Pioneers of the Untimely: On the Hermit Card in the Tarot

Weird Studies

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel

Society & Culture, Arts, Philosophy

4.8 • 688 Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2025

⏱️ 83 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this continuation of their non-linear journey through the tarot, Phil and JF discuss the ninth Arcanum: the Hermit. Walking through darkness with his lantern and staff, the Hermit invites us to break from the collective and seek a direct relationship with the Real. This is the card of the seeker, the misfit, the sage, and the wanderer. As tends to happen in these tarot episodes, the hosts take the opportunity to range across many topics, connecting the Hermit to Jung’s Red Book, the Desert Fathers, angels and demons, the I Ching, contemporary politics, and more. Support us on Patreon Order Christian Bunyan's Weird Studies poster here. Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2, on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast,Cosmophonia. Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau REFERENCES Carl Jung, The Red Book Stanley Kubrick, American filmmaker Samuel Beckett, Irish writer Emily Dickinson, American poet Temptation of Saint Anthony Our Known Friend, Meditations on the Tarot Weird Studies, Episode 103 on the Tower card The Gnostic Tarot Nigel Richmond, Language of the Lines Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back John Minford, The I Ching: The Essential Translation of the Ancient Chinese Oracle and Book of Wisdom William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming" Alejandro Jodorowsky, The Way of the Tarot Wolfgang Petersen (dir.), The Neverending Story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Spectrevision Radio
0:02.0	Welcome to Weird Studies, an arts and philosophy podcast with hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel.
0:20.0	For more episodes, or to support the podcast,
0:23.3	go to weirdst. This is J.F. First things first, Phil and I are excited to announce that Weird Studies has just joined Spectre Vision Radio.
1:00.0	Spectre Vision, of course, is the groundbreaking production company. Behind such jewels of modern weird cinema as a girl walks home, color out of space, and Mandy, a film we discussed alongside the classic musical The Bandwagon back in episode 121.
1:16.2	The company was founded in 2010 by Elijah Wood, Daniel Noah, and Josh C. Walker to, quote, elevate art forms and support creatives working at their own rhythm, end quote.
1:33.4	Recently, Spectre Vision started a bespoke podcast network at the intersection of the arts and the uncanny. Greg and Dana Newkirk's Haunted Objects podcast, Reilly with Tom and Dave,
1:39.9	and that's Dave Foley of Kids in the Hall fame, and director's commentary with horror director
1:44.9	Mike Flanagan are just three of the other shows in the network. We'll have more information
1:49.6	on this shortly. For the moment, dear listener, please know that this indicates no change in terms
1:55.4	of the content we deliver to you every other week, and every off week if you're a patron. We just got some new friends as all, and we're stoked.
2:04.1	Today we continue our peripatetic pilgrimage through the tarot.
2:09.0	Having dealt, barely scratching the surface each time, of course, with the fool, the empress,
2:14.1	the tower, the moon, the wheel of fortune, the star, death, the chariot, the devil, the Wheel of Fortune, the Star, Death, the Chariot, the Devil, the Hanged Man, Temperance, and the Magician, we now arrive at our next station, Arcaneum number 9, the Hermit.
2:27.9	Now, the Hermit is probably my favorite tarot card, if one can have such a thing.
2:32.4	It's the card of the Solitary, the Eramite who sets him or
2:36.2	herself apart from the common fold to live at the edge of the known world, confronted by the
2:42.0	angels, demons, and elementals that lurk there. The hermit carries a lamp and a staff because,
2:48.4	like the stars in the desert sky, he is always on the move,
2:51.6	even when he appears to keep still.
2:54.6	What's the hermit looking for?
2:56.6	Is it madness or illumination?
	...

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