The Devil Card - A New Approach

I've always interpreted the Devil card as the antithesis of love. Not hate, but an absence of love. I know most people read the Devil card as enslavement, but I don't.

The devil is essentially a judaeo-christian creation, and remember that A. E. Waite, much of the Golden Dawn and renaissance Italy were all christian.

If the nature of God is unconditional love of humanity, then shouldn't his opposition, the Devil, be interpreted as an absence of love?

Divinerguy

Interesting viewpoint. Is there a card that represents the God-force of love to you? The opposite card to the Devil's force of non-love?

-- Kyrielle

Some people look at the devil card as living for the moment and enjoy with your senses without thinking of the consequences.
So it's an absence of morals rather than absence of love. The meaning of enslavement could come from this (slave to drink, smoke or whatever...)
I don't have many devils in my spreads, but next time I will check if the cards maybe tell me to just enjoy myself passionately

WolfSpirit said:

Some people look at the devil card as living for the moment and enjoy with your senses without thinking of the consequences.
So it's an absence of morals rather than absence of love. The meaning of enslavement could come from this (slave to drink, smoke or whatever...)
I don't have many devils in my spreads, but next time I will check if the cards maybe tell me to just enjoy myself passionately

Click to expand...

I'm one of those people, WolfSpirit. (You described the interpretation so well too)

I hardly ever see the Devil card in any spreads I do, especially for myself. I will be on the lookout for it too. (thinking that I need to let down my hair a bit....)

Starfish

I've always seen the Lovers as the opposing force to the Devil card. I suppose it could also be the Star, or less likely, the World.

Divinerguy

I always considered the Lovers as a pair to the Devil as well, so the Lovers would be Gods unconditional Love and the Devil the absence of it. Makes some sense to me.

I think of the Devil as what draws me back to my "animal" part, thhe beast... Addictions, Lust, Cupidity... It can be the lack of Love as well as the lack of Ethics. I don't see a contradiction nor an "inflation" of the meaning of the Arcana.

In my veiw, DEVIL has always been the opposite to LOVERS. And it was brought home to me when I got my Gill: try to place them side by side. The Cards mirror each other perfectly.

Devil opposites Lovers in every field, if one bothers to think of it. The ifea of love, for example. If The Lovers indicates communion, sentiments, emotional involvement, The Devil talks of sex4sex. (I am trying to be as simplistic as I can - it's late and I don't have many neurons working right now...).
Lovers is the courage and strength to follow our own path, to listen to o ur very inner voice and awareness, to go with our flow and therefore experience freedom, seek freedom. Devil is affection, conditioning, the opposite of freedom not as slavery only but more like the lack of strength, the "lazyness" of our consicences, when you do things that you mnow you should not, you know you don't want to, but you can't hlep it, you feel compelled...

I bothered to place the cards side by side

I've seen the Devil as changes or lustfulness. Ooh la la! I always get a kick out of my friends' reaction when I draw it out.


*-*BUM BUM BUM!!!*-* The Devil!

Them: I'm going to hell?!

Me: You're already there.

LOL.

Another "bad card" according to them is the Hanged Man. They literally think they're going to be hung.

It makes me sad to think that they're the product of millions of years of evolution.

I'm influences by Campbell's "Hero's Journey" stuff (and my Latin classes in school), so I see the Devil as Lord of the Underworld, judging the souls and deciding which ones go to Tartarus (Tower) and which ones go to Elysium (Star)... eventually both get reborn (Moon-Sun-Judgment), but the ones in Tartarus have to be cleansed first...

In readings I interpret the Devil as depression when you realize how you enslaved yourself - so to me the Devil is the confrontation with the truth, and the feelings of guilt and self-hate that come with it. Also, in the Devil stage, you can't see the way out - yet. You know that you screwed up mightily, but you have no idea how to free yourself and repair the damage. That is the trap that's usually associated with this Trump.