Amulets by Merlin's Blog

The Hermit card is both a part of our popular culture and mystical heritage.

A lot of Led Zeppelin fans would recognize the image from the Zofo album:
an old man with a staff holding a lantern high while looking over a cliff.
Attributed to Virgo:
the Earth sign of the Virgin: totally innocent and untouched by corruption;
yet grounded and potentially fertile.
It is also attributed to the letter “Yod”, the smallest component of the Hebrew alphabet. Within all the letters we see time and again this tiny “tongue of flame” comprises all the other letters. “Yod” represents the “Hand of God”.

Hermit Amulet

For you Star Wars fans,
“Yoda” is from whom Luke Skywalker learns the secrets of the “Force”.
George Lucas must have known his Tarot!
Like Yoda, the image of the Hermit walks his own path,
not a follower (or leader in the normal sense) but makes his own way in life,
discovering it on his own.
In the process of finding his way he lifts a lantern
which inadvertently gives us a direction as to where to go:
teaching by example yet completely unconscious of the fact.
Although alone,
the Hermit is never lonely:
He moves about his daily routine,
doing the “right thing” as his conscience moves him.

In creating the Hermit Amulet,
I developed an image of the hand holding the lantern with the Yod as the flame within.
In this way,
the letter itself is the guiding light we see:
the hand that holds the lantern is the Hermit;
the Flame is his intent and purpose.

The Hermit Amulet
would be appropriate for those that are self starters, innovators,
those that serve humanity because of their own convictions
rather than because they are told to do so.
A Hermit need not be one who lives off in the wilderness
but one who is at peace in a crowd and in solitude alike.
The Hermit Amulet is intended to stabilize one’s journey in life
and remind us to hearken to our own inner voice
rather than to follow a leader, group of movement:
to walk the path of Virtue.