The Hermit Tarot Card Meaning

The Hermit upright

An old man stands on a height holding up a lantern with a star inside it. Waite stresses that the lamp is held up, not hidden — this is someone who has reached a summit and lights the way for others. Take time out, think things through, and let experience — yours or a wise person's — guide the next step.

The Hermit reversed

Waite reversed lists concealment, disguise, fear and caution without good reason. If you have withdrawn for too long, it may be time to come back down the mountain and share what you have learned.

A reversed card (What does Upright / reversed card mean?) is one drawn upside-down.

Is The Hermit a yes or no?

Upright: Mixed / not yet. Not yet — reflect first. The answer becomes clear after some quiet thinking.

Reversed: Reversed, The Hermit reads as a gentle no: isolation, concealment, over-caution.

The yes/no lean is BornClock’s reading convention drawn from the card’s meaning — Waite himself did not assign one.

Symbolism in the The Hermit card

What appears in the 1909 Rider–Waite–Smith picture, as Waite describes it:

• Lantern held high — light shared, not hidden
• A star inside the lantern — the light he holds up for others
• Standing on a height — Waite: attainment — he has already climbed

In Waite’s own words (paraphrased)

Upright: prudence, circumspection; also treason, dissimulation, roguery.

Reversed: concealment, disguise, policy, fear, unreasoned caution.

Source: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910, public domain). Some of Waite’s 1910 fortune-telling meanings are old-fashioned; the plain-English reading above is ours.