeper meaning and higher purpose.
Visit Margy’s website here.
Share this post