The Devil is one of the few cards in the Tarot that a lot of people are afraid of or uncomfortable with; the other obvious suspects being the largely misunderstood Death card and, to some extent, The Tower.
It is always amazing to me how powerful an image can be. The symbolism present in these three cards speaks to the depths of our imagination and brings forth buried, unspoken, ancient feelings of dread.
Consider The Devil. In our Christian societies, the face of a goat on a man’s body, coupled with the inverted image of a pentagram in the background, is the quintessential portrait of Evil. Lucifer, Satan, the Master of temptation and the dark Lord of sin who’s put chains on the poor souls who have fallen for his tricks. The name of the card itself is enough to evoke terrifying visions of hellish punishment. It reminds us of our very human tendency to fall prey to our most basic desires and how easily we are led astray by our own weaknesses.
What most people who look at this card usually miss, however, is the fact that the human figures could very easily untangle the lose chains and set themselves free. In some decks, they are trapped inside a cage whose door was intentionally left ajar. Whatever image the artist has chosen to represent the underlying meaning of this card, the option to set yourself free is always there. This is why this card should never be feared. It tells us that no matter how far into despair, temptation or addiction we’ve gone, we have the freedom to escape. The choice, as ever, is ours alone. We are the masters of our destiny; we control our desires and our choices. The Devil only has power if we surrender to him. He is there to lure and entice us into harming our bodies and destroying our peace of mind, but, ultimately, we have the freedom to say no.
On its lighter side, the card is the symbol of the recklessness of youth; the urge to party until the morning light and to hell with the massive headache and hangover that will follow; the willingness to experience everything life has to offer and to overdo it without fear or even any thought of possible harmful consequences. In other words Sex, drugs and Rock and Roll, baby! Or in the words of the one and only Scarlett O'Hara, one of the Devil's most typical victims: "I won't think about it now. I'll think about it tomorrow".
Death is another card that is never well received, unless you’re able to get past the literal meaning of the word. The symbolism here once again conjures painful images of loss and suffering. The cloaked and hooded figure with a skull for a face, carrying a scythe is unsettling and reminds us of the random and indiscriminate nature of death. It can come and strike at any time. Unlike the Devil, we can’t possibly fight it and win. When it comes, it marks the inescapable end.
Yes, Death can literally mean that someone is about to leave this world; trying to pretend otherwise would be dishonest on my part. More often than not, however, it means that something must end in order for something better, healthier, stronger to take its place. It’s an inevitable change, as unavoidable as Death itself, which must happen for the good of all. The cycle of life goes on and with each new “death” we are reborn with a wealth of new and valuable knowledge. Such is the positive aspect of the Death card. Yes, it will be painful and very hard to adjust to. We may not even understand the full impact of what happened until months, sometimes years later, but we always realize that it was all for the best. The lessons learned are often invaluable.
The Tower, in my experience, seems to scare the people I read for less than the two previous cards. Oh, they still do a double take depending on the deck being used; some Tower cards do look a lot more catastrophic than others. Yet, for some reason, the common reaction to this card is more about resignation and acceptance of impending doom than about the cold fear and dread that usually follows the appearance of the Devil and Death. It’s almost as if they’d rather deal with whatever new cataclysmic event life has in store for them, than to face the finality of Death or the daunting task of removing the Devil’s chains from their souls.
Having lived through a few Tower moments in recent months myself, I know that I would take the other two cards over this one any day of the week. The Tower always strikes unexpectedly, noisily and with a shattering lack of mercy or compassion. Unlike Death, an oddly silent and colorless card, the Tower is an explosion of sound and blinding color. Sometimes it can signal positive things, such as the intensity of love at first sight, which the French fittingly call “le coup de foudre”, in other words, “being struck by lightning”. Yes, love at first sight is a Tower moment if there ever was one.
Most often, however, the Tower, especially when the Ten of Swords also appears in the reading, brings traumatizing events such as car accidents; sudden and debilitating illness; the destruction of one’s home through fire, earthquakes and other natural disasters; the unexpected end of relationships due to utter and complete betrayal or death of a spouse; the loss of a job at the worst possible moment and other life-shattering situations.
Life is a scary and wonderful journey. We all meet the Devil sooner or later, for he dwells within ourselves; we all face the cyclic, inevitable changes brought on by Death and we all must deal with the devastation of the Tower at some point in our lives. The question is, which one scares YOU the most?
All images from the Quest Tarot by Joseph Ernest Martin
