Sexual Key To The Tarot: IX HERMIT

The Hermit lives in a world of attainment. He is not a seeker. He is not lost. The Hermit has found what men seek. He has arrived. He is home. He is a knower. The light he carries is not used to find his own way. He stands upon a high place above the world. The light is for those who follow, that they may see where they are going. The Hermit's message is: That where I am, ye may also be. The staff, a phallic symbol, in his left hand does not relegate sexuality to oblivion as in the case of the Hierophant, but rather signifies that sexuality, once mastered, need no longer occupy a place of supreme importance.

The Hermit-nature, like the Charioteer, has attained sexual excellence, but not by conquest. Here is a lover of the 9th order who has tasted as much of sexual experience as the ferocious Charioteer, but whereas he is demanding and mercurial in his sexual relations, the Hermit-nature is the gourmet who has given countless females sexual gratification. The Charioteer may bring a female to violent orgasm but the Hermit is capable of producing and maintaining a steady, even flux or orgasmic bliss in a female. The one gains merely sexual gratification, no matter how many women he fornicates, whereas the Hermit, gaining sexual satisfaction in process, also gains knowledge of female desires and insight into their sexual motivations and needs--the secret of his complacency.

The blue in his cap (traditional), which covers his mind symbolically, denotes the sexual knowledge which he possesses and applies effectively. The Hermit-nature need not brandish a conquering sword (the dominating penis), but may proceed through life secure in the knowledge of female needs and desires. He is content with the act that he can readily supply what women want, and more. Though his head is bowed, take note that his shoulders do not sag as though in defeat. The Hermit-nature is more than he appears to be. Beneath his cloak of humility is hidden the body of a 100% man. Masculinity and sexual prowess are at his beck and call, beneath his unassuming exterior. They come to the fore, wherever and whenever they are required. Any female in need of such will be more than satisfied.

The Hermit-nature is trustworthy. The rampart, domineering Charioteer may not kiss and tell, but the fact of sexual conquest will show in his demeanor and often on his face, like the cat that ate the canary. But the Hermit-nature will never reveal anything. His countenance and bearing will conceal the fact of sexual escapades forever. This secretive quality greatly enhances the Hermit-nature's desirability. Secretiveness, coupled with his unassuming behavior, makes the Hermit-nature an ideal bed partner for love hungry housewives. The Hermit-nature is not unattainable, the true mystical meaning of the eminence and the beacon. The card says: What I know and experience, you also may know and experience.

--excerpted from ''The Sexual Key To The Tarot'' by Theodor Laurence