The Hermit Birth Card

One card in both places

As a single birth card, The Hermit describes someone who needs time alone to think, and who often becomes a guide because of what that solitude teaches. People with this card tend to prefer depth to breadth, and a few true friends to a crowd. It is the card of solitude, reflection and inner guidance.

Where it asks more of you

With no second card to pull against, the card's own shadow matters more: withdrawal that turns into loneliness, wisdom kept to yourself, a habit of analysing life instead of living some of it. The work is to come down the mountain now and then with your lamp.

Sitting with it

Think of something you understood only after time alone. Who might it help? This card suggests that your solitude is productive, and that its gift is complete when the light you found is shared.

Questions to sit with

• What does solitude give you that company can't?
• Where are you holding back a lamp someone else could use?
• When is it time to come down the mountain?

Who lands here

The first birth date since 1900 that adds up to The Hermit is December 31, 1946. Every year since has some dates that do. It is most common for people born in the 1970s to the 2020s. Among everyone born from 1950 to 2009, about 8.7% have it. Dates that give it include January 13, 1975; May 6, 2005; and September 9, 2025.

The cards on their own

• The Hermit (9)

  Stepping back far enough to hear yourself again.

Other cards whose numbers add down to 9, like your Soul card: The Moon (18). Greer calls any such card a hidden factor: part of the same family as your birth cards, and easier to overlook.