Like Death and The Tower, many people fear receiving The Devil in a reading. At first glance, The Devil appears menacing and controlling; however, knowing that Tarot is symbolic, we understand that this Devil does not represent Satan or evil intentions. Tarot is meant to instruct, not to intimidate. Symbolically, this Devil is the ruler of the material world and characterizes the illusion that we place on ourselves that we are bound by uncontrollable conditions.
Also related to choice, it is no accident that The Devil is very similar in appearance to The Lovers. (If you have not yet read my description of The Lovers, I highly recommend you scroll down to Friday, January 29th, read that first and then return here! :) In both cards a man and a woman stand below a winged creature with outstretched arms; however, this card paints a darker picture than The Lovers. The people depicted here are chained, but why don’t they appear scared? Looking at the card more closely, we see that the people The Devil “enslaves” are not really slaves at all. Their chains are loose around their necks and can be lifted at any time. As a matter of fact, these chains are so loose that the man and woman must have surely put them on themselves. These people are there by choice! What?! Who would chain themselves to a beast?!
This is very symbolic of the illusion we live under in the material world. Far too often we blame our problems and negative situations on outside factors such as people or events, but these are just illusions. We have complete control of our lives, and, like The Lovers, The Devil is about choice and shows up in a reading to acknowledge and / or bring awareness to choices that are being made.
When The Devil makes an appearance there is something major in your life causing you to feel oppressed: a relationship, a job, an agreement, an addiction, an ideal, an expectation, loneliness, fearfulness, etc, etc. You are feeling trapped by circumstances beyond your control. The Devil shows up in a reading to be brutally honest and tell you that your feelings of powerlessness are an illusion; you can take those chains off any time you like. It may take some effort, but make no mistake, you are in complete control. You were the one who chose the shackles in the first place; you are the only one who can take them off.
The Devil’s information is hard-hitting and unpleasant to hear: “Stand by your choice or make a new one. Quit blaming others and choose again if you dislike your current state of affairs. You are in control. Your finger-pointing is ill-placed unless you are looking in the mirror.” Ouch. This is the reason to fear The Devil; not because he’s evil, but because he’s honest! As humans, we don’t like to hear that we could have anything to do with our own unhappiness, but the painful truth is that we can take appropriate action and change each and every one of our circumstances. The hitch is that it’s hard, takes effort, and forces us to face our fears. Life is long and requires many decisions. It’s not easy to be human. Sometimes our decisions are deliberate, and other times our decisions are made subconsciously due to underlying fears or not wanting to accept the truth.
There are times in our lives when we are faced with agonizing decisions and after weighing all the pros and cons we decide to sacrifice ourselves for the “greater good.” For instance, a parent who puts personal desires aside and stays married until the children are older; the person who goes to a high-paying but much-hated job everyday to ensure the family’s financial security; a husband or wife who relocates a great distance for their spouse’s career; the spouse who stops divorce proceedings upon learning their partner is terminally ill; the adult child who moves their invalid parent into their home to die surrounded by family rather than alone in a cold hospital room. We sometimes consciously decide to inconvenience ourselves for the sake of others, and we live by these decisions until we can no longer honor the intention behind them or until the situation has come to its natural conclusion (such as death).
In these circumstances, because of the energy surrounding such sacrifice, The Devil will show up in the reading even if the readee is inquiring of another subject. It takes much energy to physically, mentally, and emotionally “sign-on” to putting yourself last—not just once, but always. The Devil picks up on that energy and appears unexpectedly to acknowledge our self-imposed chains. Making epic changes in our lives takes much discipline and willpower which also translates to much energy; therefore, The Devil will also show up to recognize when one has taken off their own chains, such in the case of breaking an addiction, the dissolution of a painful relationship, changing an attitude or mindset, or finally taking the necessary steps to end whatever oppressive situation one has been living. Truly, he just calls it like it is, “I see your choice.”
Conversely, there are other times in our lives when we are so caught up in the scenarios and emotions we are learning from in the material world that we aren’t seeing the whole picture. Life is difficult on purpose making a strong impression so that we can learn from our experiences and change our mindsets and behavior and therefore improve ourselves and our lives. Sometimes we can’t see our own fault in matters believing instead that we are victims. Luckily, The Devil is objective and has no problem calling us out on our excuses. He shows up to tell everyone equally, “I see your choice.”
*He (cheated on / lied to / yelled at) me, so I had to do the same to him. It’s just horrible. I hate it. “I see your choice.”
*I see other people with close friendships and I yearn for that too, but I’m too shy to make friends. I could never take a class, join a group, or look into an online site.
“I see your choice.”
*I can’t tell them my true feelings. What if it doesn’t go well?!
“I see your choice.”
*This ice cream (shrimp scampi / caffeine / typing / stress) really intensifies my diabetes (shellfish allergy / insomnia / carpal tunnel syndrome / heart condition) but I just can’t help myself! “I see your choice.”
The Devil reminds us that there is a difference between can’t and won’t. Taking off the emotional blinders and looking at reality, The Devil shows us that everything in our lives is a choice. Hate your marriage? Leave it or stay in it; the choice is yours. Hate your job? Keep it or find a new one; the choice is yours. Hate being lonely? Stay home or put yourself out into the world; the choice is yours. Want to save money? Do it or don’t; the choice is yours. Hate being addicted? Then quit smoking, drinking, huffing, cheating, gambling, procrastinating, spending, lying, over-eating, sleeping around, whatever you do; the choice is yours. No one said it would be easy, but it is your choice to stay miserable or to take action to improve, repair, change, or transform your life into something you want to live. Blaming anyone or anything else is a cop out.
As with all of our human predicaments, we will remove our self-imposed chains when we have finally reached a point where the sacrifice is no longer beneficial, when the good no longer outweighs the bad, or when the pain can no longer be tolerated. This is usually a very difficult time that precedes much change, but the feeling of freedom that comes with removing our own chains is euphoric and spurs us on to take even greater control of our lives where we can raise our standards and reset our tolerance level so that we do not allow ourselves to get into the same dilemma again. People who have the same problems over and over are not learning their personal lessons and will continue to attract the same people and circumstances until they do.
The Devil is related to the number 15 (which reduces to 6, another analogy to The Lovers and choice) as well as to Saturn, known as The Lord of Karma and The Great Teacher, yet another indication that we are destined to repeat these miserable illusions of oppression until we discover that we hold the keys to our own chains.
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