The Devil -his hand

Would anyone like to share their wisdom with me about this? I can hardly see the lines depicted on his hand but he also seems to be doing the Mork and Mindy salute! ???

There are a lot of interesting rider-waite-smith hand gestures going this but this one seems beyond conjecture!

Hi Names- are you are StarTrekkie? Thats the Vulcan greeting lol. Anyway I will have a go as I have thought about this often. Firstly the open hand is a sign of liberality. If the hand looks mutilated, it was sometimes thought to be astrological- like depicting the seasons in this case. Right hand=Power- skewed version of Popes blessing- pinkie and ring unbent- I do not bless- I have taken possession. I think Pamela the painter was depicting something like the claws of a bird, which was a common way to depict Satan- and she was saying don't meddle here with alchemy- the opposite of the Magician- sulphur torch downwards. Interesting that the markings on the blasphemous hand looks like the Phoenician Aleph who I believe is card 1 the Magician.~Rosanne
ps. and a very happy season to you too! Hopefully we will get to slip-slap-slop this summer.

Leonard Nimoy, in his autobiography I Am Spock, says this sign was originally a sign of Jewish blessing, resembling the Hebrew letter Shin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_salute

As for the lines, they have been interpreted as a cross, or a Saturn sign, among other things.

I would like to suggest that the meaning is a bit more complex and mysterious, yet also simple. In the book, Hands -A Complete Guide to Palmistry; Whitford Press; 1983; Page 188, Enid Hoffman talks about "ambition lines." These are lines that extend from, but never cross, the "life" line. They indicate the presence of ambition in whatever direction they point to. In the earliest US Games RWS decks and the "Pam A,"

http://learntarot.com/bigjpgs/maj15.jpg
http://www.sacred-texts.com/tarot/pkt/img/ar15.jpg

what we see are ambition lines extending from the life line and wrapping around the "head" line. The way I interpret this is it is illustrating that a good portion of The Devil's life energy is being channeled into intellectual activity, even to the point of bondage.

In the Book of T Tarot, The Devil becomes the Thinker. From the book, T -The New Tarot: The Tarot for the Aquarian Age; Western Star Press; 1969; Page 58, Rosalind Sharpe and John Cooke make this observation:

"The old Tarot trump which this Book (tarot card) replaces was called Satan, or The Devil. Actually, the thinking brain is that which gets man into the state termed hell. It is what binds man. Hence, formerly the man and woman were chained to Satan's goat feet or to the throne on which he sat. The Satan card was read as sex. But sex is not the cause of man's dilemma. It is a man's thinking about sex that enslaves him."

While the book shows its age by the constant use of "man" and "a man's," the message is clear. I added the (tarot card) part.

I've read that is the same hand gesture as the Heriophant.
He is mocking it....I guess in a way of saying forget the rules and learning, this aspect of human nature is the animal aspect that goes beyond anything that can be learned, tought or structured.

Opps, maybe wrong deck, wrong topic...sorry

Oh the Vulcan salute! Of course! That made me laugh imagining the actors who couldn't do it very well having to prepare their fingers before they put their hand in shot!

Very interesting about the Jewish hand symbol in origin, and of course there is always ritualistic significance in hands. Which is why it's so important for me to understand this devil's gesture.

Any hand gesture sends out a message and this one is so 'loud' I want to really explore it.

I'm not sure Roseanne if it's a depiction of that entrapped control that we might enslave ourselves to,
OR if in the upward pointing hand there is the suggestion of benificence that we could alternatively aspire to..
I guess in the context of the whole card it would be an inverted benificence anyway... hum... ...playing god...

The lines of ambition are fascinating. My own knowledge of chiromancy is still sparse but a brief look at wikipedia suggests that the other main line there is a sun or mercury line. A short one. and that there is no heart line, or else .. a Simisn line whereapon the heart and head lines are fused meaning no differentiation between thought and action. (in a basic sense).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheiromancy

Thankyou Abrac for your informative post. Very very interesting

this does fit with your comment then too YDM42.

Clever old Pamela aye?

(p.s. thanks, and yes a bit of beach action would be welcome,

Two related threads:

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=25287

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=23016

Kwaw

Thankyou Kwaw!

I tried searching for something like this but must've had the wrong key words, thanks. Those discussions are very interesting and informative.

Vincent has included on that 2nd thread a picture of "Levi's famous drawing of Baphomet" An older devil that is doing something like a mudra or papal didactic benediction with the right hand and a left hand that points down much more like the magician.

But pam C Smiths' Devil I think is not performing a mudra. However that image does seem to have more 'uplifting' aspects which leads me to think that the hand signal in the RWS devil card could have intentionally to balance the overwhelming power of the 'base' and to suggest something more aspirational spiritually.

I often wonder~ not just about the hand...
but the rather dramatic lines on each wing:

Sorry ...I didn't mean to scare everyone away!