April 3, 2010 - The Devil

The Devil has been coming up for me a lot lately.  A lot.  Often I will ask for clarification and pick another card because I'm obviously not getting it.  I think what I get after this card, my clarification card, is like one of the blind men with the elephant.  I get to see one part, close up.  But I don't get to know the entire elephant.  I can stay a blind man when what I need is to see the whole picture, to step back and see the elephant in the room for what he is, and maybe get him out of the room and back where he belongs.  


The Devil's in Tarot doesn't reference the Christian Devil and the personification of evil.  Rather it is us trapped by the material world, all the ties that bind (but don't, not really), all our addictions, all the things we let rule us, concentrating only on our mortal selves, forgetting our divinity.  This card shows up in readings when we are in an unhealthy and unproductive situation and urges us to escape our chains, to change.


The Devil card tells us we are experiencing bondage in some way.  We are obsessed, addicted, enslaved.  We've submitted to another, willingly or not, and we've lost our independence.  The card also comes up when we are focusing too much on the material and forgetting the spiritual.  Now here comes the fun stuff: staying in the dark, choosing ignorance, being unaware, fearing the unknown. And feeling hopeless, believing the worst, despairing, lacking faith.


I keep getting this card because this is where I find myself these days.  And I'm not really sure how to escape these chains even though I know, as the man and woman in the Devil card know, they can escape if they choose.  Joan Bunning says that when this card comes up you need to hold onto the highest vision of who you are.  May it be so.