It’s 2025 and our tarot for this year is card number nine — The Hermit. This card invites introspection. Instead of pushing forward, it advocates for a strategic withdrawal, a pause for self-reflection and understanding. The Hermit is about assessing our past choices, finding wisdom, learning more, and sometimes being more reclusive or protective of our energy.
Each suit reflects the meaning of The Hermit card back to us in some way. If we can study and understand the meaning of each of the minor arcana nine cards, we will be able to see the whole picture behind The Hermit. And since study is part of The Hermit card meaning, it feels rather appropriate to do a deep dive.
In tarot, the nine of wands signifies perseverance, resilience, and the determination to push through challenges even when feeling weary or battered by obstacles. The nine of wands is often interpreted as a message to “keep going” and not give up, drawing on inner strength to overcome adversity. After all, you’re at the nine card — you are almost there!
The nine of cups is often called the “wish card,” signifying the fulfillment of desires, achieving goals, and the manifestation of dreams. After a long journey, the nine of cups symbolizes the finding of self-satisfaction. The emotional journey of the cups is starting to come to a close after the volatile ups and downs you faced in the earlier numbers of this suit. You have struggled to find purpose and joy after loss, you have tasted the different things that life offers, and you have left comfort in order to find greater heights. Here, you have found them, and you are indulging yourself as you celebrate this new stage of your life.
The nine of swords signifies a state of anxiety, fear, despair, and overwhelming negative emotions. This card often represents feelings of being consumed by worry, guilt, or past trauma. The suit of swords is concerned with the mind, logic, intelligence, and communication. But somehow the nine of swords was caught on the destructive end of the spectrum, the one which turns inward on itself, and then multiplies and festers. Questions are plaguing you, and you find yourself reciting all the possibilities — all the things that can happen to you. You are haunted by what could be. The nine of swords must begin to understand the process of unresolved issues that has led them to this breaking point.
The nine of pentacles signifies a state of achieved success, financial independence, self-sufficiency, and the ability to enjoy the fruits of your hard work. This card indicates that you have reached a stage in your life where you are confident, independent, and self-sufficient. Through hard work, you are now ready to enjoy money, leisure, and material comfort.
In the major arcana, the four nines correspond with The Hermit. The Hermit’s solitary presence and long grey beard suggest his maturity and understanding. The nines of the minor arcana suits all ask the same questions of themselves. What was it all about? Who am I? Where have I come from? Where am I now? Where do I want to go next and why? The Hermit has seen many cycles come and go. He even resembles Father Time, and his knowledge and wisdom are infinite. What he has learned has not come easy. He advises the four suits that if they have not found the answers they were looking for in their current cycle, they just might in the next. The idea is not to give up, even if what they look back on does not, in their estimation, amount to much. There is no such thing as failure or mistakes, for all is knowledge and experience under The Hermit.
Emily Guenther is a co-owner of The Broom Closet metaphysical shop. She is a Memphis native, professional tarot reader, ordained Pagan clergy, and dog mom.
