Free Wednesday Tarot Class The Hermit

Hi and welcome to our Wednesday Tarot lesson. This week we are meeting the Hermit. Take a look at him in your Rider-Waite deck. He is number IX. He is standing on the top of a cold, snowy mountain holding a lantern and a staff. He has reached the first plateau of awareness and has gone through the initiation of the cards from the fool to strength that we’ve talked about in our other articles. Because he has reached this higher level of consciousness, he can teach us. He is holding the light to illumine the path for the rest of us. He made the trek up the mountain on his own, just like we have to climb our own mountains – you know the ones we make out of mole hills? The word Hermit comes from the Greek word eremites, which means of the desert. Sometimes we have to be like the Hermit and periodically pull away from our every day life to seek solitude. We don’t have to climb mountains to get away but we need to take a few minutes for ourselves, to shut the door, take some deep breaths and connect with our Higher Self or our Angels and Guides. This is really not hard to do. Some say “I can’t meditate because I can’t still my mind.” I always say, you don’t have to quiet your mind, but if you buy some guided imagery tapes, get quiet and listen to them, it will be like taking a vacation. You will have temporarily let go of your worries and problems and come back refreshed. This is also called charging your inner batteries. All of our spiritual teachers including Moses and Jesus learned to go away for awhile and go into the silence and the solitude

Sometimes when we are on our spiritual path we feel like we’re alone in the desert and it can feel scary. We feel adrift, separate, and lonely. This can make us feel so uncomfortable that we flip on the TV, call a friend on the phone, go to a bar – anything so we don’t have to feel that restless, empty scary feeling. Our new friend the Hermit felt like this many times, just as all of us do. This is part of growth and we can learn to welcome it and practice attuning ourselves to new ways of solving our personal problems. The Hermit symbolizes that we can always turn to him and his light for guidance. He symbolizes our Higher Power. He knows that he cannot carry us just like we don’t need to carry others. We can be like the Hermit in our own life and, once we get our inner light glowing, we can teach others how to be strong. Many times this is the only way we can help. If we run around giving all our money away to people they will just spend the money and be out of it again. Is that helpful? Maybe temporarily we can give them a hand, but wouldn’t it be much better if we showed them how to help themselves? Jesus not only fed the people but he showed them how to fish. There are many kinds of teachers in the world. There are credit counselors, twelve step programs, gamblers anonymous and other types of recovery programs. We can learn from Yogi Classes, Tai Chi, and Karate. Exercise and walking is another way to get away and go within. Many times people recharge when they walk – their endorphins are released. Diet changes, journaling, going to someone in the helping professions – all of these are forms of teachings that can help us on our path. We don’t need to limit ourselves. Neither do we have to solve everyone else’s problems. Yes it is good to be of service, but when we get so engrossed in solving other’s problems that we drain ourselves, we can end up making others dependent on us, and that is definitely not what the Hermit is about. You can be like the Hermit and help others find their own light. We all come into this earth plane with our own lessons and we really have no knowledge of what the other person has come here to learn. We need to remember this when we get too involved in trying to help another. It’s great to help them help themselves, but we must not try to carry them.
The astrological sign of the Hermit is Virgo, which is an earth sign. It is mutable, meaning adaptable; it can either stand still or change, depending on the needs. Virgo’s like to analyze and serve, they are industrious and one of their lessons is to free themselves from excessive worry. What teachers, books, classes will you take to become more like your Hermit within? The planet Mercury, which represents our mind, our way of communicating, rules Virgo. Try to be aware this week how you will learn from others as well as be their teacher.

The Hermit’s Advice:

Rest, relax, regenerate, and pay attention to your needs
Focus on your work and don’t let yourself get distracted
Eat nutritiously, exercise, dance, and become balanced
Look to your higher self, start journaling with your angels
Hold the light for others but don’t carry them

Next week we’ll look at our Wheel of Fortune. What a fun card this can be!

^i^ Angel Hugs,

Jean Maurie

Free Wednesday Tarot Class

Hi and welcome again to our Wednesday Tarot class. This week we are going to talk about the card everyone wants to get in their readings, The Lovers. Those of you who have Tarot cards, take a look at the Lovers. In the Rider-Waite deck, the lovers are two naked people standing outside. The woman is looking up toward a huge angel in the sky and above the Angel is the Sun. The man is looking at the woman. This means that the male energy needs to get direction from intuition, which is usually thought of as a feminine energy. That is why he is looking at her while she receives direction from her Higher Self, the Angel. Each of us has male and female energy within, so when we talk about feminine intuition, know we all have it whether we’re male or female. The Lovers suggests spiritual growth through expressions of man’s feminine nature.

Behind the woman, is the apple tree of temptation that God told Eve not to eat of the knowledge of good and evil. God named everything and called it good. Before Eve ate the apple, they were innocent and knew nothing about evil. Let’s call evil negativity, worries, fear because that is what evil is all about – only seeing the bad, only thinking the worst, retaliating. Many times we humans have to learn our lessons the hard way, walking through our fears, overcoming our negativity, solving our worries. Sure all this is painful, but we often don’t appreciate what we have until we’ve lost it, like when Adam and Eve were banished from the garden.

The Hebrew name for the Lovers card is Zain, meaning sword. In the tarot cards, swords represent air, the sign of Gemini, mental attitudes, discrimination, and choice. Yes swords look menacing but they don’t have to be. The sword has two edges, one for knowledge, and the other to wound or kill. Before one uses a sword he has to think first, prior to making that decision. If you remember, there was a sword on the magicians table, which represents our tools for our life’s journey. How will you use your sword? Will you try to gain spiritual knowledge, look at your life’s possibilities? Will you plant your seeds in a fertile garden and nourish them with love and caring? Or will you throw it all away in haste and anger because you feel trapped and unable to see other possibilities?

The Lovers is number 6, Gemini, the twins; God, Goddesses, our subconscious selves and our super conscious selves, communication. Remember the Angel above the Lovers and think how much easier our lives would be if we would turn to our Higher selves and listen before flying off the handle at our lover, because our feelings are hurt. Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the planet of communication and this is one of the main problems between lovers, not communicating. To help us communicate, we can use the polarity between the male and female or opposite points of view. We need to look at their side as well as our own in order to understand what our lovers are feeling. Communication is a two way street. We also have to listen to what the other is saying, not interrupt even if we don’t agree. Listen, then repeat what we heard and try to understand. Attack feels easier than forgiving, so we need to watch what we say.

“How can I attract my true love to me?” You ask. By being love! Loving yourself is first. How can you give away what you don’t have? If you don’t love and respect yourself you are going to attract people into your life who treat you exactly the way you feel about yourself. People will leave, they won’t call when they say they will, they will continue to prove to you that you are not worth loving. But if you learn to love yourself, you will then love from a place of wholeness, and with your heart open, your true love will appear and treat you kindly, respectfully. So if your love life is unsatisfactory, use this experience to grow and discover what part of you needs healing in order to love fully. Look toward Arch Angel Raphael, the angel of healing that presides over the lovers card. Ask him to help you find your true love. And remember, God made you and She didn’t make junk. Put that on your mirror to memorize as you look at yourself each morning, when you start your day. Remember, You deserve to be loved and your angels always love you, no matter what!

The Lovers advice:

See another’s point of view
Empathize – feel what others feel
Open your heart up and communicate instead of hiding your feelings
Ask yourself if you accept him or her as she is, instead of trying to make them into who you want
Be flexible and express your true self
Have the courage to stand naked with your feelings and thoughts.
Turn to your Higher Self and your relationship Angels for guidance on how to love and get love

All images come from http://www.usgamesinc.com/


Next week we will talk about The Chariot. Until then, know that your Angels love you, now and forever.

^i^ Angel Hugs, Jean Maurie