Tarot: The Devil

Lower Instincts, The Struggle to Survive, War, Pain and Loss, Deceit and Illusion

“…. For I am the Evil which men say is the cause of all evil and which they invented as an excuse for all the evil that they do.

They call me the Prince of Falsehood, and truly I am the prince of lies, because I am the most monstrous production of human lies.” – P D. Ouspensky, The Symbolism of the Tarot, 1913

What could be the most monstrous production of human lies, which we call The Devil?

The biggest lie of all is that we don’t deserve love.

The Devil gets a bad rap, as we need someone else to blame in order to avoid facing all the ways we deceive our own self. But he’s nothing more than a representation of forgetting who we are, and what love is.

Love is the eternal or the forever. It’s our connection to our most authentic self, our soul, and the timeless dimension of reality. Love is the real reality. Our souls intended to experience love together on this beautiful planet, but love got lost in all the illusions of third dimension consciousness.

The Devil is what happens when we fall for the illusions of lack and limitations in the material realm, causing us to fight each other for survival, and get lost in lust and desire.

But The Devil is an illusion. He symbolizes the false belief that we’re distanced from love and we need to work really hard to feel satisfied, secure, and intimate with others – a belief which inevitably leads to pain and suffering.

The Devil by hexxxer at Deviant Art, Urban Tarot, Old English Tarot and The Labyrinth Tarot, intuitivefish.com
The Devil by hexxxer at Deviant Art, Urban Tarot, Old English Tarot and The Labyrinth Tarot, intuitivefish.com

When The Devil Shows Up In A Reading

Health and Body Image: There may be sexual dysfunction or sex issues. Or chronic pain. Perhaps it feels as though your body is struggling to survive, or even at war with itself, such as the case with autoimmune disease or inflamed intestines. There may be a need for bodily exercise and a change in diet for more natural foods, or foods with more harmonizing frequencies.

Occupation and Finances: Your occupation may be trapped under the instinctual nature of competition, or lust for money, rather than governed by courageous passion to make the world a better place, which would be a more meaningful, lasting and fulfilling endeavor. Base your work ethics on abundance, rather than scarcity.

Relationships: The Devil might indicate marriage in a relationship reading. But it also represents lust, illusion, deceit, fighting and pain. So you might want to think twice about this particular relationship, especially if there’s an irresistibly strong impulse driving you together. Unless, of course, you’re in the mood for some tough life lessons, which can be a good thing if you’re committed to your evolution. The Devil can also indicate sex problems. Or loss.

Hidden Meaning: Evil is only the absence of good. The absence of anything means it doesn’t actually exist; therefore, evil is an illusion. While illusions contain their divine purposes, they also don’t need to be feared.

The Devil tarot card by [Artist Unknown]
The Devil tarot card by [Artist Unknown]

Reversed: A reversed Devil might indicate you’re feeling weak, or feeling as though you can’t stand up for yourself against convention or the opinion of others. Instead, you get caught up in something trivial or unsubstantial. Blindness or physical weakness could also be indicated here. Or there might be something at work that you can’t see, such as a shadow desire. A shadow desire is something you want, but you don’t want to admit that you want it. It might be a taboo desire. You might not realize the significance of this shadow desire. Open yourself up to new perspectives, and release the chains of duality to become aware of your True Self desires.

Advice: The Devil usually indicates some kind of desire is at work which arises from a sense of lack or poverty consciousness. You can look at this force as a sort of testing or training ground. Desire or instant gratification might feel pleasant in the short run, but inevitably leads to pain and struggle. Your lesson here is to discover your bliss, tranquility and the pleasures of existence within the higher realms of the soul and allow your soul inspirations to guide your physical life. This automatically annihilates baser instincts and attachments to impermanence which lead to suffering. When you feel good within yourself, you naturally find pleasure in every moment. When you realize you’re interconnected with all, you naturally draw love to you. But if your spirit and soul passions are neglected, lust for physical illusions only grows stronger.

Astrological Association: Neptune

Timing: “Major Arcanas mean that no timeframe is specified but instead the issue indicated by the card must first be resolved. Reversals should be noted, as with this system they represent obstacles that must be overcome before the event can occur.” – Barbara Moore

Yes or No: No

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