What does the card The Devil mean in Tarot?

The card The Devil represents in the Tarot the desires and mundane aspects of human existence. This card can intimidate or even scare those who do not know, however, there is no reason for panic, because The Devil only mirrors characteristics already existing in humanity.

Considering that the origin of the concept of Devil is Christian, we can also analyze this card as a representation of the capital sins. Lust and greed in particular are the sins that best relate to the card The Devil, and they can be presented in a literal or symbolic way.

When someone draws this card in a Tarot game, they must prepare themselves to deal with their most intense desires, as well as reflect on aspects of their own shadows that possibly hadn't been explored before. Read more in the article to understand its meanings

Fundamentals of the letter The devil

To unravel the mysteries that reside in the card The Devil is a complex task, because this card is the representation of the soul itself incarnated, with all its desires. To understand The Devil, it is important to look at yourself, and see your most hidden desires. To understand better, read the following topics!

History

The history of the letter The Devil is shrouded in a mist of mystery. Its engraving refers to the icon present in Christianity as a villain and symbol of subversion since the time when the Knights Templar participated in crusades. It has been, since then, a representation of the danger of unraveling the mysteries of magic, under the Christian perspective.

The Devil present in the Tarot is also inspired by the image of Baphomet, a figure that can be considered the pagan representation of the relationship between knowledge and worldly life. The same figure was also interpreted by Aleister Crowley, at the beginning of the 20th century, as an androgynous creature of High Magic that manifests itself through sexual magic.

Iconography

The XV Tarot card is not presented only by the image of the Devil or an interpretation of Baphomet. The imagetic composition of the card is given by the image of an anthropozoomorphic figure, that is, with human and animal physical aspects, with one hand raised and the other lowered, in reference to the term "As above so below".

The expression can be translated to the term "On earth as it is in heaven", which symbolizes the consequence of earthly actions in the spiritual world. Besides the central creature, the card The Devil has in its composition two human figures, being a man and a woman, who are linked to the Devil by a chain or rope, depending on the illustration.

The image of connection between the devilish figure and humans can represent both the link between humans and their most hidden desires that sometimes make them slaves to their desires. However, another possible analysis is related to the mystical symbolism of the Devil, thus representing a pact or alliance made with humans.

The major arcana

In the study of divinatory art can be chosen various oracles. However, if the object of study chosen is the Tarot, your apprentice will need to know 78 cards, among them are the major arcana, which are the first 22 that make up the deck. Despite being the first cards to be studied, they can also be the most complex.

The major arcana manifest deep meanings related to hidden desires and the deepest characteristics of human existence. If misinterpreted, a major arcana can be considered ambiguous, so it is extremely important to know all the possible symbolism and meanings that inhabit each card of this group.

Card related to the sign of Capricorn

The horns of goats are present both in the symbol of the sign of Capricorn, as in the card The Devil, however, the similarities do not stop there. Capricorn is, among the signs belonging to the earth element, the most connected to material aspects, being even considered as greedy or stingy at times. Exactly this aspect is what connects the sign of Capricorn to the Tarot card.

Ambition is an explicit characteristic in Capricorns, as is the desire to enjoy the pleasures of worldly life. However unbridled greed can be responsible for trampling over more relevant aspects of existence, such as empathy and respect for the needs of others, and can also lead to a life of futile and fleeting pleasures, essentially material.

Meaning of the card The Devil

The card The Devil carries many meanings, among them are lust, fleeting passions, desire for power, ambition, material gain, heightened sexuality and even pride. Although these aspects can have a pejorative connotation, they need to be interpreted according to the Tarot drawing. To unravel them, read below!

Desires and sex

Desire, dominance, fascination, and primal impulses all reside in the card The Devil, and because of this it is a great card to play in a sex life drawing. It represents vigor and vitality, a desire to explore the instincts without shame or guilt, and can symbolize a very lively sex life.

However, it is important to be careful not to become a slave to one's own pleasures, reducing life to a hedonistic experience, without softer feelings or forgetting to see the reality that exists around you. A life lived impulsively can be either pleasurable or dangerous, so it is important to tame one's instincts.

Ambition and money

Ambition can be positive when one wants to achieve goals and realize ideas and dreams, but if this motivation is used in a negative way it can even blind, with greed. The Devil in the Tarot represents both the desire for material gain, as well as money itself, being necessary to interpret the other cards that accompany it to understand the answer.

If the question was related to a professional project or a new negotiation, the answer with the devil is usually prosperous. However, the same card also warns about possible illusions caused by excessive ambition, or even lack of humility to face situations. It is important to keep your feet on the ground to achieve fortune.

Untamed passions

The Devil in the Tarot explicitly transmits the fleeting and untamed passions, which can even dominate those who do not have self-control, or even those who wish to let themselves be carried away by these more intense feelings and experience intense sensations. The question is: how much do you dominate your passions and how much do they dominate you?

Not only in the field of relationships, The Devil refers to all kinds of passions, such as addictions or excesses and emotions that are exploited in an inconsequential way. We know that a life without passion can become dull, but an existence reduced to this can also be very dangerous and even empty of meaning.

Hidden Powers

The card The Devil also has the role of representing the search for hidden powers, which can be related to the capacity of domination over others, or cunning, using all this impetus and desire to achieve what you want, regardless of the social or moral cost that this achievement may have for those who have such ambition.

Another possible interpretation of the occult powers presented by the Devil in the Tarot is the search for connection with the world of magic, to achieve gains in the material world. This representation can be observed in the iconography of the XV card itself, which shows a man and a woman chained to the devil, which symbolizes the desire for success, material gains and power.

The Devil in Love

In love, The Devil can express the intensity of a carnal passion or a relationship in which dominance and the desire for power reign supreme. Now that you know most of the meanings of the card The Devil in Tarot, it's time to learn how to unravel it in the love field.

For committed people

For people who are already in a relationship, The Devil can be a wake-up call to assess how healthy the relationship is. Intense emotions can often capture passionate hearts and seduce them, but when overexploited, the same emotions can become treacherous.

The Devil in the Tarot for committed people represents exactly the need to get in touch with the shadows and analyse if the relationship, although it is often pleasurable and intense, does not have some level of toxicity. These aspects can show themselves in domineering behaviour or in the incessant search for pleasure.

However, if the relationship in question is healthy, the card The Devil may be present to represent a relationship more connected to the carnal senses

For singles

Many conquests, high turnover, intense passions and possible illusions. The Devil in the Tarot shows the pleasure of conquest and hidden desires being explored without guilt, but can also warn of a possible illusion, after all, what much attracts also deceives easily.

For singles who come across the Devil card in the Tarot, the advice is to be cautious as a whirlwind of intense emotions, and sometimes even forbidden ones, can arise. However, it is important to try to maintain balance so that you don't get carried away by the intensity of the moment and end up losing the ability to discern what is concrete.

The Devil in work and financial life

The Devil in the Tarot is one of the most positive major arcana when presented in a drawing about financial matters, as it represents ambition and material gains, however it is important to be cautious at work, an area where excessive greed can be harmful. To find out how the card can be interpreted continue in this article.

For employees

The Devil in the Tarot is a card that can present a certain level of alertness, and can also suggest caution towards levels of ambition. In a professional environment it is important to evaluate various aspects for decision making, which can end up being harmed when the individual is immersed in his desire for power.

Therefore, it is good to reflect on how having a certain degree of ambition can be productive for one's career, but when one oversteps the limit, the same ambition can deceive and turn into greed and thirst for power. Once such emotions are under control, the card The Devil can represent material gains, expected or not.

For unemployed persons

It is very common to get desperate when you are unemployed, but the letter The Devil asks you not to get carried away by too tempting proposals, because they can be immense illusions that can cause a worsening of the financial situation.

As soon as you are careful with illusions and establish a realistic standard, the same card gains a positive meaning, because its fundamentally material representation can signal financial gains, coming from work or projects that require determination and a pinch of ambition.

However, it is still important to be cautious with partnerships and companies or gambling, as in both cases there is the possibility of being deceived, either by yourself or by others.

Financial situation

The symbolic essence of the card The Devil is material, so its relationship with finances is very close. It can symbolize a phase of many financial gains and abundance, since it is the card most linked to the physical world. For this, it is important to keep your feet on the ground and analyze clearly the financial situations in which you enter.

This is because The Devil in the Tarot also appears as a warning to the reckless use of money, whether to satisfy one's own pleasures to the detriment of more important issues or betting on investments that seem to be very profitable and end up proving to be fruitless.

Combinations with the card The Devil

The study of Tarot requires deep knowledge of all the cards in a deck, because the meaning of a particular card can be changed dramatically depending on the combinations present in the drawing. To better understand the possible outcomes of this mystical equation, read below!

Positive combinations for the card The Devil

As seen above, the Devil card in the Tarot represents intense emotions and fleeting pleasures, as well as hidden desires and material ambition. However, the same card can gain positive meanings, depending on which Tarot cards accompany it in the drawing. Discover below some positive combinations with The Devil in the Tarot:

The Devil and The Star: The XVII card, The Star, is the representation of personal brilliance and renewal. Therefore, when associated with The Devil, it transmits a sensation of hope to overcome the turbulent moment, either seeking balance in oneself or in external factors.

The Devil and The Tower: The XVI Card, The Tower, represents a rupture from which it is impossible to escape. Even being feared by many, it gains a positive meaning when combined with the card The Devil, because it represents the end of illusions and the phase of vices and fleeting passions.

Negative combinations for the card The Devil

The Devil card in Tarot has intense symbolism and can have negative meaning when associated with some cards, especially the cards The Madman and Death, because in both situations their most destructive characteristics are intensified. Understand better the combinations in the text below:

The Devil and Death: Death, as a rule, has no literal symbolism, but when associated with a card with the intensity of the arcane The Devil, it can become fatal. This happens because this combination indicates that the vices and excesses can be so intense that only an abrupt rupture will put an end to them.

The Devil and The Fool: The card The Fool is the symbol of someone who is willing to enter a new journey or change the course of life. Therefore, when associated with the card The Devil in a combination, it represents an individual who walks towards material desires and plunges headlong into this dangerous trajectory.

A little more about the letter The Devil

Arcane XV, The Devil, has a lot of intensity that can be directed in a positive or negative way, depending on the situation in which the person is. Its interpretations are not only divinatory, but work as a direction, and a possible warning for one's own attitudes. Discover more meanings of the card The Devil in Tarot!

The Devil in health

As The Devil is a card linked to harmful behaviors and excesses, its presence in a health drawing shows that there are toxic behaviors poisoning the consulent. They can be from excessive consumption of sweets, to the use of heavy drugs, which cause addictions and health problems that can be irreparable.

The Devil in the Tarot also warns of other dangerous health behaviors, like unprotected sex with multiple partners and even possible Burnout, since the card is also linked to ambition. So, it's time to take that break from work and dating to take care of yourself a little more.

Inverted card

When the Devil card appears inverted, it is mostly a good omen, since it symbolizes the possible end of a stressful situation caused by lack of control and excesses. However, its inverted appearance is also an invitation to analyze the situation in which you find yourself in a deeper way.

The Devil in the inverted Tarot can be an invitation to rethink the deepest desires and ambitions, and also to analyze if the journey to achieve such goals is really worth it. Another reflection proposed is to analyze the authenticity of the motivations to achieve the goals one aims for.

The Devil in the Yes or No Drawing

Considering that most of the connotations linked to the card The Devil in Tarot are negative, in a drawing that requires a "yes" or "no" answer, its appearance tends to express the answer "no". However, it is important to remember that the Tarot is an instrument of self-knowledge, and has cards with complex symbologies.

For this reason it is recommended to use them to obtain explanations that can overcome the barrier of objective answers and generate internal reflections that can be productive. In the case of the Devil card, reflections can show harmful and even dangerous behaviors that need to be seen.

Challenges of the card The Devil

The Arcane XV, The Devil in the Tarot, is a card that brings with it several challenges to be faced. Mostly, they are related to the control of one's own impulses and the search for balance, which can happen through the journey of self-knowledge. A journey that begins at the moment when one sees one's own shadows and weaknesses.

Another challenge presented by the card The Devil is the creation of the ability to discern illusions from reality, not allowing oneself to be blinded by ambition, as well as the ability to have empathy, seeing beyond one's own needs and the search for one's own pleasure, making room for the creation of real and uninteresting relationships.

Tips

The following tips can serve for those who draw the card The Devil in the Tarot:

-Analyze behaviors that may be toxic;

-Beware of unbridled ambition;

-Avoid extreme behavior and alcohol or drug abuse;

-Flee from interest-based relationships;

-Evaluate an investment well before you invest your money;

-Be cautious with fleeting passions;

-Keep your feet on the ground.

Can the card The Devil indicate a good time to reflect on your own decisions?

In this article we quote some reflections brought by the card The Devil in the Tarot and, without a doubt, analysing one's own decisions is one of them. The Arcane XV deals with dangerous behaviours and intense desires, which can often result in impulsive decisions. Therefore, The Devil invites to an inner reflection.