The Hermit and Hylomorphism
Éliphas Lévi claimed that Arcane IX, The Hermit, symbolises initiation. There are solid grounds for this, and we can extend this reading to the Aristotelian concept of hylomorphism. To begin with, this card is associated with Mercury. Some say that, in the Rider-Waite, the monk is Hermes Trismegistus. Be that as it may, the presence of Mercury, and in particular the association with Virgo, opens several doors. Mercury in Virgo has domicile and is exalted. It is a sign in which it operates with total freedom. Analytical, meticulous, judicious, precise.
Mercury-Hermes is also the god of the mantic arts, of translation, manuals, and symbols. There is no initiation without knowledge of technique (technē, from Greek téchnē, meaning art, craft, or skill in making, rooted in tektōn, “builder” or “carpenter,” something constructed through learned method rather than inspiration alone) and of how important this is. But this is already symbolised more by the Arcane I, The Magician, where we have Mercury as knower of the four elements, operative, more Geminian even.
In Virgo, this knowledge points more inward than outward, close to the Rosicrucian motto Timor Dei, Gnosce te ipsum, Amor proximi. The second step seems to be what this card heralds: knowledge of oneself, awareness of what one is, of one’s limits, flaws, errors, and also of one’s virtues. Very often this knowledge implies a descent inward. Virgo is Earth, and Earth is a denser, harder element, which points downward, toward the interior of something. It is cold and dry, melancholic, closer to stone than to fertile soil. More than simply descending, we need to excavate and walk towards the centre of ourselves
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