8 Reasons to Embrace Hermit Mode

Who is The Hermit?

In the Rider-Waite version of tarot cards (the most commonly recognised deck), the Hermit is represented as a solitary figure of a cloaked old man holding a staff and lantern. The lantern indicates illumination from the unknown as he seeks enlightenment. The cloak is a form of discretion. This card in a reading can often represent the embodiment of inner awakening and sacred solitude. It can represent the soul’s yearning to turn inward from the noise of the world to seek wisdom from the quiet voice within, in the stillness.

That phase when you're craving silence, wanting to drown out social noise and retreat into your self is often referred to as hermit mode. This period of solitude that our soul craves is actually part of a necessary process for our growth. It's a phase of intentional withdrawal in order to find our ‘selves’ again.

Hermit mode is a personal reset button. A time to strip away and shed what’s been outgrown, such as old habits, constricting mindsets, borrowed beliefs, self-sabotaging patterning. When we refine our sense of self, we get to choose who we want to be with more intention and clarity.

This period is not meant to be an isolating experience. It is not a period in which to get comfortable with solitude. It’s a time to be select with whom we allow into our presence and energy field, so that we can focus wholly on ourselves and return to ourself. It also isn’t a time to allow ourself to sit and wallow in self-pity and get pulled into a depressive state. It’s a time for transformation.

Use this time purposefully to heal and allow the upgrade to happen to your belief systems and connections. Allow the expansion to happen. It’s about remembering your authentic self beneath the noise. When you’re ready to step back into the world, you do so as an upgraded version of yourself, more grounded and self-assured.

The process of refinement during hermit mode takes the reflection process above a step further. After meeting every part of yourself with compassion – including those which you’ve outgrown or suppressed – you begin to understand that the shadows you avoided were actually your teachers, and they have been guiding you back to wholeness and allowing you to recognise that your energy is your most valuable resource. Learn to honour and invest your energy wisely by directing it to flow only toward the people, places and practices that align with your true nature.

Practical ways for refinement:

Journal experiences and thoughts: You’ll notice recurring themes and negative thought patterns that pop up that aren’t aligning with you anymore and that you don’t want going forward. Be aware of these, as they are what you may need to face in order to transmute it into the energy you do want. There are many good guided meditations online that can help with this. Also keep a dream journal. Every night, note down the joyful life you want to live and the feelings that gives you. Go to sleep with that feeling and image in your mind. You will wake feeling energised and positive about your future.
Somatic healing practices: Explore modalities such as Reiki, sound therapy or breathwork to release trapped emotions and traumas in your energy body and help bring it back into balance.
Small, intentional group check-ins: In addition to conventional therapy (if required), meet with like-minded peers occasionally to discuss healing journeys and gain insights. There is much to learn that we don’t know from others. You can be discerning about who you interact with according to your needs.

If you have responsibilities you can’t set aside for long, try to create pockets of time, however small, for yourself. Get someone to look after the kids for a few hours and get your nails done or enjoy a spa treatment. A sound healing session can help balance scattered energy and allow the vibrations to align within you. Self-care is important for your mental, spiritual and physical health.

Practical ways to reclaim your power:

Nature Immersion: Sit on the ground and touch the grass and earth. Feel the heartbeat of the Earth. In this state of connection, we attune and develop the skill to feel the resonance flowing through all living things. It makes us sensitive to sensing the energies of others, and from this, we can discern what we do and don’t want in our own lives.
Creative solo rituals: Engage in a personal ceremony of energy renewal, such as lighting candles, setting up a diffuser with essential oils and soaking in the atmosphere around you.

1. The Reflection Process

Lupita Nyong'o from the movie ‘Black Panther’, tells of doing a 10-day silent meditation retreat right after the release of one of her movies. She describes that being in silence at the retreat had given her the time she needed to unplug from the world and reset emotionally and mentally, so that she could return to herself.

The reflection process is about turning inward to face the parts of yourself you’ve avoided – your habits and attachments. Allow the outer noise to fade and you’ll notice the inner voice growing louder. You can now witness yourself in total honesty, in truth. This will be confronting and uncomfortable, but allows you to see yourself more clearly. Be in the knowing that this discomfort is sacred. It’s the sign of growth beginning to unfold. Be proud of yourself for facing it and recognising it. Only the bravest of people have the ability to do this, as it’s one of hardest things to address as part of our evolution.

The reflection phase of solitude is your mirror. It reflects your truth back to you without distortion. Ask the deeper questions. Who am I now? What do I truly want? What still matters? What are my social, monetary, physical, emotional, spiritual needs? Where is my soul calling me? Don’t feel that answers are required. They are just prompts. Over time in quiet reflections, you will gain clarity for these.

Practical ways to reflect:

Mini at-home retreats: An hour or so of digital detox and also taking a break from responsibilities can create space for reflection.
Journalling as your future self: In detail, write from the perspective of your future self who is living life you want.
Sound or frequency-based practices: Frequency and vibrational-sound music such as singing bowls / tuning forks / binaural beats are a great way to get into a zen state of being, helping bring your energy field into balance and regulate your nervous system.

7. Learning to Enjoy Your Own Company

Emma Watson has spoken at length about learning to enjoy her own company. She describes the stage of her life where she learned to embrace being alone and understanding herself deeply as ‘self-partnered’. She talks of finding one's confidence and fulfillment without needing to latch onto a relationship, and how she found this period a turning point in her life when she learned to appreciate her solitude and be whole within her own being.

It is liberating to realise that your own company is enough and you start to love the solitude, peace, reflection and freedom that comes from not needing external validation. Spending time alone teaches you self-sufficiency on a deep, emotional level.

5. Reclaim Your Power

In 2016, Arianna Huffington resigned from The Huffington Post to focus on her wellness and self-care. This allowed her to create Thrive Global, which is about the importance of mental and physical health in high-performance work. The decision to leave and redirect attention that had been misaligned, allowed her to focus on her purpose and create something more aligned to her.

When you're constantly giving away your energy, it's easy to forget your own strength. Reconnect to your innate strength. Reclaim it, and step fully into yourself, grounded in your truth, capable of living with intention and presence. Reclaiming your power is about choosing alignment, that which aligns with your plans and purpose in life. When you pour energy into what lights you up - without guilt - it flows freely and your soul can grow. There is no reason not to fill up your own cup. You may have heard the expression of filling up your cup first, in order to support others better.

4. Healing from Within

Famous psychologist/psychiatrist Carl Jung withdrew from his professional and social life and into a self-imposed period of solitude where he wrote, analysed dreams and did much introspection at his lakeside tower from which he created some of his most famous and well-known psychological insights regarding shadow work, inner healing and individuation.

True healing requires space. When external distractions are removed, self-doubt and supressed emotions have room to surface and be released from which you can acknowledge and address your inner child. Sit with your inner child – the version of you that longed to be seen, heard and held. Say, “I’m here now. You are safe.” It might not be comfortable, but it’s worth it. This will then allow you to rewrite a new, expansive state of being.

You may have noticed that the healing you’ve been doing isn’t linear. It’s like a spiral. You return to certain lessons again and again, each time with a little more awareness, a little more compassion. But as you shed these old layers each time, you’re writing new stories for yourself, that which is rooted in truth and self-worth. You no longer identify with the wounded parts of you, but you honour them as stepping stones on your path to transformation and wholeness. The more you heal, the lighter you become.

Hermit mode is a cocoon of safety where you can become both the healer and the one being healed.

Practical ways to heal:

Seek support when you need it: If you feel guided to, reach out for help. Choose someone you can align with. It could be a psychologist, therapist, counsellor, life coach, energy practitioner or spiritual mentor.
Move your body intuitively: Even light movements such as stretching, mindful walking, shaking out tension (the dog shake) helps move stagnant energy and reconnect and ground you.
Allow rest without guilt: Allow yourself sleep more, relax when you need, taking things at a slower pace. Rest is a form of recalibration.
Holistic support: Have a Reiki session or spiritual healing session to release stuck or unbalanced energy in your chakra system.

3. Saying No and Letting Go

J.K. Rowling had to endure personal hardships before the success of Harry Potter. In addition to having to deal with countless publishers rejecting her work, she was also going through a tough divorce and facing financial difficulties. Being alone allowed her to let go of what no longer served her and focus on writing one of the greatest and most recognisable bestsellers of all time.

This phase no doubt feels challenging, but is essential. When you are brave enough to walk away from people, environments, routines, etc, that no longer pour into you, when you become comfortable saying “no” without guilt and “yes” with what aligns to you heart and your growth, you will feel liberation. Once you realise and act as if your peace is not negotiable, this sends out a healing signal that heals yourself from the inside.

When you release hold of the roles you once played, the people you emulated, the comfort of who you used to be, you feel lighter and freer. You’re now able to use this restored energy to fuel your own personal expansion. Letting go means liberation. Before a breakthrough, your soul often dissolves the illusions and identities that never truly belonged to you. Though it may feel lonely, this clearing is a cleansing, a necessary space for your evolution.

Be assured that the Universe never takes without giving. It only ever rearranges your path to match your evolution. Every ending is a sacred invitation to begin again, this time, more aligned, conscious and whole.

Practical ways to release:

Intentional, physical decluttering: Get rid of or reduce the need for things that no longer serve a purpose. Decluttering and living in a minimalistic manner sends the signal to your nervous system that you are letting go of unnecessary old baggage and attachment.
Energy audit: Be consciously aware and take note of any situation, person or habit that drains you. Step back from one or two each week rather than trying to do it all at once. Ease yourself into this new rhythm of energetic self-care.

2. The Refinement Process

Famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo channelled her physical and emotional trauma into amazing art during her periods of solitude. She was in a bus accident which caused her to be confined to the bed and therefore forced into solitude and stillness. In that isolation, however, painting became her escape and a way in which to process the suffering she endured, explore her identity and reclaim her power back. The solitude gave her inner voice a platform in which to produce high-quality artworks that continue to be admired by people to this day.

6. Rediscovering Your Purpose

In 1976, Oprah Winfrey started off as a co-anchor for the news. However, when she was taken off that assignment, it was her chance to rediscover her purpose, eventually leading her to her own Oprah Winfrey Show, where she lived out her joy and purpose by allowing people to tell their stories and helping millions with healing and connection through shared life stories on a global platform. That was her transformation from a struggling young journalist to one of the most influential media personalities in the world.

When you begin to reconnect with passions and dreams that had been buried under the noise of expectations, clarity begins to whisper. You may see the path forward with new eyes guided not by obligations and expectations, but by curiosity, joy and soul-aligned purpose. Do things that make you feel alive and expansive. Start with using this time to do anything that fills you with joy, no matter how small or big. Research and join classes. Have something you can turn to like writing or painting.

In these small, intentional moments, a pattern begins to emerge. You begin to notice what brings you sustained energy and alignment. It may be that old dreams resurface, or new ones quietly take shape. Your intuition sharpens, guiding you toward activities, people and opportunities that resonate with your authentic self.

Practical ways to reconnect with your purpose:

Micro experiments: Try small, new activities every week that raise curiosity, from preparing a different type of cuisine to playing a musical instrument.
Cross-disciplinary exploration: Take classes or workshops not related to your career. You might discover hidden passions.
Intuitive journaling: Sit down with your journal and write whatever comes to you. It can be one word or sentences. Just allow it to flow freely, and you will be surprised at what you find out about yourself.

8. Celebrate Who You Are Becoming

Comedian and actress Maya Rudolph has spoken about how stepping back from social obligations allowed her to reconnect with her comedic voice.

As you emerge from Hermit mode, you’ll notice how much lighter, clearer and stronger you feel. Hermit mode is about the being and becoming. Celebrate both who you are now and the person you are steadily and courageously growing into. You are becoming fully, deeply and authentically you. Recognise that every act of self-care, every boundary set, every insight uncovered, has contributed to the blossoming of your soul.

You emerge with a refined sense of purpose and deeper connections to your intuition and alignment with your truest self. Receive your blossoming with gratitude and joy, knowing the person you are becoming is a sacred evolution. Celebrate yourself fully and know you are no longer just surviving life. You are consciously shaping it from the inside out.

Practical ways to celebrate who you’re becoming:

Visioning ceremonies: Use meditation or creative visualisation to see yourself stepping into your new chapter, your new timeline.
Start something new without guilt: Dancing, hike, learning an instrument, starting an online business. Honour yourself by allowing yourself an opportunity to grow and be consciously amazed at your progress.

Hermit Mode Embraced

The Hermit reminds us that silence is presence, not emptiness. It is the sacred space where truth reveals itself, where the light of understanding shines through the darkness of confusion. Solitude allows us to rediscover our place in the world.

When you step back from constant stimulation, you become acutely aware of what drains you and what replenishes you. Hermit mode teaches you how to guard your energy and redirect it toward things that genuinely nourish your soul. It is a part of your soul evolution.

When you no longer feel the need to fill every moment with distractions or social interactions or defining your value from external validations, you become more present and more attuned to your intuition. Your confidence grows because you know that you can sustain and nurture yourself. You become your own best companion. In learning to love yourself fully, you lay the foundation for more authentic connections and a life lived with true alignment.

Practical ways to enjoy your own company:

Nature immersion: Hike, sit by the beach, or walk in a forest to reconnect with yourself and the rhythms of life.
Solo creativity: Paint, write, read, play music or create your own dance moves just for yourself, without expectation or audience.
Mindfulness practices: Create daily rituals such as early morning meditation, sipping a cup of tea, or listening to the waves in the sea, contemplating nature during a hike in the woods.