Last week I mentioned that card 14.Temperance was my favorite card. This week's card, 15. The Devil, is the one I like the least. With Temperance we had a sense of rejuvenation after the previous card, Death. Temperance encouraged exploring all possibilities and even situations that at first appeared to be dead and over and done with showed they still had life when Temparance revealed new points of view.. Well...with The Devil card we see that all the options have been explored and we're left with harsh reality. "No more loop holes," says The Devil, "What you see is what you get." Notice how the image with The Devil is very similar to the drawing on The Lovers card only there an angel is blessing a loving couple and here a devil keeps two souls in chains. I think of the line, "Marriages are made in heaven...but we have to live them here on earth."
The Devil is associated with the sign Capricorn which has to do with personal responsibility, physical reality and particularly with debt and karma. The idea is that what ever manifests in our lives is the exact result of our own actions and thinking patterns. Thus The Devil card doesn't necessarily have to be a bad card but how many of us would be thrilled to hear God is going to give us just what we deserve? Not me! When The Devil shows up in a reading advise your client that the situation they are in is their own creation and only total honesty can set them free.. If things appear to go against them they mustn't waste time trying to rebel or blaming others but rather they should ask themselves how the situation is serving them? A sore throat can excuse us from having to say things we'd rather not, or perhaps it serves us because it forces us to stop talking and listen. Likewise a stalled car might turn out to have protected us from a traffic accident. Often when we look at our situations from this perspective amazing new insights come to mind.
Of course, just because a person recognizes how they themselves created their problems doesn't mean they are given a clean slate and the situation will no longer exist. After the sore throat heals one mustn't jump back into talking too much and the car with the broken clutch needs to go to the garage! The Devil has the couple in chains and freedom will only come when the lessons are learned. The Temperance angel promises we have a cure - The Devil says yes, but you still have to take your medicine.
When the Devil card is combined with other cards it tends to alert us to the negative potentials of those cards. The Devil next to The Empress cautions that appears to be a generous opportunity may not be the easy money we imagine. Next to The Hermit, The Devil warns we aren't going to get any leniency from the wise old man. Next to The Wheel of Fortune, The Devil reminds me, "If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all."
Where The Devil appears in a spread tells us what cannot be ignored or wished away. As a foundation card he is warning that nothing good can happen till we've covered the basics - the rent, food etc. Maybe the question involves applying for a job. The Devil says you must have the legal qualifications. Perhaps we're asking about a romance, The Devil asks is the loved one single and available? As a final outcome card The Devil is very clear: you will get out of your situation exactly what you have put into it.
There IS a positive side to the old goat. If we have learned the lesson of the previous card, Temperance, which says toss ideas back and forth, then we know that when we get negative news from The Devil while we can't deny reality, we don't have to give it more value than it deserves. The truth may be you are in a tight spot, but we have respond-abilities. Respond to what's good. Thoughts become things.
Here's to manifesting the good ones,
Rosada
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Rosada, EXT 2340
CertifiedPsychics.com
I'm really enjoying this journey but the hard hitting reality of the devil has been an ordeal, I want to ask to move onto the next card but seeing as its the tower I don't know if I should or am ready for it. Cant wait to read your insight on the tower though, but for the fact that whenever I follow things like this I have them come up in my life quite vividly I'm starting to get worried... I'll hold onto to hope for the week of the star!
ReplyDeleteDear Muman,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this insightful comment. Focusing on a negative card can indeed cause one to see negative conditions all around one but hopefully after a bit the more positive message of the card comes through. With the Devil one may come to recognize where they have over committed themselves or taken on too much but this card can also make you aware of the proper - and thus positive - attitude to a take in such situations. In the case of The Devil that means once you come to recognize where you're responsibilities lie, you don't try to avoid them but embrace them, fulfill them.
With 17. The Tower however, I suggest just a quick peek and then put it away and focus on 17. The Star!