The Hermit Soul Meditation

The next Soul Meditation along the Fool's Journey brought me in touch with The Hermit.  I am a constant seeker of wisdom and often ask this archetype for guidance, so I was excited about this meditation. The Hermit meditation proved to be vast, ethereal, infinite, and lonely, while somehow still warm and connected.  I entered the meditation at the bottom of a large rocky mountain, my hiking boots set firmly along a path to the summit.  I climbed easily up the difficult terrain, pulling my body up rock faces and stepping along treacherous outcrops, as the sun set and stars began to emerge in the night sky.  It was a beautiful landscape: cold, crisp, silent, and colored with just black, white and gray.  At the snowy peak of the mountain I found my big, white dog friend bounding across the snow, happy to see me exploring another Soul Meditation.

My doggie spirit guide lead me across the mountain peak to the scene from The Hermit tarot card. The night was now full and absolutely still as only a cold snowy night can be totally still.  I approached The Hermit, my footsteps crunching on the snow the only sound to be heard on the lofty, lonely peak. I reached my hands out to him, and the The Hermit ever so slowly set down his lantern and leaned his staff against a rock before reaching for my outstretched hands. Quite suddenly, he grasped my arms above the wrist with great intensity and looked at me sharply.  His gaze was deep and penetrating before slowly softening into a compassionate gaze. The Hermit spoke to me, telling me that I have a great challenge before me, as I have the ability to connect with my soul purpose, and that purpose is infinite and eternal. This journey to find my purpose (which I'm really connecting with through these Soul Meditations!) would profoundly change me.  This will be difficult as I have to let go of my current identity and take on a new conception of self.  I'm finding I can no longer be constantly sarcastic and cynical as I increase my awareness of the Spirit that connects us all. The change will be hard but the possibility for peace and joy are there.

When I entered the body of The Hermit in the meditation, I acknowledged my solitary state and felt an ordinary shock of loneliness, which was immediately replaced by my true feeling of vast connection.  I could sense countless other Hermits working parallel to me on their own journeys of soul discovery.  I gazed into the light of my lantern and saw the swirling collective consciousness inside the brilliance of the star.  I knew that the people down below the mountain looked up to see my lantern as a guiding star and that I have this potential to guide others with my light.  The introspection and soul-searching accomplished by The Hermit archetype is a solitary pursuit, unique to each individual, but the wisdom of the collective consciousness that comes from this introspection is nothing short of the source that connects us all.

Another of my spirit guides, the archangel Gabriel, also made an appearance in this meditation.  He was glad to see me as The Hermit and we enjoyed the silent mountaintop together.  He enfolded me in his wings and the dog sat at my feet and we just existed in the moment.  I left The Hermit's body and he returned with a chastising look in my direction when he found himself in Gabriel's embrace.  I felt a sense of bemused grandfatherly connection as I made my leave of The Hermit card. He raised his lantern back high to the heavens and I retreated back to awareness, ready to continue my own soul journey.