Card #5
The Devil
Past events...most recent sphere of influence / events which have just passed or are passing.
Holy black magic! Weird experiences! Shock! Violence! Ravage! Disaster! Downfall! Astral influence!
Has just happened....is still passing.
The Lord of the Gates of Matter; The Child of the Forces of Time
Evil influences, depression or bad dreams are indicated by this card. Beware of the malice of others and the negative feelings in everyone’s heart.
Rid yourself of unhealthy anxieties and learn from your adversities so that you may free yourself from their bonds.
The Devil is the cosmic influences on man.
The inverted pentagram on his forehead represents the opposite of light and good.
The black background represents spiritual darkness.
His right hand is raised in the black magic sign.
The sign of Saturn is on his palm. Saturn is the planet of limitations and inertia.
The bat wings represent obstinacy and the donkey ears represent stubbornness.
The staff of the Magician becomes the torch of destruction in the hand of the Devil.
The cube he's sitting on is only half a cube, symbolizing only half the knowledge (showing only the visible sensory side of reality.)
The number 15 in numerology equals 6, the Lovers, and here the lovers are shown chained, in bondage to the material, sensual side of their nature.
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.
The chains around their necks are loose, proving that the bondage is of their own making. They can loose themselves at will, but they choose not to.
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? What substances, behaviours or people are holding you back?
The card of the Devil portrays a Satyr, a creature which is half man and half goat.
The man and a woman hands and feet are free to dance, but they are held by their chains of fear and fascination for the music.
Around them loom the dark walls of a cave. The goat in myth was associated with lechery and dirtiness, and was considered an unclean and lustful animal.
The goat symbolizes the scapegoat, the person or thing upon whom people project the inferior side of themselves in order to feel cleaner and more righteous.
Thus Pan, the Devil, is the scapegoat within which we blame for our troubles in life.
The dark and doorless cave implies that Pan dwells in the most inaccessible realm of the unconscious.
Only crisis can break through the wall into his secret chamber.
The dancing figures are free, if they so wish, to remove their chains, for their hands are not bound. Bondage to the Devil is ultimately a voluntary matter which consciousness can release.
The card of the Devil represents those hidden forces of negativity that constrain us and deceive us into thinking we are imprisoned by external forces.
The Devil is an inner force within each of us, he is an embodiment of our fears, addictions, and other harmful impulses.
The people chained at his feet are entranced with the paralysing fear of his illusory power and therefore stand still with hopelessness and a numb appearance. However, the chains hang loosely around their necks, an indication that freedom is within their grasp if they can only break free of the hypnotic attachment to the temptations offered by the Devil.
Although he represents the irrational forces of the unconscious, he introduces us to the final stage of the trumps, the stage that represents the Soul of Reason. His captives, who remain unconscious, represent the first and second stages. They are chained to him only in that they are asleep and unaware of his influence.
When we encounter the Devil in a reading, we must ask ourselves where we are "stuck" in life. We often fall prey to despair and the thought that we are controlled by external forces but we forge our own chains of imprisonment and powerlessness. What are the addictions or attachments restraining you from experiencing the freedom of the Fool? 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. What can you do to free yourself from his deception?
Need to lighten up. Not taking oneself so seriously. Need to break up old patterns. Let go of cares and worries and play more. Spilling out of oneself inappropriately. Hanging onto things that have little truth or reality. Affirmation: "Laughter resolves all things. I empower the joy within me."
Devil upright is raw, primal energy.
This suggests that if this person is being truthful about their situation, they've been riding a wave of energy which has been quite impressive.
The caution here is that they not become a "slave" to that energy and bound to it.
If they come to love the feeling of power that this energy has engendered they are in peril of becoming bound to it.
Eventually that energy will wane, just as all cycles in life do. If they are bound to it they will experience loss and possibly anxiety or depression over this loss.
However, if they control and channel that energy to prepare for the times when the energy is in ebb, they will be much happier in the long run. 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.
Drive: The freedom of spirit, independence of mind, anarchy of science
Light: Independence, wilfulness, never accepting dogma, never bowing the head - 'Non servam': I don't serve! Shadow:Darkness, loneliness, being misunderstood and an outcast
This card tends to suggest that you are placing restrictions upon yourself, but either you don't realise it, or you believe that there is nothing that can be done about it.
You are being driven by your baser instincts and you may even feel that you cannot escape the situation you find yourself in.
However if this is not the case, your free will is not lost and you need to take responsibility for yourself and your actions.
