“The Devil Made Me Do It”~Major Arcana Spotlight~The Devil

Lo Scarabeo Art Nouveau "Devil"

    While the Devil on the left reminds me of Jack Nicholson when he played The Joker in Batman, Lo Scarabeo did an outstanding job of conveying the slick, conniving, and tempting aspect of the Devil when she created him for her Art Nouveau Tarot Deck. The Devil is associated to astrology through the planets Venus and Pluto (yes, I know Pluto is no longer considered to be a planet…get over it ) as well as the Zodiac signs of Scorpio and Capricorn.   The Devil is meant to symbolize two aspects of a person’s life, our shadow side and our rebel side.  The Devil is associated with the Hebrew letter Samkeh  and the word, Devil, comes from the…yep,you guessed it, Greek word, Diabolus, which means “slanderer” and refers to God’s Fallen Angel.  Understanding yourself  is key to understanding the impact this card has on your life.  The Devil represents the undeveloped or unacknowledged parts of our personlities that are considered “not fit for society” or what we call appropriate societal norms.

    The Devil is part of the Major Arcana and is represented by the number 15.  First, let’s look at what the numbers mean for this card.  When you break down the Devil’s number by adding the 1 & 5, you get the number 6.   Sixes are the number of balance, harmony, and service.  It also symbolizes idealism and inner peace.  Interesting is it not, that the Devil’s numerical equivalent is one of balance and inner peace.  When the Devil appears in a tarot reading, keep in mind that traditional upright and reversed (positive or negative) meanings are different with this card.  When the card is in the upright position, The Devil takes on “bad” meanings and when it is in the reversed position, the Devil represents light at the end of the tunnel.

    Most Devil cards have an inverted pentagram meaning that the point is facing downward and symbolizes disregrad for spiritual and moral laws.   In general, when a pentagram has its point facing upward, it signifies “man’s” aspirations to a higher spiritual or moral way.   The Devil card is a warining that we playing with fire and inviting situations that will cause trouble or destroy us in some spiritual, physical, or moral way.

Lo Scarabeo Goddess Tarot~Devil

The Devil card in a reading denotes the dark side of your personality, it is that part of you that you refuse to acknowledge in any shape or form…well for most of us anyway….there are some out there that embrace it entirely too much.   This card characterizes situations that bind us with “chains and bondage”.  It is that aspect of your nature that brings little joy, makes you feel trapped, and generates misery.  Keep in mind that all of us, every single one has two natures or if you prefer, the good and bad “you”.  It is the inherent nature in all things, that duality or polar opposite that drives the world.  The masculine & feminine, yin & yang, light & dark are all parts of what keeps the world in order.  Without these temptations, life would not be exactly worth living or even exciting.  Lets call them the necessary evils that entice us to choose a path.

    We all carry “devils” within us, whether it be fears, past traumas, dark desires or that thought which passes through your mind about the butthead who cut us off on the freeway.  I’m a big believer that you can never trust someone who is too perfect or good, the same goes for those who appear to be too bad or evil.  Everyone has faults or a dark side, it is how you deal with the balance between your dark and light sides that makes you the better person.  So how do you accept that dark side and keep it from overunning your entire life and personality?  The first step is realize that we are “slaves” to the illusion of what is wrong, not actual slaves to the problem. 

    We cannot find freedom from this imbalance if do not look at our personality traits with honest.  Most of us tend to ignore or “gloss” over our dark sides, thus giving it more power in our lives than it should actually hold.  Remember it is all about BALANCE.   This struggle between good and evil is about the choices we make.  In order to have a balanced universe, we must balance this duality in our natures.  It was meant to be there as a reminder but not a lifestyle.  If you give “in” to the dark side, while the power or reward may seem wonderful and great, the payment will be even greater.  It is that quick fix or band-aid for the problem, unfortunately, the band-aid does not fix every injury and eventually you have to find something stronger to stem the flow.

    The Devil card in an upright position can indicate oppressive situations, anxieties, self-indulgence, greed, addictions, and exessive behaviors.  The Devil in this position works to upset that balance or undermine order which leads us astray.  Think about it,  if it didn’t make us feel good, would we ever give in to that shopping spree urge, drive faster than the speed limit or do the right thing only when someone is looking?  Don’t be deceived by superficial appearances, living a lie, or bound by your fears or others expectations.  How many of you are totally different than what you show the people in your lives?  Why hide your true nature?  It is because you are afraid that people will not accept you fully with your quirks or dark thoughts….right?

Rider-Waite Tarot Cards~The Devil

     You must claim all aspects of your personality.  Admitting to yourself that you have a dark side and acknowledging it will remove the hold it has over you and your life.  You know the quote (and I am full of quotes and puns today), “you have nothing to fear but fear itself”, this is a great meaning for the Devil.  Most people ignore or avoid what they fear…this does nothing but re-enforce the fear…so you never get over it and it causes disruption in the balance of your life.  Think about situations where you worked yourself up so badly that when the actual event occurred, you said “wow, that wasn’t so bad, I don’t know what I was so afraid of?” This is what the Devil card represents, our inability to accept what we fear, acknowledge it and move on.  We tend to let it rule our lives or at the very least, tempt us into those obsessive behaviors we wish were not part of us.  When the Devil card appears upright in a “health”  spread, it indicates some sort of abuse in your life whether it be spiritual, physical, or mental.  It perpetuates fear, lies, ignorance, pessimism and doubt.  This card halts or limits your creative energy, holding you back from moving forward.

    When the Devil card appears in a spread in the reversed position, this signifies freedom from that fear or temptation.  You are freed from the burdens of fear since you acknowledged that dark side of your nature.  You have found the strength to free yourself from self-deception and the power to fight against temptation instead of giving into it.  The Reversed Devil provides you the realization that your fears and temptations are groundless.  In the health department, a reversed Devil suggests a healthy life or overcoming health problems or addictions.

While the Devil is a frightening card to see in a spread, you must understand its true nature.  Sit back, take a deep breath, check your pulse, and understand that freedom from fears, temptations, addictions or obsessions is step we must take…a simple step… but so very hard to make that move forward…acknowledgement that we are both light and dark.  It is the symbol that while we believe others influence our  world, it is truly up to us to control how our life is lived.  My next post in this trilogy will be an in-depth look at  the Death Tarot card.