The Illustration and the meanings it produces The loose chains, the satanic symbols, the ugly horned creature squatting on the pedestal, the nude couple with the woman sporting grapes (wine) on her tail and the man’s tail on fire: Rider Waite’s devil is the one of Christian culture. Note that this couple seems to be copied from Adam and Eve in Lovers (by the artwork). Devil, Lovers, and Two of Cups are three Rider Waite Tarot cards that show a couple with a figure above them interfering in their story. In each of these, the figure above is an interfering influence: a malefic (bad, adverse) influence in Devil and Two of Cups, and a (angry?) supervision in Lovers. Is that the angel that evicted them from the Garden? - because the terrain isn’t a garden. Nevertheless, it appears as a guardian angel at times. And in case you’re thinking Hierophant also has the three figures in its illustration: We are talking about a couple (not two male monks). Hierophant’s middle figure, the pope, isn’t interfering in the lives of the monks who also serve in the rituals. The reason I selected ‘bound’ to represent the title to call Devil in the back of your mind is that the chains, of course, are binding or are bonds; but also Devil is all about obligation, being bound to. That concept births most of the positive words for Devil. Yes, there are positive words for Devil! 1 The chains play varied roles in the concepts Devil lends itself to. Devil’s underlying core meaning is that it's your susceptibility to whatever the offending element is that connects you to it - that what holds (you) back is something (you) can get out of – and this idea applies not just to people but to anything. In real physical life, that susceptibility is usually a belief or an assumption. Devil also can represent bonds of belonging which operate the herd instinct. And it can represent any kind of physical dependency. The most obvious application re this concept of susceptibility is the way we accept our vices, our bad habits, our faults, and the acceptance of the same sort of things in our culture and in our neighbors. ‘That’s not so bad’ kind of thing. Tolerance that breeds excuses for abuses (deep subject, that). But the chains also represent the way we are accustomed to accepting our environment, and therefore allowing … without an examination ... whatever circumstances the environment contains. The naked couple there is passive: They could remove the chains at will. But they like it like that because they are susceptible to it. We are susceptible to what we are used to. It’s all about attachment – and ‘attachment’ is my second choice for the title to Devil. Devil Frequent Words and Phrases The lesser of Devil’s evils: Devil isn’t always a heavy card. It indicates a sex act or the word 'sexual.' In the right company, Devil is down-and-dirty good sex. With any of the cards that say ‘feeling,’ Devil can feel that way instead of be that way. People feel guilty when they aren’t. Do remember that this is one card that the surrounding cards show you how to apply – how to take it. For example: Page of Pentacles and Devil can express a person whose feelings are hurt, as well as a bad person, or a person who thinks he (or the subject of your spread) is bad. This pair of cards can say ‘evil-minded’ just as easily as they can say ‘think that’s a bad thing’ or 'feel guilty.' 2 Devil can also designate a nearby card as the problem, as in the phrase ‘has a problem with’ and then that nearby card’s translation. For example, Judgment meaning ‘again’ with Devil can say ‘recurring problem,’ and Strength meaning ‘overcoming a problem’ with Devil can translate ‘overcoming a sex problem’ or ‘overcoming a problem with addiction’ or even ‘recovering from disease.’ Devil and Three of Wands as ‘income’ translate ‘a problem with income.’ Of course, since Three of Wands also means ‘coming in the future,’ the pair can simply say ‘will be a problem.’ Watch for that with cards that mean future or past: They can put the card they associate with into the future or past, instead of expressing their other meanings. When this happens with cards that mean a problem or a bad thing, I call them rescue cards because they remove the immediate sting from the ‘bad card.’ Devil can mean anything awful, so it’s not specific enough to be a leading card. This is the card we usually look to last, unless it is tracking something we are already familiar with in our line of questioning. Common specific words for Devil are: worst, problem, bad. You can count on Devil to mean any vice, any sickness, and to represent whatever the vice or sickness is in the story you are reading. Fairly often, Devil with Strength say ‘overcoming addiction.’ Since Devil can represent whatever is bad or worse or worst, we shall first examine its neutral to not-so-bad words and phrases: Attachment, a bond, even a connection – because of those chains. Here, the idea of a bond expands to include ‘obligation’ and ‘obliged’: Devil with Three of Pentacles as ‘contract’ say ‘contractual obligation.’ Devil is being bound by your word (“obliged to live up to …”). Bound by a vow, as in giving up liquor for Lent! So the chains bring Devil words like bound, obligation, and attachment. (Once Devil was the ‘attachment’ of pages paper-clipped together.) Do remember that words have a spectrum to them. Professionals check out the tone or 'drift' of the overall spread, and avoid going against that grain. Devil represents the influence of humans' lower self, which isn’t necessarily devastating in a given instance. ‘Problem,’ for example can be a small, medium, or large difficulty. ‘Pain’ or feeling bad also has quite a spectrum, from irritation to agony. 3 Tarot Verbatim™ is language-based, so words like these (problem, pain, etc.) can appear for relatively minor to large ‘bad things.’ The distinction is made by the surrounding cards, by the question, and by the story line or history – even by one’s pain tolerance. One person’s nightmare is another person’s adventure. And Devil can simply say ‘the downside’ or ‘the shadow side.’ For instance, watch for Devil to supply a negative prefix to some words: ‘mal,’ which means wrong as in ‘malformed; ‘ill’ as in illegal; ‘dys’ as in dysfunctional; ‘dis’ as in disrepair. Devil translates words like these (pain, problem) that – depending on context - are neutral, or not-too-bad, or awful, and the context determines where on the spectrum. The context is nearby cards, the question, and the story line you are following. Are you, or the person you are reading for, upset?: then you will tend to choose the heavier translations for negative words. (That’s why you ask someone else to do a reading for you when *what you want to know about* is a thing that troubles you.) When I do readings for people whose world-view at least for the moment is very negative, they will turn a perfectly upbeat story into one of doom! (A reading like this feels like driving a truck without power steering.) At times like these, the question rules: be as specific as you can. Relatively innocuous (innocent) words Devil may give your sentence are: attachment, physical, sex; mistake; problem; ‘have to’ or ‘forced to’; dislike; bad mood; difficult; obligating oneself; dirt and dirty; ugly; deformed or in disrepair; neurotic; pain; unpleasant; depression and other down feelings; immoral. Devil translates these words that are neutral to not-so-bad, and we can over-exaggerate them. Let’s continue with the list of some relatively not-so-bad words that Devil may translate. These words do appear in the list of Devil words below as well. physical unpleasant rude and lout the hard part guilt fault and faults 4 disagreeable unpleasant being mad infection mean nasty in spite of disorder problem dirty disadvantage handicap limitation bad habit disabled or disability dysfunctional grimy or dirty corrupt and corruption black sheep taking the brunt of it Devil means ‘condemned’ or ‘condemnation,’ which can refer to buildings, or to someone’s opinion. Once in a while Devil can appear sort of playfully too in phrases like ‘don’t you just hate.’ Now let’s bring up something on the weird side. The word ‘physical’ also belongs to Devil, especially ‘physical attachment’ or ‘physically attached,’ even something like a trailer hitch or a staple or paper clip. And Hierophant, the pope, can also translate 'physical.' Duh? - why is this? - strange bedfellows! My best assessment is: Because demons love the physical world – they try hard to get into it, to become physical. The picture here shows the devil’s influence on two people. (That is what the whole satanic culture is about, really.) Hierophant is making the distinction between the actual physical ritual with all its paraphernalia and the spiritual intent of the ritual. (Remember, Hierophant’s point is about the surface appearance, the ‘face,’ versus the underlying reality.) 5 This is a good place to remind everybody that the meanings in Tarot Verbatim™ are not assigned; they arise ‘in the field’ from observation of thousands of spreads in which the answer was the ‘known’: I asked questions I knew the answers to and let the Tarot cards express that meaning as they chose, using the whole deck each time, and I kept detailed notes of it all for more than ten years.