The Devil
The Self-Chosen Chain
The energy of the card
Two people stand chained before the Devil – and the chains hang loose. The card shows dependency, entanglement, excess and the shadow sides we would rather hide. It also shows: the way out lies in your hands.
Your path with this card
Freedom begins the moment you see the chain. Every honest look at your shadow loosens it a little. The Devil invites you to look at what binds you – and to set yourself free.
- What holds you captive, even though the chain hangs loose?
- Which shadow side deserves your honest look?
In the shadow
Here the card itself lies in shadow: addiction, power games, jealousy, acting against your own convictions. It invites you to take your power back.
The image and its meaning
He is a master of seduction.
No one can entirely escape the lure of evil. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to break imposed chains and to cross new boundaries. The card often also symbolizes our inner couch potato, hidden hostility and chaos.
But we can free ourselves from these shackles. The card inevitably recalls the Fall, the expulsion from Paradise. Humanity as the victim of its own desires.
It reminds us that our human life is defined not only by the striving for purity, but also by the seduction of darkness. We must also face our own shadow side and sometimes submit to purer values and to morality. Otherwise we wither into chained, diabolical and will-less tools of our own dark side.
The Devil here does not embody the typically bad and unholy. Often it is precisely the supposedly holy that has very devilish and life-denying traits. After all, the Devil often likes to take the form of an angel of light, the better to seduce his victims.
Related cards
Tarot Temperance
Temperance finds the right measure, the Devil loses it. Together they show the way from bondage to freedom.
Lenormand The Snake
The Snake in the Lenormand carries the same entanglement: seduction and winding paths.
Symbols on the card
- Fackel nach unten gerichtet · Zerstörerische EnergieSymbolisiert die Umkehr von Licht zu Dunkelheit.
- Gefesselte Figuren · Abhängigkeit, SelbsttäuschungDie Ketten sind locker – die Gefangenschaft ist selbst gewählt.
- Schwarzer Hintergrund · Verdrängung, UnbewusstesVerweist auf das Dunkle in uns, das gesehen werden will.
- Umgekehrter Pentakel · Verkehrung spiritueller OrdnungDas umgekehrte Pentagramm steht für Dominanz des Materiellen.
- Ziegenbock mit Fledermausflügeln · Triebe, dunkle MachtSymbol für niedere Instinkte, Versuchung und Abhängigkeit.
