15. The Devil
The Devil (XV) is the fifteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks.
Iconography
According to Waite, the Devil is standing on an altar. In his left hand, the Devil holds a great flaming torch inverted towards the earth. The staff of the Magician becomes the torch of destruction in the hand of the Devil. A reversed pentagram is on his forehead, representing the opposite of light and good (as represented with the Spirit upright pentagram). The black background represents spiritual darkness. His right hand is raised in the black magic sign (as opposed to the blessing sign the Hierophant is displaying). In his right, he grasps two lengths of chain, each attached to a collar around the neck of a naked human figure. The man’s tail (a symbol of the base “animal” nature) is tipped in the flames we saw in the Lovers card. The woman’s tail has the same fruit from the tree we saw in that card, also. This is a sign that they are misusing their gifts. They could easily remove their bindings, but stay there by will. The pillar that they are chained to is half of a square, representing the half truths that they bind themselves to.
Interpretation
Of all the Tarot cards, the Devil is the most difficult to comprehend (in keeping with his nature), since he wears an individual face for each person. The experience that he characterizes is marked by dependence, loss of will, the failure of good intentions, as well as courses of action that go against our convictions. The Devil corresponds to the dark side of many Tarot cards: in contrast to the Magician (I), he is the Black Magician. He is part of the dark side of the High Priestess (II); the insincerity and worship of materialism shown in the opposing principle of the Hierophant (V); the side of the Lovers (VI) that has degenerated to a power struggle or soulless lustfulness; and the corruptible or self-righteous shadow of justice (XI). He embodies the unbridled greed of Strength (VIII); intemperance in contrast to proper Temperance (XIV). He is the ruler of wide portions of the Moon (XVIII) landscape. The Devil naturally appears to us in his most enticing form as the Tempter. On a deeper level it means that the background of the question brings us into contact with our own shadow side.
Symbolism
The Devil is a symbol of bondage and the evil side of man’s nature. The Tarot Devil card is derived in part from Eliphas Levi‘s famous illustration “Baphomet” in his Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1855). Baphomet is winged and horned, combining human and bestial features. Many modern Tarot decks portray the Devil as a satyr-like creature as Pan or the Horned One. Eliphas Levi says in his book, Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual that: “A reversed pentagram, with two points projecting upwards, is a symbol of evil and attracts sinister forces because it overturns the proper order of things and Demonstrates the triumph of matter over spirit. It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns, a sign execrated by initiates.” In Jungian terms, he is The Shadow: all the repressed, unmentioned or unmentionable desires that lurk beneath. The number 15 in numerology equals 6, the Lovers, and With Capricorn as its ruling sign, this is a card about ambitions; it is also synonymous with temptation and addiction.
Associations
The Devil is associated with earth and Capricorn and related both through his cross sum (sum of the digits) and his iconography with Key VI, The Lovers, which are here shown chained, in bondage to the material, sensual side of their nature. A card which would strengthen that message would be Strength, meaning that they should channel and control the energy they’ve been feeling rather than just letting it run wild through their life.
Reading
The Devil is the card of self-bondage to an idea or belief which is preventing a person from growing or being healthy—an example might be a belief that getting drunk each night is good for you. It also indicates an obsession or addiction to fulfilling our own earthly base desires or never allowing to be rash or wild or ambitious, which is yet another form of enslavement. The devil also represents the desire to obtain wealth. The value of the wealth lies in material or physical things. A great effort may be expended to obtain success
As a person, the Devil can stand for a man of money or erotic power, aggressive, controlling, or just persuasive. This is not to say a bad man, but certainly a powerful man who is hard to resist. The important thing is to remind the Querent that any chain is freely worn. In most cases, you are enslaved only because you allow it.
If the Devil shows up, look carefully at your life and see what is limiting you right now. Is there an addiction that needs to be addressed? Are you giving yourself over to the illusion of helplessness and despair? You have the power within to set yourself free from the bondage of the Devil.
Reversed, the Devil card can indicate a certain freedom from these harmful bonds. You may now be more willing and able to accept changes in your life and you may be more open to taking on new perspectives. It may be about creating a healthier diet, watching less TV, quitting smoking, spending more time with your loved ones, or focusing more clearly on your goals. Take this opportunity to bring about positive change in your life.
The lesson here is to acknowledge your bonds with your partner, determine what is healthy and unhealthy, and then provide yourself with the encouragement and motivation you need to free yourself from the unhealthy bonds.
The Devil in the Tarot of Marseilles
Opposing cards
Fool – having faith, believing
Star – hope, faith, optimism
Four of Wands – freedom, release
Six of Cups – good will, innocence, simple joys
Ten of Cups – joy, peace, blessings
Reinforcing cards
Seven of Cups – overindulgence, dissipation
Eight of Swords – confusion, restriction
Nine of Swords – despair, lack of joy
Quote
Black, awful night enveloped the earth. An ominous, red flame burned in the distance. I was approaching a fantastic figure which outlined itself before me as I came nearer to it. High above the earth appeared the repulsive red face of the Devil, with large, hairy ears, pointed beard and curved goats’ horns. A pentagram, pointing downwards, shone in phosphoric light between the horns on his forehead. Two large, grey, bat-like wings were spread behind him. He held up one arm, spreading out his bare, fat hand. In the palm I saw the sign of black magic. A burning torch held down-end in his other hand emitted black, stifling smoke. He sat on a large, black cube, gripping it with the claws of his beast-like, shaggy legs.
A man and woman were chained to the cube–the same Man and Woman I saw in the garden, but now they had horns and tails tipped with flame. And they were evidently dissatisfied in spirit, and were filled with protest and repulsion.
“This is a picture of weakness”, said the voice, “a picture of falsehood and evil. They are the same man and
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woman you saw in the garden, but their love ceasing to be a sacrifice, became an illusion. This man and woman forgot that their love is a link in the chain that unites them with eternity, that their love is a symbol of equilibrium and a road to Infinity.
“They forgot that It is a key to the gate of the magic world, the torch which lights the higher Path. They forgot that Love is real and immortal and they subjugated it to the unreal and temporary. And they each made love a tool for submitting the other to himself.
“Then love became dissension and fettered them with iron chains to the black cube of matter, on which sits deceit”.
And I heard the voice of the Devil: “I am Evil”, he said, “at least so far as Evil can exist in this best of worlds. In order to see me, one must be able to see unfairly, incorrectly and narrowly. I close the triangle, the other two sides of which are Death and Time. In order to quit this triangle it is necessary to see that it does not exist.
“But how to do this is not for me to tell. For I am the Evil which men say is the cause of all evil and which they invented as an excuse for all the evil that they do.
“They call me the Prince of Falsehood, and truly I am the prince of lies, because I am the most monstrous production of human lies”. – The Symbolism of the Tarot by P D. Ouspensky (1913)
