Editor’s Note: If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article tells you how to use the spread. You can visit Sarah’s website here. –efc
By Sarah Taylor
For the next two weeks, I’m going to be taking a family jaunt to South Africa and I’ll be on the road a fair bit — though thank goodness I will still have my laptop and broadband connectivity, technophile that I am. Which means it is the ideal opportunity to offer you a few more cards, see what you come up with, and join you in the debate. The first time we did this, with the Ten of Swords, we had the liveliest comments section to date, which was wonderful to be a part of.
So, here is the schedule for the next three Wednesdays:
This week and next week, I’ll open the floor for discussion on two different major arcana cards.
In two weeks’ time, I’ll pull everything together and write an article about both of the cards that I’ve given you — cards that I feel work rather well together.
The Weekend Tarot Readings will be published as usual on each Sunday.
On to this week’s card …
The Devil (XV)
The fifteenth card in the major arcana, The Devil is known to be one of the more provocative of the tarot cards. This week, I’m using two versions of The Devil: the one on the left from the Crowley-Harris Thoth Tarot, and the one on the right from the Rider-Waite Smith Tarot. Choose the one that speaks to you more, or work with both. (You can click on the image to view a larger version.)
To get you started, here are the same questions I asked with the Ten of Swords. Use them as a guide, or work without them — it’s your call. Just remember, as always, that anything that you write is valid; and any and all questions are welcome.
- What do you see when you look at the card? What stands out for you?
- How does it make you feel?
- Does that feeling change when you step back and observe it from a distance?
- If you do look the meaning up elsewhere, what are your reactions to what you read? Do you agree? Do you disagree? Why?
- Finally, does The Devil have any personal meaning for you right now, either in your own life or in the events in the wider world?
See you in the comments section!
Sarah
I’m very familiar with the burning sensation in the cheeks after suffering a bout of ‘foot in mouth’, & periods of brainware dysfunction!! A pleasure to connect with like minded genius’, hypnotic.
Thank you Sparky and Amanda for correcting me, I am disposed to making huge glaring errors these days that even I look back on and say huh WHAT?! as this. My electrical system is being re-wired, so please so forgive and laugh with me. I could keep my fingers off the keyboard, but then I might explode…
@ Hypnotic,
As a Saggitarian I MUST profess that Centaurs most certainly do not possess horns!! LOL!! X
As everyone seems so confused with the downward torch, may I suggest it’s purpose was to ignite the tail? Our male humanoid seems to lack a sense of firey passion! An archaic symbol to interperate the modern spin “Needs a rocket up his bum!”. Or perhaps ‘Mr Bungle’ nailed it when he sang, “It’s not funny, my arse is on fire….” Either way, I suspect he will react as the flames run short of tail!
hm… the pomegranate joke is fun, but i don’t think i’ve ever seen one look so much like a bunch of grapes. š
and hypnotic — i think we have a faun (such as Pan) not a centaur: half goat w/ 2 legs rather than half horse w/ 4 legs… crowley’s got a full goat, rather than a faun (or centaur).
@ ru : your comment make me laugh….
sex and knowledge — both forbidden powers
whats interesting is that crowley’s card is filled with light and pastel, soft almost feminine colors –one wouldnt expect for a “dark angel” and his “centaur” seems quite friendly blending into its surroundings so you hardly even notice the huge male genital and various geometric suggestions of penetration.
The centaur in the RWS is rather stern looking and quite masculine — a towering presence over and separate from the lovers he stands out against a dark background carries a torch of fire held down, not up? crowned with a inverted pentacle suggesting black magic? for me, its a bit of an extreme portrayal of dear lucifer
ON, the RW deck; COULD IT BE? The end of her tail is not a bunch’ of grapes BUT A POMEGRANATE?
Eric, I agree – a comparison is useful here. Below is the link to an earlier article on The Lovers, if anyone is interested in the parallels between this card and that one:
http://planetwaves.net/pagetwo/2010/08/25/intro-to-tarot-the-lovers-a-three-card-comparison/
Amanda – I was using this card as a focus for study in a course a few weeks ago, and “jaunty” was exactly the word I used!
Goats are symbolic of sexuality – especially when it comes to the aspects of sexuality that we tend to repress. So a very fitting use of the goat here, I think. And his expression is rather provocative.
Charles – yes, I have always had the feeling that The Devil in the Crowley-Harris deck really lays it on thick. But I quite like that in-your-face-ness. No ignoring it it all!
Jere – a great contribution for me to ruminate on, thank you. And Sparky – when I have a little more time I want to look at what you write of more closely.
Thank you, all!
— S
I really feel that all 3 characters show awareness of another party. The Devils hand raised in a defensive greet. ‘The Lovers’, well, her body language suggests the unseen new arrival is most welcome, like she has quickly dropped her partners hand & shifted to a flirtatious pose. He seems a little submissive, dejected. His hand as she left it, still offering union. He’s also defensive, hand on hip. Yet he doesn’t wish to look at what is undoubtably obvious.
The Devil and the Hierophant have similar capacities, yet different polar trips within the continuum. The Devil does preside over Union withon the trip of evolution. Same as the Hierophant upon the Lovers. The Devil is also in equivalence to the Lovers in a generative capacity, this is the path by which matter promulgates its awareness of Life. The Devil is an archetypal instruction-course on “how to navigate the Realities of Life Relationships based on the ability to Understand Oneself as The Creator, as well as That which is Evolving.”
Somebody had to take the highest of the low.. it’s a Realized disassociation from Ego.
Very cool card.
Jere
I was never particularly fond of the Thoth Devil card, it seems like one of the more artless cards in the deck. First it slams you with Mars in Capricorn, with the goat and the “canals of Mars” background (a popular concept in that time). Then it tries to go all arty with the testicles full of little white men overlaying diagrams of cellular mitosis. Then the big “pillar” in the center, Crowley deflects the obvious symbolism by calling it the trunk of the Tree of Life. But Crowley still describes the card as a symbol of “Pan Pangenitor, the All-Begetter,” and wrote some bad poetry about raising the head up and penetrating the heavens, then drooping down and spurting. And then just for good measure, let’s throw in a Golden Dawn ritual wand in the shape of a Caduceus of Hermes, another reference to Mars, and also a phallic symbol. Oh but we don’t have enough rods poking through rings yet. Let’s have the spirally horn of the goat Baphomet sticking through the circular wreath. It seems obvious that this is more Crowley’s work than Harris’. And while I’m sure this delivers the specific symbolism Crowley intended (which is more related to O.T.O. sex magick practices), I’m not sure it delivers a useful meaning of this card for tarot readings.
I still like the RWS devil better. Back when we talked about The Lovers, I noted the parallels, and also pointed out the chains around the figures, which are loose enough to slip over their heads, if they actually wanted to get out of their bondage. Or maybe their little horns are too wide to slip the chains over. If they weren’t so horny, they could escape the bondage of their desires (oops sorry, now I am being artless).
I recall there was some specific symbolism of the devil’s torch being pointed downwards, but I can’t remember it. Darn it, there are always details I’ve learned and then forgotten. Perhaps it is that the man’s tail seems aflame, nearly touching the torch. The woman’s tail seems to end in a bunch of grapes, but I never could quite tell. Perhaps that’s a reference to drunken Dionysian debauch. I also notice the man’s open hand raised up, a gesture that suggests he wants more. The woman’s hand is turned down, perhaps she has had enough. Their gestures are asymmetrical, unlike The Lovers. This is not a card of spiritual union.
Amanda, he’s wearing a cluster of grapes for a hat. The little book says it’s supposed to refer to Baccanalia and wantonness. What I notice is the center, I have the Thoth deck and I notice the pillar going up through the rings and the goat standing steady in the middle of it all. I see steadiness, not the destruction that the little book says. I have a little porcelain figure of Dionysis and I never really liked the image until I read Ecstasy by Robert Johnson and now I love my little guy with his grapes and his pointy ears and his blissed out expression.
I always thought of it as a celebratory wreath of some kind…Beltane kind of feeling, though actually this card would be associated with Saturnalia – debauchery. The feeling I get from his headpiece is delightfully cocky.
I would not be vaguely surprised if it has a reference in lore or mythology, or hattery for that matter….
is the goat in crowley’s wearing a beret or a tam o’shanter? he looks quite jaunty…
I think that to understand Pamela’s version of this card — the one on the right — we need to post The Lovers as well. This card is a parody on The Lovers.
Crowey comes right out and says something else, cock and balls — his specialty.