Some of us may know the IX major arcana of the Tarot, The Hermit, from Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven poster. We might wonder about the connection between this lone figure and the heavy rock music of Led Zeppelin. Why would the legendary guitarist and amateur occultist Jimmy Page use the Hermit as an insignia? Doesn't the band's youth and radical hedonism represent the opposite energy of the solitary sage on his mountain peak?
We can think of this in alchemical terms. The ‘man on fire’ or the young rock god must refine and contain his overflowing and convulsive vitality or self-destruct. His rebellion against the father and society, while having its logic, becomes merely nihilistic unless the young seeker finds a new model of wisdom and authority. In other words, the counterpoint to Dionysian excess is the Apollonian Hermit. The sulphur and passion of youth need the cooling mercury of wisdom.
As William Blake puts it, '"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." Nietzsche's statement, "One must have chaos in oneself to give birth to a dancing star", also tells of the path to the Hermit. The chaos of youth develops into the singular longing for the dancing star (symbolised by the pentacle in the Hermit's lamp).
The Hermit is also a father figure and a religious sage of sorts. He could be considered a second father, much needed in an age of deadbeat dads. More than a century after Nietzsche declared the death of God, we face the abyss of a missing father figure. Young people today lack rites of passage, death and rebirth rituals, and religious liturgy—they are missing the ‘higher guidance’ of the Hermit. The lack of credible elders, the cult of youth, and the age of hyperactive communication all point to this lack. We are haunted by the shadow of the Hermit, or the wise man, with his lamp and pentacle.
Unsurprisingly, every young seeker with an intellectual and poetic sensibility has read Thus Spoke Zarathustra at one time or another. Zarathustra—and Nietzsche by character—the overman living on his snowy peak—is a Hermit archetype. And like Zarathustra, the hermit looks 'down the mountain'—his gaze is towards the earth. Like Zarathustra, he longs to share his gifts and visions with worthy companions.
As a young man, in my youthful hedonism, I looked everywhere for spiritual guidance and a second father. At night I played music in a bar, and I sat in the Zendo meditation hall in the early mornings—I wanted to experience the high and the low. At that time, I met several Zen masters, some Tibetan Lamas, and a few sages from other traditions (and some fascinating women hermits, too, incidentally). The burnout from sex, drugs, rock and roll, and a spiritual longing led me to spend a few years in monasteries and temples, studying meditation and the words of great spiritual masters. There were no wise elders where I grew up, and my University teachers seemed to me to be intelligent and sophisticated but not deep or wise. Like Jimi Page and many young men, I was searching for the Hermit and his lamp.
The Hermit is not an intellectual or a priest—perhaps he is more like the crazy wisdom masters of the East. Today he is forgotten in a culture obsessed with the cult of youth. The most powerful technocrats in the world— Marc Zuckerberg, for instance—are the antithesis of the Hermit. These tech giants represent extended adolescence and youthful power without wisdom. However, The Hermit never disappears and can be found in any era. And he is more necessary to us than ever in a culture of massive technological power that lacks wisdom.
There are some misconceptions about the Hermit that we should clear up. For instance, the Hermit is not otherworldly. His staff touches the earth. Unlike a Buddha under the Bodi tree, he isn't in a meditative equipoise but walks forward with his lamp, illuminating the obscurity. The pentacle at the centre of the Hermit's lamp is Solomon's sign, a symbol of accomplishment, completion, and fulfilment. It does not represent merely technical knowledge but wholeness and integrity. The Hermit is not one of Nietzsche's 'life despisers' but someone overflowing with the gifts of a life fully lived.
The Hermit's staff touches the ground, symbolising the real, the objective, the empirical. His lamp represents faith and intuition; his stick is about skilful means, measurement, and experiment. Therefore, he is not only a mystic and an artist but also a scientist and engineer. Science without faith is barren, and faith without science is fanatical—the two together form wisdom. The Hermit symbolises this unity of opposites, bringing together the empirical and the mystical, the outer and the inner, heaven and earth.
The Hermit is the opposite of the politician who feeds on credulity and marketing. He isn't selling anything; he doesn't need to convince you of anything; he doesn't have any ideology to peddle—the Hermit isn't concerned with praise or blame or getting attention on social media—he tends to keep charisma hidden. And even though he seems to live in unreachable heights, he is at the very centre of reality.
The hermit is earthly and divine, wise and practical. Like Zarathustra, he loves the earth. He is the ragged truth of the realised sage. May you find his lamp!
This article is part of a consideration of our study group on symbolism and Psychomagic. If you want to become a member and join one of our study groups, please write to me at andrewpgsweeny@gmail.com or check out the events calendar below for more details.