In occult significance, The Hermit stands for the Initiate.
It represents that first step of entering the threshold of consciousness and ancient wisdom. And as any intense enough tradition would teach, that comes from stepping into oneself and the depths and heights that are experiences in the singular stream of consciousness.
That each is born alone, dies alone and experiences alone in the essence of being the experience that is existence.
The sharing with the outside world is always the second step, the externalised form.
And as the internalisation of initiate becomes complete, an externalisation that is entirely subjective emerges. That half step then guides our existence into a balance of the higher forces to the world around us.
It is where the hermit and the hermetic converge. The mercury of inner process. That is the number 9 of the Major Arcana in tarot.
The hermit carries a lamp of wisdom into darkness. All at once the guide and the guided. It is about becoming the inner light that illuminates all around us. That is its knowledge. Redeemed to the light of wisdom.