The Path of the Hermit is Path 20 .... The Path of Yod (the fist). The twentieth path is the intelligence of will and is so called because it is the means of preparation of all and each created being, and by this the intelligence the existence of the primordial wisdom becomes known. It has the mythological principle of 'the wilderness journey'. Its Esoteric title is 'the Magus of the Voice of Light, prophet of the gods.' The Hermit is ancient - his knowledge precedes everything. His lamp holds a six-pointed star, showing interlocked triangles, and the number 6, hinting at the sixth sign, Virgo. The virginal aspect of The Hermit alludes to the "Divine Marriage," the union of male/female, the realm of the androgyne. The Hermit's "9" is a trinity of trinities, the last of the single digits, which shows a kind of completion. The Hermit is alone, in the icy, rarefied peaks, holding a beacon for those who follow. He is robed in grey, referring to the concealed knowledge, and the supernal Keter/Chochma/Binah triad His staff refers to the archetypal world, the will, and is a wand. The Magus, who holds a rod, is Mercury, which is exalted in Virgo. This is the world of interior thought and reflection; the wellspring of ideas and personal transformation.
In solitude we confront ourselves. If we cannot be alone, how can we be with others? When we make peace with being alone, then we better appreciate being with others. Social life is a blessing, but there is a time and place to be alone. The Hermit depicts that place.
The Path of Yod reference
