The Devil

[wolfen045]

I have read with interest everyone's ideas and approaches to the Devil. I agree with a great deal of what has been said so far. As a Pagan/Wiccan, I see certain commonalities between the Devil, Pan and the Horned God. I see them all as an invitation to explore the More "primitive" sides of our nature the animal/mammilian parts of ourselves that in Western culture we are taught to be ashamed of. Yet,pardoxically this same culture , through it's various media outlets titililates us (pun Intended) daily with images of sex and violence . We recieve mixed messages don't look/ don't touch ~~ please look /please touch. In our Western culture(I am an American so I can not speak for other culures) we are taught to repress our feelings and to deal with things through our intellects. We claim that we desire to be liberated, but we greatly fear what would happen if we were to really allow ourselves to truly act out some of our deepest desires/fantasies. Of course we do need to know what is right and wrong and we don't want to bring harm to our selves and others. The devil/Pan teach us that we must learn to embrace the animal within us. we must learn to love the "darker" aspects of ourselves in order to be more fully human . Without light there can be no darkness. And without the darkness we cannot fully appreciate the light. I am very facinated by the werewolf mythos which I see as very much applicable to this card. We must learn to put on and take off our fury pelts with ease. Every once in a while we need to lift our faces/muzzles to the moon and howl with joy. As Diana pointed out in her thread we cannot approach god without first approaching the Devil. I want to add that we must approach our full beings in order to approuch the God/dess. ( Iam sorry that this is a dense block of text . I have only had my coputer sice January and I don't know how to edit this to make it more readable.) Blessings to all Wolfen

 

[Alex]

Yeah, I agree

The more you crush, deny, reject, fight the Devil, the stronger "he" will get, and the more "he" will control you.

I've had this illuminating experience in my life. My ex-husband grew up in a very conservative catholic town. He became a scientist. I have never met someone more intelligent than him. Yet he had this bad habit to rationalize away any "bad" feeling, any immoral impulse or unreasonable reaction of his. As he aged, his intolerance towards others grew out of proportion. He was always criticizing others, and I was often his object of choice when it came to criticism. Not surprisingly, I came across pornography in our computer more than once. He consistently denied he'd put it there. At age of 33, he was finally diagnosed with a personality disorder and a few months after that, he attempted suicide.

I still remember his last speech, directed at me. He was very concerned that I was the person who was going to raise our son, because the poor boy was going to grow up with no moral standards to stand by. He, on the other hand, was a "good person", and a "true catholic" whose pure intentions have been constantly overlooked by me. After his purity talk, he left our home and "attempted" suicide 3 times within 24 hours.

Suicide, you see: there's no taboo like suicide for Christianity. Very few things are so evil as committing suicide, according to the church.

I can't help it but think that it has all started by him not being able to acknowledge the fact that, like all of us, he is good AND bad. You know, what's the big deal anyway? The more you fight against it, the worse. But my opinion didn't count then, as it does not count now, and people will go on suffering their Devils, needlessly.

Alex.

"Devil is the other person" J.P.Sartre.

 

[Minos]

"Unnatural lust".

So-called, anyways.

Sometimes destructive. At times, though, productive.

Always interesting.

 

[HudsonGray]

Strong feelings can usually screw things up for people because they have difficulty balancing those against other things in their life. When you isolate something strong, it grows out of proportion.

Too bad. It's a lesson everyone should learn. Alex, you learned to balance, don't worry about what others feel about that in you. I think you got ahead of most in this.
_________________________________________________
A good measure of who a person is can be found in how they treat their animals.

 

[troyhoma]

Devil

I think the devil is the angel who wanted to be the most powerful there was and wanted to be god himself, he was thrown down from heaven as the bible tells the story and started to become his own god on this planet and many others, now there have been many storys left out of the bible for many reasons but we must look back to the start of time like egpyt,alantis etc many things happened then reflect the now. Many other angels have decided to take the same side as lucifier to try and over throw god but it will never happen, as to the evil that is related to the devil it all starts within ourselves (fear & negativity etc) we have forgotten how to love ourselves and be kind to ourselves and others and as children(light) of god anything and everything is attracted to this white pure light, but in past lives we have done our own wrong doing as we experience life, so what i am trying to say is that once we conquer our fears and love ourselves and others there will be darkness so to speak. As the saying goes we learn by our mistakes and they make us better people in the future we all need to learn how to forgive and love ourselves and others to overcome our fears(darkness) so that we can take our next step of understanding why we are hear on earth.

 

[northsea]

Wheel of Change

I like Genetti's interpretation as the holly king. (I don't believe in the traditional devil.)

 

[squeakmo9]

as to the evil that is related to the devil it all starts within ourselves (fear & negativity etc) we have forgotten how to love ourselves and be kind to ourselves
once we conquer our fears and love ourselves and others there will be darkness so to speak. As the saying goes we learn by our mistakes and they make us better people in the future we all need to learn how to forgive and love ourselves and others to overcome our fears(darkness) so that we can take our next step of understanding why we are hear on earth.

There is nothing as dark as ignorance and apathy. I think there can be no greater challenge than to question one's actions, intentions, and motives. The Devil can take you through deep and dark passages but it is well worth the journey to get to the light.

 

[rl4ever]

Cool thread!

According to the traditions from which the original Tarot cards derive, the Devil refers to the bondage that naturally ensues from putting self-interested passions ahead of the love of God. Whether this concept is perceived as embodied by an actual, sentient entity or as a symbol, the meaning is the same. To overindulge in “fleshly” lusts, materialism, power hunger, etc, makes us slaves to our baser passions. Overcoming such narcissism and focusing on an order higher than ourselves (God, any higher power, Good, whatever one perceives as offering a greater calling than simple self-serving behavior), can set us free. The “devil”, in whatever form we expeience "him", has no power over us that we do not allow. At least, that’s how I interpret this card. If you’d like to see my take on it, click here: http://www.real-lady4ever.com/Tarot/Pg6.html.

Hope this thread gets lots of attention; it’s fascinating!
CJ