The Hermit - In the oldest of faiths the chief amongst the Gods was the God of the Axis Mundi. The Dagda, Atlas, Cronus... he comes down to us as Santa Claus, and for a good reason.
Remember that I said The Warrior/Charioteer needed the power of wisdom, well this card is one way you gain wisdom. When you turn to the spiritual path you usually have many years of human experience under your belt. The problem with it is, that not all of it has become wisdom yet. These are those buttons that the world just seems to love to push, and every time we have an emotional reaction, just like we always have. And every time we do that we are loosing the chance to resolve the problem. This card is the key to finally resolving these issues. It is The Observer, that is why he is peering down. He is observing all of life unfold below where he stands.
Symbolically his staff is the celestial north pole, which even primitive people could observe the heavens revolved around, day and night. In a way he and his staff are one. He stands on a snowcapped mountain in a snowbound place, the far north (yes, we know there is an ice cap there, but historically he was always imaged as standing on a mountain or "earthen mound" which represented the Cerebellum, and the Earth Goddess "Beauteous Ceres" because that is the part of the brain where this God operates from). He wears gray because he is invisible. In his lantern he has locked the pole star, the only star which seems not to revolve.
Have you ever, perhaps on the verge of an emotional storm, stepped back from it into an unemotional state of mind? Have you ever, under great stress had a greater self seem to step forward and assume control - perhaps you had to testify in court, or were about to have a car accident? Those are the moments when we have become the Observer, the God we really are. In the emergency we quickly turned our will over to God, and things worked to our best advantage. Thing is we need to do it more often. Those buttons? If you can stand back, in an emotionless space, and observe your body trying to have the same old reaction, the neural network of that habitual reaction will fall apart, and in it's place you get wisdom - a new perspective literally. Sometimes doing this exercise once is all it takes, sometimes two or three times more. It is a very powerful tool. In a moment you have changed your life. The diss-ease that would have become disease is now treasure, wisdom.
And, as if that wasn't enough, this is also where you go with your desires, the things you are ready to allow into your life. You draw a picture, or some other representation of your desire and observe it; never letting the mind stray to how and when, you just observe.
