Card of the Day for September 27 - The Devil
msesheta
Attribution - Capricorn
(Pluto is also used)
The Devil card is number 15 or 6. This is the condition of obligation or of being tied to others through fear.
The Capricorn zodiac sign represents this card and people in this sign can become deeply entrenched in responsibility and obligations and deeper, heavier bonds than necessary are sometimes the result.
It sits between Temperance and The Tower.
Rider-Waite Imagery
The devil sits on a black double cube. He has rams horns, bat
wings, bird feet and is covered in hair. He makes a sign of
benediction with one hand while he lights the tail of a bound,
naked man. There are two humanoid figures with horns, a man and a
woman. The woman has a grape tail and the man has a fiery tail.
They are chained to the devil’s throne.
http://tarotjourney.net/tarot-cards/major-arcana/15-the-devil/
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite (1911)
Part I: The Veil and its Symbols
15. The Devil. In the eighteenth century this card seems to have been rather a symbol of merely animal impudicity. Except for a fantastic head-dress, the chief figure is entirely naked; it has bat-like wings, and the hands and feet are represented by the claws of a bird. In the right hand there is a sceptre terminating in a sign which has been thought to represent fire. The figure as a whole is not particularly evil; it has no tail, and the commentators who have said that the claws are those of a harpy have spoken at random. There is no better ground for the alternative suggestion that they are eagle's claws. Attached, by a cord depending from their collars, to the pedestal on which the figure is mounted, are two small demons, presumably male and female. These are tailed, but not winged. Since 1856 the influence of Eliphas Levi and his doctrine of occultism has changed the face of this card, and it now appears as a pseudo-Baphometic figure with the head of a goat and a great torch between the horns; it is seated instead of erect, and in place of the generative organs there is the Hermetic caduceus. In Le Tarot Divinatoire of Papus the small demons are replaced by naked human beings, male and female, who are yoked only to each other. The author may be felicitated on this improved symbolism.
Part II: The Doctrine Behind the Veil
The design is an accommodation, mean or harmony, between several motives mentioned in the first part. The Horned Goat of Mendes, with wings like those of a bat, is standing on an altar. At the pit of the stomach there is the sign of Mercury. The right hand is upraised and extended, being the reverse of that benediction which is given by the Hierophant in the fifth card. In the left hand there is a great flaming torch, inverted towards the earth. A reversed pentagram is on the forehead. There is a ring in front of the altar, from which two chains are carried to the necks of two figures, male and female. These are analogous with those of the fifth card, as if Adam and Eve after the Fall. Hereof is the chain and fatality of the material life.
The figures are tailed, to signify the animal nature, but there
is human intelligence in the faces, and he who is exalted above
them is not to be their master for ever. Even now, he is also a
bondsman, sustained by the evil that is in him and blind to the
liberty of service. With more than his usual derision for the arts
which he pretended to respect and interpret as a master therein,
Eliphas Levi affirms that the Baphometic figure is occult science
and magic. Another commentator says that in the Divine world it
signifies predestination, but there is no correspondence in that
world with the things which below are of the brute. What it does
signify is the Dweller on the Threshold without the Mystical
Garden when those are driven forth therefrom who have eaten the
forbidden fruit.
http://tarotjourney.net/tarot-cards/major-arcana/15-the-devil/
This card represents bondage and self imposed limitations. It is the power of negative thinking, a refusal to leave a bad situation, oppression, darkness, obsessive actions, unethical behaviour, being a slave to your desires, temptation and self destruction.
Take a good look at your reality. How are you enslaved in your life? Are you acting out of fear or greed? Are you obsessed by material wealth? Are you in a relationship that you know is harmful?
Confront your shadow self so that you can grow. You are not helpless or fated to suffer.
This card can also represent a rebel, an unconventional thinker, someone who goes against the current.
Be wary of unethical
behaviour, abuse of power and avoidance of responsibility.
Question your motives and be clear about what is good for you –
what you need compared to what you want.
UPRIGHT
Materialism.
Fate that cannot be avoided
or karmic debts.
Blind contempt for humanity.
Irresistibly strong and unscrupulous person.
An extraordinary effort is requited to escape temptation.
Ambition.
Arrogance.
Temptation, obsession, addiction.
Secret plan about to be executed.
Aching discontent.
Lack of empathy and compassion.
Toxic atmosphere.
Enslavement, bondage, abuse.
Wrong use of force.
Pompous ego games.
Refusal to leave a bad situation.
Self-imposed limitations.
Oppression, darkness.
Rebellion.
Ceremonial magic and rituals
that conjure elemental forces.
Chronic diseases,
particularly those associated with bones or blood, like
arthritis and diabetes; and spine injuries. (Liz Hazel)
REVERSED
Self-liberation.
Freedom from your obsessions, traps and vices.
Eliminating bad influences.
Letting go of your attachment to material things.
Respite.
Fears released about not “measuring up”.
Spiritual enlightenment after a time of beings shackled by harmful expectations and false values.
Seeing the light.
Going forward with no “chains” attached.
Fearing of making decisions (the “devil” you know)
Instinctive needs obstructed by the intellect.
Weak or ineffectual.
Overall weakening of moral
fibre.
Hereditary diseases like
cancer, heart disease, mental illness. Birth defects, impotence,
low sperm count, infertility, (Liz Hazel)
Infestations, mold, mildew,
termites, rotting (Liz Hazel)
GENERAL MEANING What has traditionally been known as the Devil card expresses the realm of the Taboo, the culturally rejected wildness and undigested shadow side that each of us carries in our subconscious. This shadow is actually at the core of our being, which we cannot get rid of and will never succeed in taming. From its earliest versions, which portrayed a vampire-demon, this card evoked the Church-fueled fear that a person could "lose their soul" to wild and passionate forces.
The image which emerged in the mid-1700's gives us a more sophisticated rendition -- that of the "scapegoated Goddess," whose esoteric name is Baphomet. Volcanic reserves of passion and primal desire empower her efforts to overcome the pressure of stereotyped roles and experience true freedom of soul. Tavaglione's highly evolved image (Stella deck) portrays the magical formula for harnessing and transmuting primal and obsessive emotions into transformative energies. As a part of the Gnostic message of Tarot, this fearsome passion and power must be reintegrated into the personality, to fuel the soul's passage from mortal to immortal. (Tarot.com)
1. Robin Wood2. Gnomes
3. Kazanlar
4. Animal Lords
5. Gill
6. Mythic