Comparative Tarot 15: The Devil

[Rose Lalonde]

The Devil

 

Please see the discussion thread if you'd like some background about the study group.

 

As a visual start, here are the Tarot de Marseille Noblet (Flornoy), the RWS, and the Thoth. You don't have to compare your deck with these, though, if you have another deck in mind.  (My usual image host is having issues uploading so I've just attached this time. )

If you'd like to add an image of the card you're discussing that would be great. If not we can google it.

 

You can write about the same deck someone else did.

 

Feedback on comments about this card are welcome here! For general questions and suggestions, please use the discussion thread.

[Squeaky]

Thw Wildwood's version of the Devil is the Guardian, thew skeleton of a big black bear guarding the mouth of a cave. It's interesting, because the Bear reappears in the corollary to Judgement, only this time clothed in white fur, still guarding the mouth of a cave but with it's paw, and from above. (The bear also shows up as the Queen of Wands.)

 

To me, this card speaks to the need to get past the appearance of the bogeyman in order to go into the darkness of on'e own internal world. The bear can look threatening (it's an ambulatory skeleton, after all) just like the Devil looks scary in the RWS deck. But in reality, the Devil and the Guardian are only as scary as our own shadows. Which is to say, legit terrifying but also so intimately part of us, like breath and blood. 

 

I don't prefer one over the other, the decks are so different they call out to me at different times and for different purposes. I tend to work more with the Wildwood because it is cheeky with me, and I appreciate the humor/occasional slap in the face when I get overly serious.

 

[Pio2001]

Hello,

It is often difficult to find a positive interpretation of the devil.

I find that the RWS devil and the Marseille devil are a bit different. They have in common an idea of leadership, and strength. But most of the times, in the tarot de Marseille, the devil is smiling. It is not the case in the one given above, so let me give other examples : 

 

 

From left to right : Grimaud (1891), Grimaud (1930), Grimaud (early XXth) (source : BNF Gallica), Ben-dov.

 

It allows a positive side given by Marianne Costa, and also Romain Delava : to look into oneself and accept our weaknesses as they are. To be happy with the fact that we are not as grand and noble as the emperor or the chariot, for example.

 

On the opposite, the devil doesn't look happy at all in the RWS tarot. This interpretation can't work with it. But on the other side, a positive thing about the RWS devil is that it commands respect and has a natural authority. That's not the case with the diable in the tarot de Marseille.

 

[Misterei]

42 minutes ago, Pio2001 said:

... It is often difficult to find a positive interpretation of the devil.

... It allows a positive side given by Marianne Costa, and also Romain Delava : to look into oneself and accept our weaknesses as they are. To be happy with the fact that we are not as grand and noble as the emperor or the chariot, for example.

Interesting take on Devil! I also have discovered he has positive aspects. He's more humorous in the older decks. So serious in RWS.

[Chariot]

Normally I interpret The Devil as whatever temptation, notion, or relationship keeps me seemingly 'stuck' and unable to free myself.  I normally see this as something I can overcome, once I recognise my own complicity in the situation and say, firmly, 'no more.'  The Devil is usually depicted (in RWS-based decks) as a semi-mythological creature—horns, cloven hooves, etc—that doesn't exist in the real world, but only in an imagined world.  So, like the scary giant underneath my childhood bed, it can be dismissed once I say to myself 'this isn't real.'  In that sense, The Devil is a positive card, when upright.  It means that whatever is bothering me or holding me back seems a lot more powerful than it actually is.  A good self-shake and a realigned attitude usually does the trick.  An ACTUAL problem doesn't usually appear in a Devil guise to me.  The Devil card in a reading is usually a sign that I'm probably making a mountain out of a mole hill.

HOWEVER, then I ran across this card: The Devil from Ciro Marchetti's Tarot Grand Luxe.

 

And when THIS Devil appears in a reading, it gives me the heebies.  Because this Devil DOES look like a real person—dressed in a costume, but with a compelling and evil intent that bodes me no good at all.  It doesn't seem so easily dismissed—or even dismissed at all.  Yikes.  I love this deck and use it a lot, but this Devil scares me.  I have a tough time seeing it as anything positive or under my control at all.
 

[Pio2001]

Interesting ! I had never thought about the devil as an imaginary evil.

[WhiteMoon]

On 4/13/2024 at 1:04 AM, Chariot said:

Normally I interpret The Devil as whatever temptation, notion, or relationship keeps me seemingly 'stuck' and unable to free myself.  I normally see this as something I can overcome, once I recognise my own complicity in the situation and say, firmly, 'no more.'  

That is my interpretation of the card as well. The Robin Wood deck depicts this with two people clinging to a treasure chest that’s chained to the floor of a dungeon with an attractive doorway showing the way out. (Unfortunately I’m unable to paste or link to the image here.)

[WhiteMoon]

Now that I'm on my laptop, I can add the image.

[Misterei]

The Devil has become an extremely contextual card for me.

 

In RWS, there's no doubt he's evil and keeps us enslaved to material desires and the lower chakras. The loose chains show that we humans are most often complicit in our own enslavement / entrapment.

 

About 6 months ago, reading with the Devine Deco deck, the Devil started appearing in a positive light. I'm travelling so can't upload a photo but Devine Deco illustrates the Devil as a puppet master of sorts. But he's also virile and handsome. These readings were deeply personal and reflected certain spiritual struggles in my life. As such, I embraced the Devil of these readings as quite beneficial and positive for me. Still, I would not necessarily read this way for a client. As mentioned, this was deeply personal shadow work.

 

Eteilla Devil is visually similar to typical, yet the meaning is more positive. Human strength and potency. As such, Thoth deck seems to embody some of this positive approach to the Devil. It's clear from some of the card meanings, that Eteilla wasn't particularly on "Team Church". He seemed to have bit of agenda to mock the Church in some of his cards.

 

Which circles back to this positive Devil. At times, we need Saturnine energy to combat the Solar energy of Church and State if they become too powerful, corrupt, or oppressive. This touches upon Vedic mythos and the eternal battle between Saturn and Sun. Devil as Pan, the witches god, the god of oppressed peoples, the god of humans standing in their own power when the Church/State tries to disempower them.  Again, I don't necessarily bring all this while reading for a client--but it's there.

Edited June 26, 2024 by Misterei

[WhiteMoon]

I hear that. The Devil is almost always about shadow work for me, but he can also be a trickster. I’ve noticed the pan-ish aspect of Crowley’s goat-devil as well.