#devil.

Human nature prevails over spirituality. Conditions surrounding Seeker may cause limitations on capability, achievement, and personal growth. Key 15: The Devil card is about bondage to the material and superficial, preference for instant gratification over delayed gratification; and as a result, the Seeker is being bound to a less-than-ideal present physical condition. The card can indicate incarceration, hopelessness, or pessimism. It represents the temptation to choose the material over the spiritual; the Seeker’s soul is in effect chained down by his or her strong materialistic desires. The Devil can also suggest addiction. It often appears in readings for alcoholics or those plagued by consumer debt. The theme of The Devil is the worship of false idols. Thus, one reading of the card suggests that the Seeker is being subjected to evil influences or the temptation to not be the most dignified version of him- or herself. The Seeker must overcome this. The card is a warning that there are negative influences preventing the Seeker from attaining his or her goals. The Seeker must break free of the bondage. If the Seeker is currently in a relationship, it could be an unhealthy one that is chaining him or her down. The card could also indicate perversity. The card suggests there are undesirable forces at play. The Seeker must work even harder at overcoming his or her inner demons. Note, however, that The Devil card does not necessarily mean the Seeker is entirely to blame. The Devil card tells of much greater karmic forces influencing the decisions and actions of the Seeker. While the Seeker is not entirely innocent and contributed adversely to the situation, the greater culpability rests elsewhere. Compare: Key 6: The Lovers in reverse is about the temptation to choose what is unethical over what is ethical, to veer from the Seeker’s own sense of right and wrong. Key 15: The Devil is about the temptation to indulge in that which is superficial or materialistic, to give in to addictions and seduction, to stimulate the physical senses and pleasures rather than pursue knowledge, understanding, or love. Key 6 is about one choice. Key 15 is about being led astray. Key 15 is also related to antagonism and dogma, despotism and enslavement.56 Recall that in The Lovers card, the Tree of Life and ascension toward God are symbolized by the burning tree with the twelve glowing flames behind the male figure. Here, in The Devil, the flame imagery repeats itself, with the beast causing the male figure’s tail to catch fire. The female figure’s tail bears fruit. The fruit on her tail is a reminder of why the pair of lovers are now here chained to the beast. If The Lovers presents a choice between virtue and desire, The Devil presents the aftermath of having abandoned virtue and indulged in desire. The Devil also indicates a Seeker who views his or her world with extreme negativity, distrust, and faithlessness. Compare: Key 17: The Star reversed also suggests pessimism, but in The Star reversed, that pessimism is a projected outlook toward the matter at hand, while here in Key 15: The Devil, the Seeker’s pessimism is toward divinity and the prospects of ascension. The Star reversed is about believing that the Seeker won’t experience a positive outcome, while The Devil is about believing that no positive outcome can possibly come from such a world. There is a streak of hatred and resentment in the negativity expressed in The Devil, while the negativity in The Star reversed is simply a frame of reference. The Devil card may call to mind Mara in Buddhism, the concept of demons tempting the Buddha away from achieving enlightenment. Mara embodies sin, unwholesome impulses, desires, and temptations away from a virtuous or spiritual life. Mara through The Devil also personifies the thirst for existence, the thirst for pleasure, the thirst for power, and sensual delights.57 The Devil is not a literal beast or demon; The Devil personifies human selfishness and indulging in that selfishness. When The Devil card appears in a reading, it indicates the temptations and vice that manifest as obstacles obstructing the attainment of our higher goals. The element of Earth governs this card; attributions associated with Earth will represent the external forces at play in the Seeker’s situation. It might also be significant to note that as the Buddha resisted the temptations of the Mara, the Buddha reached down his right hand to touch the earth and asked the earth to bear witness to the Buddha’s defeat of the Mara, the defeat of his own inner demons.58 Here, in The Devil card, yin energy is dominant. Key 15: The Devil could also relate to the sign Capricorn and, timing-wise, denote the period December 22–January 19. The imagery of the card is speculated to have been inspired by Baphomet, a horned idol purportedly worshipped by the Knights Templar, leading to their persecution during the Inquisition.59 Benebel Wen. Holistic Tarot.

Obsessions, bad relationships, low desires or beliefs (but also sexual life energy) Obsessions, bad relationships, low desires or beliefs (but also sexual life energy) There is a strange idea about the Tarot that we sometimes encounter: that Satan himself literally invented Tarot and gave it to humanity as a way to lure people into sin. In fact, the Tarot is, above all else, a spiritual document, and while the Devil card may highlight our weaknesses, or the darkness within us, the most important symbol is the chains that seemingly hold the two people. If you look at the loops, you’ll see they’re loose enough for the people to take them off and walk away. We are always free to make our own choices. No matter how bad a situation may appear, no matter how low we may believe we have gone, we can change things. The Devil’s number is 15, and 1+5=6, the Lovers. Put the two cards together and you will see that the Devil appears as a kind of dark parody of the Lovers. The fruit and leaves of the trees behind Adam and Eve have become the tails of the people turned into semi-demons by their allegiance to the Devil. Thus, the card can mean bad relationships, sometimes abusive or obsessive. And yet, if we look at the picture, the people do not appear unhappy; their bodies are at ease, a slight smile is upon their faces. Some Tarot readers rebel against what they consider a sexually repressive society and see the Devil as a card of sexuality, or wild times. One woman I read for said it was her favorite card, because it meant party time. The image of people held by chains may hint at bondage or other sexual games that can appear disturbing but are actually harmless. One source for the image is the Greek god Pan, who was, among other things, the god of orgies! Waite and Smith’s image actually derives from Baphomet, a demon supposedly worshipped by the Knights Templar. Some people believe that the Templars found and protected the Holy Grail, whose image appears as the Ace of Cups. The Devil’s number, 15, consists of 1, the Magician, and 5, the Hierophant. Like the Hierophant, the Devil rules over two disciples. He also raises his hand in a parody of the Hierophant’s blessings, but his open hand, compared to the Hierophant’s two fingers up and two down, implies that the material world is all that exists. No above and below, no greater truth, just what you can see and touch in front of you. Notice that where the Magician raises his crystal wand, as if toward heaven, the Devil points his fiery torch down at the ground. Like the Magician, the Devil begins a line of seven cards, the final group that ends with the World. Why does it come at this late point? Maybe we need to find our angelic selves in Temperance before we take on the challenge of the last line, which is nothing less than the liberation of whatever spiritual light is trapped in darkness. Lay out the seven cards and look at the movement of light. Total darkness in the Devil, lightning in the Tower, then Starlight, Moonlight, Sunlight, and greater and greater light until we come to what I call the Light of the Spirit in Judgement and the Light of the Self in the World. Divinatory meanings: Oppression, addictive behavior, bad relationships; whatever chains us. Illusions, mistakes, sometimes lies. More lightly, wild times, rebellion, sexual adventures. Rachel Pollack.

XV. The Devil (Hebrew JJ. ayin. Capricorn t.). The Devil is here represented in the traditional form of the Goat. The cult of the Goat represents the impulse to reckless 3l5 creation without any regard for result. Behind the Goat stands the Tree of Life, which pierces the Heavens in a medley of fantastic forms, recalling the markings on the planet Mars, always associated with the fiery material energy of creation. In the transparent roots the sap is seen, seething and leaping in every direction. The ring at the top is one of the rings of Saturn or Set, the Ass­ headed god of the Egyptians. The spiral shape of the horns is an allusion to the highest and most remote things. Zoroaster defines God as "having a spiral force." Divinatory Meaning: Blind impulse, irresistibly strong and unscrupulous, ambition, temptation, obsession, secret plan about to be executed; hard work, obstinacy, rigidity, aching discontent, endurance.