divination

The Devil

Upright: Discontent, Misuse of Force, Corruption, Materialism, Ignorance, Over Indulgence, Depression/Illness Reversed: Indecisiveness, Overcoming Materialism, Altruism, Selflessness

We have all felt the dark draw of negativity - whether it was in the darkness of depression or illness, or the corrupting influence of power. It threatens us with its strength and tries to twist us to its thrall, to use us to further the cause of darkness. So, you may ask, why would such a card be present in the Major Arcana? What could be learned from the darkness we regularly find ourselves fighting against? Think, instead, of every story you’ve ever read: the Hero cannot fully become a balanced character without tasting darkness and its influence. That great Muggle writer J.R.R. Tolkien had his main character, Frodo Baggins, literally feel the draw of darkness through the power of the One Ring. A Muggle filmmaker (films are a sort of Muggle creation that act out stories for permanence) George Lucas had his hero, Luke Skywalker, feel the pull from the dark side twisted with the appearance of his father, who had been thoroughly corrupted by the darkness. Even in our own world, we know from the memoirs of Harry Potter that he regularly felt the pull towards evil when he was connected to He Who Must Not Be Named.

The Devil merely represents that pull: the attempt by darker forces to steer you from the path of the Hero by twisting your identity. Now more than ever, our world seems to be sinking into the darkness, and it frequently feels easier to simply go with the flow of the world than stand and fight it. To be the Hero, you need to go through the darkness and the temptation in order to know fully what you’re fighting against. He rarely, if ever, actually represents the person asking the question in the reading. More often than not you’ll find that the Devil represents the energy and influences at play in a situation, scarcely an actual person.

The reverse of the Devil represents one of the interesting problems of Tarot reading: a reversed card can show the opposite of the influence normally represented, or it can represent a slightly ‘blocked’ version of the energy. In the case of the Devil, having it show up reversed in a reading could demonstrate:

A. That the energy is there, but being held back by some other force, or not at it’s full power. B. That the energy has been ‘defeated’ or ‘overcome’ C. Or that it will be up to the person asking the question to determine whether the influence will come to fruition.

In this case, we would look to the cards surrounding the Devil, or even discuss it with the person asking the question. In some cases, upon hearing the description above, they may realize they know precisely what the cards are referencing.

While the Devil seems scary, and certainly not something we would want to see applied to ourselves, try to keep an open mind when it appears in your reading. More than anything else, it’s probably trying to tell you that it's time for you to become the Hero you were meant to be.

By auntieabra