| I can understand why this card looks so scary. It | | | | However, receiving the "Devil" means that it is time to |
| usually is of some large and frightening black entity that | | | | actually resolve or take a big dent out of the problem |
| binds people with chains. We know it's the Devil | | | | in your life, and that usually means that you are now |
| because it has the traditional horns, leer or grimace. | | | | strong enough or sufficiently able to do this. So that is |
| When this card appears in someone's reading, it can | | | | why the card and its attendant so-called difficulties |
| mean many things: Pick one: Sexuality, addiction, | | | | excite me. When you receive a certain card in a |
| ignorance of one's true purpose in life, feeling | | | | reading, it just means that now is the time to face up |
| constrained in a big way, male or female dominance, | | | | to the issue; it does not mean that you are doomed to |
| repression, etc. | | | | this being a become a lifelong or recurrent item in your |
| I personally find it quite liberating to receive this card. | | | | life, although I must admit many of us feel that way |
| When you receive one of the major arcana such as | | | | sometimes. |
| the Death or Devil cards, there is great spiritual and | | | | One of the spiritual secrets of the Tarot is that it is |
| karmic significance. Karma means habituation or not | | | | always of the moment, asking you to come into this |
| being able to get off the wheel of Self-destruction. I | | | | moment and look at the issue that is presenting now. It |
| capitalize the word Self since I mean that most | | | | asks you to draw on your resources at this moment |
| addictive and bad behavior hides us from our real | | | | and grapple with what is being shown. If you bring this |
| Selves. Most importantly, when you receive the "Devil" | | | | kind of respectful attention to the matter and are willing |
| in your reading, it speaks of a possibility of freedom | | | | to bring an openness and non-denial, you will find that |
| from something that has had you in its power. And it's | | | | the Gift of the Tarot is that the challenge has the |
| not outside you in the form of a true devil. It is | | | | possibility of being diminished in your life at this moment. |
| something that has been very difficult for you to | | | | When we come face to face with our fear, it can be |
| resolve in this lifetime. This could mean a friendship or | | | | an awe-ful moment. Encountering our "Devil" inwardly |
| relationship that has been burdensome or sad, a major | | | | is a time of awe. Instead of running from our "Devil" |
| or minor addiction, or something that is just constraining | | | | we can perhaps embrace it and come into a fuller |
| or repressing. | | | | understanding and compassion for ourselves. It is not |
| It goes without saying that I do not believe in a real | | | | by hiding from ourselves, but by shining a light upon |
| Devil. We don't need to imagine something dark and | | | | something that we are enlarged. It is when we run |
| terrorizing outside of ourselves. Our own lives produce | | | | from something within that we become diminished. |
| the needed challenges already. | | | | |