*Archetypal Magic*: Hermit Reflections
We’ve gone into a second lockdown here where I live. My household never actually left the first one but even so, the feeling of isolation and separation is present for all of us. We are being encouraged (forced to in some cases!) to sit with and tend to internal cues and experiences rather than external ones. This is a space of deep reflection. It’s a solitary space. But it doesn’t have to be a lonely one.
In tarot, the figure in The Hermit card carries a light. Wisdom. He’s going down into the depths and illuminating what is there before he comes back out and changes his whole world and the world around him. We’ll be doing the same thing come springtime.
I’m reminded of the story of Inanna, Queen of Heaven, who descends into the underworld to witness the funeral of her sister Ereshkigal’s husband. She tells her buddy Ninshubur to keep an eye on things and send for help if she doesn’t return in three days. To make this descent into the Underworld, she must give away a piece of herself- a defining piece of herself and her status in the world- at each of the 7 gates leading down below. A sort of offering to the Underworld and a show of respect for their ways. As she descends, it gets harder and harder to offer up these parts of herself. The closer we get to the deep, the more it feels like we are loosing who we are. Inanna eventually dies and is brought back to life by the aide of her community, and maybe I’ll tell that part of the story in the springtime. Inanna has to descend to unfamiliar depths and has to give up pieces of who she is in order to go deep. BUT, Ninshubur knows she’s down there. Knows what she’s doing and is there to help if need be. Ninshubur is kind of like the light The Hermit carries in a way. It’s a reassurance that all won’t be lost- we don’t have to fear the dark depths if we have some illumination or a tether back to the world we usually inhabit.
Kwonyin and I- back when we lived together in *WITCHHOUSE*- often spoke about holding a light or a beacon for each other when one of us was descending into this kind of space. This unknown space. We used to visualize a deep sea diver looking for a pearl and a lighthouse on the shore, diligently watching over the vast oceanic expanse.
The Descent of Inanna is a story used in the birth world to demonstrate what it’s like to pass through a life-altering, soul-altering, all encompassing threshold. Britta Bushnell taught this to me when I was assisting her in her childbirth education series. Her book dives into this link as well.
This leads me to think of the bear, which is another symbol we use in the birth world. The bear is a fierce and intuitive creature that understands the need to retreat into solitude in order to fortify. The bear is also a companion to Artemis the Huntsperson. This is another solitary figure ruled by the dark and the depths and the Moon. Time doesn’t move in the same way when we’re working with Artemis. They require a degree of loosing yourself in the deep in order to access your primal senses. In order to access the bear.
I could go on. There are so many archetypes to work with in this time that all hold hands with each other. So now, when we are being moved back into (or continuing in) isolation- some questions to ask might be:
How am I going to anchor myself in this time?
What self-reflection practices and I going to delve into?
What do I need to give myself in order to get through this time?
Who or what are my tethers, my lantern, my light while I descend into this winter hibernation?
What am I gestating or what will I be birthing after this period of time? Can I be open palmed and flexible about that?
The only way out is through bb!! We can make it and we are going to understand ourselves and our direction with so much more clarity after this part."