The Devil 😈

At first glance, you probably see a few similarities between The Devil and The Lovers. 

☑️ Two people standing below a large central figure 

☑️ They're naked

☑️ Fire behind the man

☑️ Fruit behind the woman 

☑️ Big central figure's making hand gestures

Now look at their numbers. The Devil is 15, and The Lovers is 6. Let's do a little numerology and reduce that 15: 1+5 = 6. 

So numerologically, there's a relationship between these two cards and no, it's not a coincidence. The Devil and The Lovers are both about the relationships you choose and what's influencing that choice. While The Lovers speaks to partnerships based on communication and understanding, The Devil is about relationships based on materialism, lust, and other things that simply feel good, but might not be all they're cracked up to be. 

This card is about prioritizing earthly desires over spiritual ones and what happens when you do that. The Devil is associated with Capricorn, an earth sign. And Capricorn isn't just any earth sign…it's the sign associated with ambition and a willingness to do whatever it takes to get what you've decided you want to own. That could mean working overtime every day, prioritizing your goal over other pursuits, and even cheating or screwing people over if it gets you closer to the finish line. I'm not calling all Capricorns cheaters; I'm saying Capricorn energy is that ruthless, all-or-nothing, I'll-have-what-I-want-come-hell-or-high-water energy. And when you're consumed by that type of energy, like the people on The Devil card, you can easily lose sight of what's really important. 

Let's take a look at how this is illustrated in the symbols on the card. We see the two figures standing at the bottom of the card, each facing toward The Devil figure. This time, their respective elements are attached to their bodies, rather than on trees behind them. We can read this as their individual contributions to the relationship, like we did in The Lovers. But this time, the man's passion—that fire that burned behind him on The Lovers—is his sole focus, and now he's become bound to it, as we see with the chain around his neck. Similarly, the woman's lovely fruit tree, which symbolized her groundedness and stability, has become part of her…maybe she's gotten so obsessed with material security that she's afraid to take risks and she's ended up in a cage of her own creation. They've both allowed The Devil's influence to take over some part of themselves, as we see in the little horns sprouting from their heads. 

Note that word, obsessed. That's one of your top keywords for this card. It's about the things we obsess over and become addicted to, the things that might have started out as noble pursuits or innocent interests and then, through our choice to prioritize them over more nourishing pursuits, took over our lives. 

The inverted pentagram between The Devil's horns symbolizes this idea of earthly pursuits being prioritized over spiritually nourishing ones. Here's a standard pentagram: 

Each point in a pentagram symbolizes an element. The top point symbolizes spirit, the element created by combining the other four. It's the guiding, inspiring element, and this position at the top of the pentagram illustrates that. But flip the pentagram upside down and you've got earth and fire up top—the same elements we see represented on the people. 

Reading this flipped pentagram symbolically, we can interpret it as treating these elements—ambitious fire and material earth—as the priorities, rather than enlightened spirit. 

And when you do that, according to this card, you end up bound to your desires, rather than free to grow, learn, and explore. Notice the chains around the people's necks. They're chained up to the narrow platform The Devil figure is perched on. Compare that to the platforms you see beneath the figures on other cards, like Justice, The Hierophant, and even a bunch of minor cards like the Two of Pentacles. The Devil is perched on something that's not quite as stable as he might've made it out to be.

Fortunately, those chains are pretty loose…so the people could release themselves if they want to. But they need to want to. 

Getting back to the idea that the stability The Devil is promising isn't quite what it initially seemed, take a look at The Devil's hands. His left hand holds a large torch and his right hand is held up in a gesture that's similar to The Priestly Blessing. Think back to Justice and how we discussed the symbolism of left and right hands in tarot: the left hand is receiving and the right hand is giving. Reading that torch as a symbol of passionate desire, we can interpret this as The Devil receiving the people's passions, enticing them to engage with him and continue to pour their energy into him, and the right hand as offering up a halfway blessing, which can be interpreted as a false promise or a shaky, insincere payout in return for their engagement. The Priestly Blessing requires both hands to be raised in this gesture, and it may only be performed by Kohanim, a specific group of Hebrew religious leaders. So when we see The Devil doing an incomplete approximation of it, we know it's not a legitimate blessing. 

So when The Devil comes up in a reading, what does it mean?

It can serve as a warning to be careful not to let yourself get too wrapped up in things. It can also mean you’re obsessed with something, and that the obsession isn’t a healthy one. It could be pointing to what’s driving that obsession — the desire for control, carnal pleasures, fame, or furthering your own agenda. In any case, it’s important to examine what you’re linked to.

Interested in learning more about The Devil? Listen to my podcast epsiode about this card here: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/irPfePwPvKb