MAAT - I don't get the Devil--Do you?

Grizabella

Maybe it's got something to do with the Biblical thing----Eve got Adam to eat the apple, and hence they got knowledge of good and evil. Meaning, I'm sure, that along with that came the pleasure of having sex and sex taking on more importance than it "should" have in an addictive manner for a lot of people, when it was meant for procreation. That was when Eve was cursed with the pain of childbirth, so here's the woman paying that consequence. Women are certainly chained to that.

What comes to my mind, too, is that women have "the devil of a time" in childbirth. :) That's just my mind working as my mind tends to work, though. I'm sure the artist didn't have that exact thing in mind.
 

weaver

Though obviously this deck is new to me, too, I thought I'd share my initial (subject to change) thoughts on how I am viewing this thought provoking and somewhat confusing card.

The Devil, to me, represents the more base aspects of ourselves. The parts of ourselves that are out of balance. The parts that we try to ignore and/or repress hoping upon hope that by doing so, they (the chains) will just magically go away and disappear.

This approach, of course, is guaranteed to backfire every time. It is only by fully acknowledging our shadow sides (such as irrational fear, or addictive, obsessive behavior) in order to confront it, shed light upon it, and own it that we are then free to disempower the demons' hold over us. Not eradicate our darker more base elements, mind you, but learn to balance our light and shadows in a healthy, unencumbered manner.

When I first saw the Maat Tarot's Devil card, I thought of the birthing process necessary to shed light upon our shadows. The often painful (and yet joyous) process of owning and fully understanding the demons we each individually grapple with. The challenge of finding ways to turn our festering demons into assets that can be used and even appreciated in a healthy manner.

This birthing process is by no means a cake walk. It can be scary. The seeker is required to leave what is a familiar and at least a semi-comfortable reality. There will be many unknowns that will be encountered throughout the passage from repression and fear to a new reality that embraces personal responsibility. But at the end of the dark birthing tunnel holds the promise of a brilliant lightness of being that was unimaginable before taking the necessary steps to be fully and personally accountable for the actions we choose to take. The warming, golden rays of freedom await the person willing to love each and every part of him or her self. In many respect, it can be considered a rebirth of sorts.

I don't know if I have been able to express my sentiments very well here, Magpie. But hopefully, I have been able to flesh out the general gist of how I am currently integrating the Maat Devil. I hope it prove at least somewhat useful to you!

Hugs,
weaver
 

magpie9

Simone said:
Looking at the card, it seems to me she is not only giving birth to light, but a real baby.

Yes, she is. In the actual card you can see that..and that the baby is made of light. Amazing image.
 

magpie9

So many thought-provoking replies. It is, I think, a deep deep card, and thanks to you all and sleeping on it yet again, I'm starting to move away from stereotypical thought and am starting to Get this card.

In my life, I have been present at 2 births as Mother of the Mother, and Labor coach. they were very different. the one 22 years ago was techo-barbaric, and I wonder how any of us made it through with the miracles of modern medicine all over the place, dictating it all, and the constant threat of a Caesarian, if we didn't comply.
It wasn't as Barbaric as my own birth where I was left alone in a room for the whole labor ad then tied down on the delivery table to make up for it. And then they tried to knock me out. My daughter was born into the world in a spectacle of me fighting to stay conscious and be treated as well as you would an animal birthing.

But the 3rd birth, 1 1/2 years ago...that was different. That was natural. Left to the natural process, no drugs, no monitors, not "checking" for dilation during contractions. And the birth itself was amazing. She laid on her side, lifted her leg, pushed hard, and out came a baby. And--here's the thing--she had been like an Animal a bay during the labor. she didn't want to be touched, she didn't want to talk, she crouched on the floor, striking out at anyone who came too close. She was lost in the pain, and our hearts were breaking for her, as she labored on, and on and on for what seemed like forever, a living curse.
But the moment that baby was born, she morphed into perfect love. In that instant when he came out, all there was in the world for her, was him. Everything else was forgotten. she would have done it all over again, in that instant, if that was required. she sat up and reached for him with both hands. And they were complete. I've never seen anything like it.

Labor and birthing are the hardest work in the world. But what you get, if it goes right...is miraculous.
And I do absolutely get this part of the card. And what I'm starting to get, thanks to you all, is that this kind of devil is very much the devil we know...and don't want to acknowledge..and that if we go with the process that is in front of us, we have the power to change our own darkness to light. At great cost, mind you...but if we are willing to work hard enough, and let go of what gets in our way...we can get there from here.

And it seems to me that we do fear what we are birthing, a great deal of the time. The unknown, the unfamiliar. The perhaps deformed. that which will destroy the life we had. OK, it was imperfect, but at least we knew what it was..and now, what? And all the priorities get shifted, if we do it right. The terrible responsibility of it all. It's so terrifying that only a process that all but tears us apart allows us to bring forth the next stage of our lives. At the end of the process almost anything looks good. All newborn babies are beautiful, if only to their mothers. OK, I'm waaay too dramatic here, but it's still true.

So thank you. Thank you all for your help. Every opinion is being valuable to me. And I hope lots more are posted on this thread, because this is utterly fascinating, and, I think, valuable to us all in this community.
 

Northwind

I haven’t got the deck but I noticed, looking at the artist’s site, that the Devil = the Half Moon in Taurus.

Taurus is the second sign in the zodiacal wheel. It follows Aries which represents raw, often unharnessed energy. Taurus provides the container in which Aries energies are manifested on the physical plane. In this sense the Maat Devil is a wonderful metaphor.

Taurus is the Good Earth, the Bountiful Mother, according to Dane Rudyhar in The Pulse of Life . It is focused on creative life in the material plane. It surges forward from inchoate unconsciousness (the womb?) to fruitful life on earth.

So, in this sense, the Maat Devil represents a much more profound image of the meaning behind Devil . This Devil image shows new energy and awareness coming to light and life. It shows the human experience moving from inchoate darkness to purposeful life on earth.

It is, more or less, consistent with your analysis, Magpie9. Rosanne's comments are also very pertinent. It would be interesting to see what the Julia Cuccia-Watts herself says. Aries represents the womb, the beginning. and Taurus represents the birth into light and life.

Taurus is earth focused energy. It insists on being productive. In the cycle of the zodiac it contains one of the four points of the cross formed by the equinoxes and solstices. These are, according to Dane Rudhyar, alchemical points , the gates through which power and purpose are released and experienced. In the bible and mythology they are represented by the Bull, the Lion, the Eagle and the Angel.

So the Devil represents a pivotal point in human existence. People often label the unknown as devilish. The Maat Devil casts a different, perhaps ironic, perspective on that view as well.
 

weaver

What a fascinating thread! I wonder if there are enough interested people to form a study group for this deck. I don't have a lot of free time but I think this is a deck I would make time to study with others.

weaver
 

Startarot

I would be interested in a study group !!!
 

YDM42

Intresting discussion. I have not read all the comments but a few are very intresting. In reference to Adam and Eve, eating of the tree of life, could be percieved as giving birth to ego.

Intellillectual aspirations and knowledge have often go hand and hand with what we refer to as evil. The gift of fire and knowledge (or light) has often taken form in mythology and lititure as something bad. The death of innocence. Even in developing sexuality and becoming adults we are no longer innocent, we must now work and provide and take focus away from enjoying life.
 

psychic sue

........and Lucifer is the light-bearer isn't he?
 

Strange2

weaver said:
I wonder if there are enough interested people to form a study group for this deck. I don't have a lot of free time but I think this is a deck I would make time to study with others.

I would also be interested in a study group for the Maat Tarot. The bold imagery should engender some interesting discussions (like this thread!).