Devil - "Master of the Curve-ball"

I've just started reading Bulfinch's Mythology," at the beginning of which he talks about the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. The following quote grabbed me, and prompted this thread.

"Our English word devil probably comes from the French diable, Italian diavolo, Latin diabolus, one who makes division, -- literally, one who separates balls, or throws balls about, - instead of throwing them frankly and truly at the batsman."

Over the years I've come to see the appearance of the Devil in a reading as "something is not what it seems." The word "devious" seems to come from the same root as "devil." I often tell clients "Watch your back!" when I see it. Bulfinch's allusion appears to be to cricket, but I imported it to American baseball and the idea of the Devil/"pitcher" throwing a curve-ball when the querent/"batter" is expecting a fastball straight down the middle. This places it in the same realm as the Moon and perhaps the Hanged Man, since the caution is not to expect a straightforward, honest delivery of whatever is implied. The concept of the Devil as the "Great Deceiver" would seem to apply in mundane terms as well as in "matters of the soul." It suggests bargaining in bad faith.

Barleywine said:

I've just started reading Bulfinch's Mythology," at the beginning of which he talks about the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. The following quote grabbed me, and prompted this thread.

"Our English word devil probably comes from the French diable, Italian diavolo, Latin diabolus, one who makes division, -- literally, one who separates balls, or throws balls about, - instead of throwing them frankly and truly at the batsman."

Over the years I've come to see the appearance of the Devil in a reading as "something is not what it seems." The word "devious" seems to come from the same root as "devil." I often tell clients "Watch your back!" when I see it. Bulfinch's allusion appears to be to cricket, but I imported it to American baseball and the idea of the Devil/"pitcher" throwing a curve-ball when the querent/"batter" is expecting a fastball straight down the middle. This places it in the same realm as the Moon and perhaps the Hanged Man, since the caution is not to expect a straightforward, honest delivery of whatever is implied. The concept of the Devil as the "Great Deceiver" would seem to apply in mundane terms as well as in "matters of the soul." It suggests bargaining in bad faith.

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I think it is interesting that the etymology of the word indicates it begins with "di" implying dichotomy. I was not aware of this before. Mythologically, the Devil, which is Saturn, aka Cronus (Latin)... who ate his children, with the exception of Zeus, aka Jupiter, and regurgitated them as adults. And in the Bible, The Devil, Satan, was originally an angel who was cast into hell by God's warrior Archangel Michael, thus making of Satan the archetype for evil in our unconscious. I see in the Devil a dichotomy, a split in the psyche that has not healed. As Toni Allen explains it, The Devil, represents a false identity....our feelings of I AM are bound up in who we believe we are based on who we want to be, but the Devil is an unclear voice that guides us via an inner reaction to be chained to our old habits, obsessions, and neuroses. We think of The Devil as a malefic, but ...." it is only through the Devil that we become capable of shedding light on that mysterious, elusive entity that psychology calls the self." (I am quoting here from "Saturn, a New Look at an OLd Devil" by Liz Greene.) The idea of a dichotomy prevails throughout this card, and perhaps one can see that as the "curve ball"...... it seem a very appropriate metaphor.

PS. Although I have an old hardback of Bullfinch's "The Age of Fable," I believe that Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" is considered the world renowned "classic." It is well worth a read if you are interested in mythology, as I, myself, am. For whatever that is worth......

Thanks for the input. I've had Liz Greene's Saturn book for several decades now but was never able to work my way all the way through it. The same was true for Jeff Green's Pluto book. Now that I've embraced traditional astrology, I've pretty much left the psychological approach behind. If I had one, my "hero" of psychological astrology was Rob Hand, but he also moved on into traditional methods.

Barleywine said:

Thanks for the input. I've had Liz Greene's Saturn book for several decades now but was never able to work my way all the way through it. The same was true for Jeff Green's Pluto book. Now that I've embraced traditional astrology, I've pretty much left the psychological approach behind. If I had one, my "hero" of psychological astrology was Rob Hand, but he also moved on into traditional methods.

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I would have to say that in astrology, Stephen Arroyo would be my "goto" for the psychological approach, and for Pluto, Liz Greene's "Astrology of Fate." But, I am a devoted Jungian scholar with an "everlasting yea" to Karen Horney that will never decline. I think the tarot is a psychological healing tool, and that is, for me, the reason it exists. As for astrology, I claim no status of consequence.....only that I studied it in NYC for 2 years under John Marchesella (now head of NCGR) who left an indelible mark that keeps me forever 'hooked.' At any rate, I think The Devil is one of the most interesting cards in tarot, and your post was a bit of a challenge to do a little research in some old books I have on hand.

I agree that the Devil is one of the most fascinating cards. I'm especially interested in the modern "It's all good!" mentality which tries to rehabilitate the Devil's image by remaking it into a context-dependent "good guy." The closest I can come is a duality. On the positive side, there is Crowley's idea that the Devil represents abundant creative energy that can be put to constructive use in material ways (I like to add "as long as you don't put too fine a point on the ethics"). On the purely negative side, I see it as becoming a slave to one's appetites.

Barleywine said:

"Our English word devil probably comes from the French diable, Italian diavolo, Latin diabolus, one who makes division, -- literally, one who separates balls, or throws balls about, - instead of throwing them frankly and truly at the batsman."

Over the years I've come to see the appearance of the Devil in a reading as "something is not what it seems." The word "devious" seems to come from the same root as "devil." I often tell clients "Watch your back!" when I see it. Bulfinch's allusion appears to be to cricket, but I imported it to American baseball and the idea of the Devil/"pitcher" throwing a curve-ball when the querent/"batter" is expecting a fastball straight down the middle. This places it in the same realm as the Moon and perhaps the Hanged Man, since the caution is not to expect a straightforward, honest delivery of whatever is implied. The concept of the Devil as the "Great Deceiver" would seem to apply in mundane terms as well as in "matters of the soul." It suggests bargaining in bad faith.

Click to expand...

I've been watching The Exorcist T.V. series and was having a conversation with a close friend about the difference between an Angel versus a Demon. It got me thinking about God & Devil and how nothing or no one is 'above' God. Satan, after all, fell from grace. He was cast out. I see the Devil as fragmented, not Whole. He divides and separates.

When Father Damien Karras, in The Exorcist, asks the demon in Regan where Regan is, the demon says, "In here, with us." Now I think of another line, "My name is Legion - for we are many."

If you don't have a center of gravity or if you're not rooted firmly in your own mind and heart, the Devil (or whatever he represents in the form of temptations, for example) can easily deceive. His aim is to break apart. Humanity's uphill battle is to become whole or to develop a place within oneself that is not influenced or taken down by external circumstances or factors. Our aim is unification or to develop a single "I", where we are not slaves to these wants or desires. The Devil targets fears and patterns. His goal is to create a disconnect with oneself. By creating the disconnect, or a separation, he can fuel his own power for 'destruction'.

But, having said all that, he's completely necessary! He's the other face of the coin. His goal is to tempt or to throw you off your axis. He makes promises and gives you things your heart desires, but it's always at a high price. I guess the problem is that you don't really understand what this 'cost' encompasses. Yet, he allows for the possibility to find our way back to ourSelf (home) or the opportunity to understand who we truly are and what we're made of. He's definitely an interesting Tarot card...

As a non-Christian, I'm not much moved by the theological argument (Crowley said he couldn't be a Satanist because he would first have to be a Christian to acknowledge the existence of Satan). But that doesn't derail any of the points being made, it just casts them in more pragmatic terms.

Ruby Jewel said:

Mythologically, the Devil, which is Saturn, aka Cronus (Latin)... who ate his children, with the exception of Zeus, aka Jupiter, and regurgitated them as adults. And in the Bible, The Devil, Satan, was originally an angel who was cast into hell by God's warrior Archangel Michael, thus making of Satan the archetype for evil in our unconscious.

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Years ago in Hebrew and Greek classes, what the nuns taught us is that we over-identify the various figures, e.g., "Satan" is merely Hebrew for "adversary" (not evil, not even a specific character, really). Devil was said to be based in part on the mischievous minor rustic god Pan (i.e., rural pagan gods were pre-Christian, thus "evil" in some eyes).

Ditto for Greek vs. Roman deities -- they are different gods, cults, festivals, ceremonies, etc.Saturn was benevolent, not at all malevolent like Cronus. And so on, for Lucifer, Satan, Devil, etc. who are all really very separate (and maybe merely literary devices who pop up in stories, and so were never necessarily gods).

Just a random thought from long ago

No doubt the apotheosis of Christianity with it's entrenched moral strictures has created its dialectical (if I may use the word lol) opposite: The Devil. Two thousand years of Christianity in the Age of Pisces has now evolved into a new Age of Aquarius. However, we are looking at the Age of Aquarius and the Age of Capricorn.....both under Saturn's rule! Might as well get used to existence in The Devil's domain for the next 4,000 years. Christ is dethroned, and may never return. Thankfully, we have been given the gift of Hope by such people as Freud, Jung, Horney, Adler, all of whom have shown us the way through Saturn's "arctic vortex". The entire idea of a devil is nothing but our own psychic energy in the form of "archetypes of the collective unconscious", and we have the capability of diffusing that energy when we choose to do so. However, it is going to take a miracle, and a lot of backtracking for us to reintegrate their wisdom into our culture as we seem to have cast that wisdom into the great abyss. Of course, as we were duly warned......this is precisely what happens when the egoistic energy we refer to as The Devil wishes to perpetuate itself at the cost of our own individuation and the resulting birth of the authentic "self."

LeFou said:

Years ago in Hebrew and Greek classes, what the nuns taught us is that we over-identify the various figures, e.g., "Satan" is merely Hebrew for "adversary" (not evil, not even a specific character, really). Devil was said to be based in part on the mischievous minor rustic god Pan (i.e., rural pagan gods were pre-Christian, thus "evil" in some eyes).

Ditto for Greek vs. Roman deities -- they are different gods, cults, festivals, ceremonies, etc.Saturn was benevolent, not at all malevolent like Cronus. And so on, for Lucifer, Satan, Devil, etc. who are all really very separate (and maybe merely literary devices who pop up in stories, and so were never necessarily gods).

Just a random thought from long ago

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Maybe we equate "evil" and The Devil with the domain of Hell where he/she presumably resides. Like Barleywine, I am not a Christian, and not much inclined toward theological thought, although I do not underestimate its impact on the world as we know it. I think it is interesting to infer the mythological Pan who, is actually Gemini, the Magician as well as Devil Rx. As noted earlier at the outset of this thread, there is a "curve ball" in the dichotomy of good versus evil infused into this card. In the Western tradition, we tend to see that energy as "relative" in just about every sense of the word, including accidental. I would be disinclined to see Saturn as a benevolent planet.....in the same sense that I would be disinclined to see The Devil as benevolent. Anyway, I know too many Capricorns in this world who show me who Saturn is.....a combination of the Devil and The World...you cannot help but appreciate them even as you know you must, for your own sake, turn away.