Best Devil card?

Lokisen

I'll agree with the Legacy devil comments--he's pretty hot. Here's one that I don't think has been mentioned yet--the Shadowscapes devil; the imagery in that card is very interesting: the heart adhered to the cobweb, the mask, the key, etc. and it's drawn in a gorgeous way.
 

Shade

There have been some female Devil cards over the years. The Metamorphosis and Casanova spring to mind.
 

fallingstarheart

The thoth devil, I think it perfectly represents the bondage that people can put on themselves by getting tangled up in physicality disregarding the other part.

I like the illustration of the devil in roots of asia, the devil laughing at you, somehow making fun of you for falling into his "realm" not looking like a trickster and everyone wearing masks representing thier false sense of self while the tree of knowledge or wisdom burns down. Well, that's my take on it.
 

Chiriku

Ominous

Carla reminded me of one of my favorite Devils-- the one from Cathy McClelland's Star Tarot (Majors-only). See attached.

This Devil, with the hulking bear-like figure cracked open to reveal the figures inside, is one of the few truly ominous ones I've ever encountered. It also contains a goat or ram head, and the classic horned-and-hooved animal-human hybrid always adds to the ominousness and perversion-factor; many people's subconscious is instinctively repelled by a humanoid figure with animal limbs or appendages, especially hooves. The medieval painters of old used to capitalize on that instinctive revulsion by painting scenes of Hell in which the Fallen had hooves or claws.

This thread has made me realize that I like my Devils to be ominous and slightly repellent. This does not detract from the temptation/addiction-interpretation...after all, many are drawn to and fascinated by things that also, on some level, disgust or frighten them. The taboo is often the most titillating.

As an aside, the most interesting philosophical conceptualization of the Devil that I've encountered is Julie Cuccia-Watts's in the Maat Tarot (a deck in which the Devil card shows a woman delivering herself of her own baby). She writes:

In some medieval artistic renditions of the devil, we see images of an ugly distorted face, sagging breasts and belly, hairy legs and a 'face' where his genitalia should be. We can accept this imagery as the embodiment of the Evil one, who is driven with 'his' animal lust instincts, or we could look at it from a different point of view. It was this medieval 'face at the crotch' imagery that helped me to determine a possible correlation between the images of the 'transitional stage' [head crowning] of birth and the the devil. Knowing that birthing was the arena o woman and woman's knowledge/mysteries kept private from the ancient males. This frightening image of the devil could be 'his' impression of birth...There is also the birthing mother's perspective...Her infant is a virtual stranger, a prince of the darkness, which is in her womb... The mother and child chained together their lives cannot go anywhere until the baby is born.

Does any other explanation better convey the concept of our species' being bound to our carnal selves, to the material world?

Not my favorite Devil card by a long chalk, but fascinating stuff.

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nicky

Robin Wood
 

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jema

I like a bit of Cthulhu myself
From Dark Grimoire
 

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Penthasilia

I think I found my favorite!

From my new Rainbow Travellers tarot- I think it is a stunning representation that can encompass both the high and low points of this card.

:D
 

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magpie9

From my new Rainbow Travellers tarot- I think it is a stunning representation that can encompass both the high and low points of this card.

:D
Is that really a devil card? I don't see how it relates....?
 

Penthasilia

Is that really a devil card? I don't see how it relates....?

The idea of "bondage" given in the traditional devil card, to me, relates to the internal desires which we have in place that can bind or free us- depending on how we relate to that "shadow" part of ourselves.

I like in this picture that it seems that the person is moving toward that shadow place, to learn and understand the hidden internal desires, and therefore be clear on how to best keep from being bound by them and even how to use that desire to move to where he/she needs to be. Or, sometimes, to stay within them. But the choice is never clear, until you see the internal shadow that is at play.

At least, that is my take on it. ;)
 

EricthoDeSalamander

It's a close match between the Tarot of the Vampyres version, and the one from the Bohemian Gothic.

I think both are perfect examples of someone giving into their own desires, addictions, etc.