The Hermit Tarot Year Card
A year for stepping back, studying, and finding your own answers.
What a Hermit year means
The Hermit stands alone on a mountaintop holding a lantern that lights just enough of the path for the next step. As a year card it describes a quieter, more inward year: time spent thinking, studying, simplifying and working out what you actually believe, rather than what you have been told.
That doesn't have to mean a lonely year. Many Hermit years include one or two important guides, and some end with you becoming the guide for someone else. But your energy is likely to turn inward, and the year rewards depth over breadth.
Work, love and inner life
Work and money: Research, specialised study, writing and expert work. A good year to master one thing rather than network widely.
Love and relationships: Fewer but deeper connections. You may need more time alone, and it helps to say so.
Inner life: Reflection, retreats, therapy, meditation and long walks. Answers come when you slow down enough to hear them.
Gifts of a Hermit year
- Clarity about what matters to you.
- Deep knowledge or skill in a chosen subject.
- Comfort in your own company.
- Hard-won wisdom you can later pass on.
What to watch for
- Withdrawing so far that people can't reach you.
- Overthinking instead of acting on what you've learned.
- Judging others from a distance.
- Mistaking isolation for independence.
Working with your Hermit year
- Schedule regular time alone, and protect it.
- Choose one subject to go deep on this year.
- Keep a journal of what you are learning about yourself.
Questions to reflect on
- What question am I really trying to answer this year?
- What do I need to step away from to hear myself think?
- Who could benefit from what I already know?
Who has The Hermit as their year card in 2026 and 2027?
With Greer's method your year card depends only on what your birth month and day add up to. In 2026, The Hermit is the year card for anyone whose month + day comes to 8, 17, 26 or 35: 39 birthdays (about 11% of the year). In 2027 the totals are 7, 16, 25, 34 or 43, which gives 41 birthdays (about 11% of the year).
January 7, 2026: 1 + 7 + 2026 = 2034 → 2 + 0 + 3 + 4 = 9 → The Hermit
All 39 birthdays with The Hermit in 2026
January 7, January 16, January 25, February 6, February 15, February 24, March 5, March 14, March 23, April 4, April 13, April 22, May 3, May 12, May 21, May 30, June 2, June 11, June 20, June 29, July 1, July 10, July 19, July 28, August 9, August 18, August 27, September 8, September 17, September 26, October 7, October 16, October 25, November 6, November 15, November 24, December 5, December 14, December 23.
All 41 birthdays with The Hermit in 2027
January 6, January 15, January 24, February 5, February 14, February 23, March 4, March 13, March 22, March 31, April 3, April 12, April 21, April 30, May 2, May 11, May 20, May 29, June 1, June 10, June 19, June 28, July 9, July 18, July 27, August 8, August 17, August 26, September 7, September 16, September 25, October 6, October 15, October 24, November 5, November 14, November 23, December 4, December 13, December 22, December 31.
Before and after a Hermit year
Everyone with The Hermit in 2026 had Strength as their 2025 year card, and all of them move on to Wheel of Fortune in 2027. Each year the card moves forward one step, so it is worth reading the cards on either side as the story of where this year comes from and where it leads.
These dates follow the calendar year, as in Greer's method. If you count your year from birthday to birthday instead, your Hermit year runs from your birthday in that year to your next one. When does a year card start?