IX · Major Arcana
The Hermit
Myrddin
Withdrawal that is not escape: going far enough out to see the shape of the thing you left.
Upright
Step back from the noise deliberately. The answer will not come while you are surrounded. Solitude here is a working method, and the lamp is meant to be carried back.
Reversed
Not used in Raynebow readings - reversals are off in the product. Shown here for reference.
Isolation that has curdled into avoidance, or refusing counsel that is being freely offered. Retreating so far you cannot find the way in again.
Keywords
solitude · introspection · inner guidance · withdrawal · hard-won wisdom
The Welsh story
Myrddin Wyllt went mad at the battle of Arfderydd, where he saw his lord and kin destroyed, and fled into the forest of Celyddon to live among trees with an apple tree and a piglet for company. In the wild he lost his reason and gained prophecy. He is the pagan root beneath the later Merlin — the seer whose sight is the direct product of his exile.
On the card
Looking, in the dark, alone.