Here are a couple of old playing card hermits to compare to the Bombers painting I’m working on right now. Very different, but applying the same principles. The card version of the hermit appears to be weary and worn out, but he’s carrying the light with him. The card on the left is from the Marseilles deck, the one on the right is from the Rider Waite deck. My guy has clearly led an ascetic life, but he’s strong and clear-sighted. I think of the Christ in the desert as an archetypal hermit. The hermit of my painting models himself on him.
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Funny that.
Take a look at the Fool card, and note that the Hermit and Fool are related, representing the initiate at different stages of his journey.
Just yesterday afternoon I had a flash of the Hermit from the old Led Zeppelin album cover flash into my mind (Nearly exactly from the Rider Waite deck). I promptly went to my white board outside of my cube and impulsively drew a cartoonish version with wipe-able markers atop a tall precipice. It is oddly interesting and synchronistic that you would post these hermit cards today. ~Rich