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The Devil (Tarot card)
Encyclopedia
Trump Card
Trump Card was an American syndicated game show that aired from September 10, 1990 to September 6, 1991 and was hosted by Jimmy Cefalo. Debi Massey served as hostess and Chuck Reilly was the announcer. The show was produced by Telepictures Productions, Createl, Ltd., & Fiedler-Berlin Productions...
or Major Arcana
Major Arcana
The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana...
card in most traditional Tarot
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.
Symbolism
In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the DevilDevil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
sits above two naked human demons—one male, one female, who are chained to his seat. The Tarot Devil card is derived in part from Eliphas Levi
Eliphas Levi
Eliphas Lévi, born Alphonse Louis Constant , was a French occult author and purported magician."Eliphas Lévi," the name under which he published his books, was his attempt to translate or transliterate his given names "Alphonse Louis" into Hebrew although he was not Jewish.His second wife was...
's famous illustration "Baphomet
Baphomet
Baphomet is an imagined pagan deity , revived in the 19th century as a figure of occultism and Satanism. It appeared as a term for a pagan idol in trial transcripts of the Inquisition of the Knights Templar in the early 14th century...
" in his Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1855). Baphomet is winged and horned, combining human and bestial features. Many modern Tarot decks portray the Devil as a satyr
Satyr
In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus — "satyresses" were a late invention of poets — that roamed the woods and mountains. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing....
-like creature. In the Tarot of Marseilles
Tarot of Marseilles
The Tarot of Marseilles , also widely known by the French designation Tarot de Marseille, is one of the standard patterns for the design of tarot cards...
, the devil is portrayed with facial features in unusual places, such as a mouth on his stomach, eyes on his knees, and with female breasts and male genitalia.
According to Waite
Arthur Edward Waite
Arthur Edward Waite was a scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. As his biographer, R.A...
, the Devil is standing on an altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
. In his left hand, the Devil holds a great flaming torch
Torch
A torch is a fire source, usually a rod-shaped piece of wood with a rag soaked in pitch and/or some other flammable material wrapped around one end. Torches were often supported in sconces by brackets high up on walls, to throw light over corridors in stone structures such as castles or crypts...
inverted towards the earth. A reversed pentagram
Pentagram
A pentagram is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes...
is on his forehead.
Eliphas Levi says in his book, Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual that:
- "A reversed pentagram, with two points projecting upwards, is a symbol of evil and attracts sinister forces because it overturns the proper order of things and demonstrates the triumph of matter over spirit. It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns, a sign execrated by initiates." In Native American tarot, the attribution is often more complex than this.
Divination usage
- Materialism ----- Ignorance ----- Stagnation ----- Self-bondage
- Lust ----- Egoism ----- Obsession ----- Anxiety ----- Anger
- Hedonism ----- Passion ----- Instincts
- Sexuality ------ Temptation ----- Doubt ----- Vice
- Futility ----- Physical attraction ----- Pessimism ----- Insight
Please remember that all Tarot decks used for divination are interpreted according to personal experience and standards.
Interpretation
The Devil is the card of self-bondage to an idea or belief which is preventing a person from growing or being healthy—an example might be a belief that getting drunk each night is good for you. On the other hand, however, it can also be a warning to someone who is too restrained and/or dispassionate and never allows him or herself to be rash or wild or ambitious, which is yet another form of enslavement.The Devil is the 15th card of the Major Arcana, and is associated with earth and Capricorn. Though many decks portray a stereotypical Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
figure for this card, it is more accurately represented by our bondage to material things rather than by any evil persona. It also indicates an obsession or addiction to fulfilling our own earthly base desires. Should the Devil represent a person, it will most likely be one of money and power, one who is persuasive, aggressive, and controlling. In any case, it is most important that the querent understands that the ties that bind are freely worn.
Mythopoetic approach
The Devil is both the Ur-Adversary, and a tremendous source of strength. He represents nearly an inexhaustible source of energy. Battling him gives us strength. Submitting to him completely is ego-death.As with The Magician (Tarot card)
The Magician (Tarot card)
The Magician, The Magus, or The Juggler is the first trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination...
, the iconography of most of the standard Tarot suits appear. His wings represent Air, the suit of Swords. The torch in his hands, and the flames in the tail of the male devil represent Fire, the suit of Wands. The grapes in the tail of the female devil invoke Earth; the same grapes appear in most of the cards in the suit of Disks. Only water, Cups are missing. On one level, this is curious; water is of the unconscious, and The Devil dwells in the subconscious. On another level it is heartbreaking; what is missing from the Devil’s realm is The Grail, the kindly blessings of the Cup.
Perhaps to make up for the lack of water, the kindlier aspects of this card can be seen in the Two of Cups
Two of Cups
Two of Cups is a Minor Arcana tarot card.Tarot cards are used throughout much of Europe to play tarot card games.In English-speaking countries, where the games are largely unknown, Tarot cards came to be utilized primarily for divinatory purposes....
.
If the Major Arcana is analogized to the Sun’s circle across the sky, The Devil governs the Sun at midnight, when it is most vulnerable to the Old Night. The ancient Egyptians tell of the serpent demon Apophis
Apophis
Apophis may refer to:* Apep, an Ancient Egyptian mythological demon, in Greek known as Apophis* Apepi , a Hyksos pharaoh of Lower Egypt* 99942 Apophis, a near-Earth asteroid...
, Chaos, who would sometimes lay in wait for Ra
Ra
Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
as he piloted the boat of the Sun down the Nile to be born again in the morning. Sometimes, Apophis would swallow the sun. Mercifully, the reversals of the night brought Set
Set (mythology)
Set was in Ancient Egyptian religion, a god of the desert, storms, and foreigners. In later myths he was also the god of darkness, and chaos...
to an unlikely rescue; he ripped Apophis open and let the Sun escape. Set, The Devil, is the adversary but sometimes, he is our best and only ally.
In Jungian terms, he is The Shadow: all the repressed, unmentioned or unmentionable desires that lurk beneath.
The Devil is related both through his cross sum (sum of the digits) and his iconography with Key VI, The Lovers
The Lovers
The Lovers is the sixth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.- Interpretation :...
. Both cards speak to our drives; the drives that take us out of the garden; the drives that make us hard, make us warm, make us live. The central character in each is winged; each lives in the archetypal ether. Each is crowned: the Angel in The Lovers with fire, The Devil by a Pentagram
Pentagram
A pentagram is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes...
and ram’s horns. Above each rides a naked man and a naked woman. But in The Lovers, there is still some sense of newness, wholesomeness, and hope; in The Devil they are chained by the neck and partially transformed into creatures of the underworld; transformed by their taste of the darkness; by the fruit of the underworld.
The chains are loose. They can be slipped. The Devil’s own torch can light the way out and light the return, back to the surface.
Popular culture
- In the video game Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, the Devil Arcana is associated with an effeminate and greedy business man known as Tanaka. In Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, originally released in Japan as simply , is a role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus for Sony's PlayStation 2, and chronologically the fifth installment in the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series. Persona 4 was released in Japan in July 2008, North...
, the Nurse Sayoko you meet in the optional hospital janitor job is represented by the Devil. The arcana features demons who are well known for their immense power, such as BeelzebubBeelzebubBeelzebub -Religious meaning:Ba‘al Zəbûb is variously understood to mean "lord of flies", or "lord of the dwelling". Originally the name of a Philistine god, Beelzebub is also identified in the New Testament as Satan, the "prince of the demons". In Arabic the name is retained as Ba‘al dhubaab /...
, Abbadon and LilithLilithLilith is a character in Jewish mythology, found earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, who is generally thought to be related to a class of female demons Līlīṯu in Mesopotamian texts. However, Lowell K. Handy notes, "Very little information has been found relating to the Akkadian and Babylonian view...
. - TV series ReaperReaper (TV series)Reaper is an American television series that focuses on Sam Oliver, a "reaper" who works for the Devil by retrieving souls that have escaped from Hell.The series originally ran on the CW from September 25, 2007 to May 26, 2009....
has an escaped soul working as a fortune-teller who discovers the identity of Sam the Reaper by turning over several devil tarot cards. - The band Tenacious DTenacious DTenacious D is an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. Composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Jack Black and lead guitarist and vocalist Kyle Gass, the band has released two albums – Tenacious D and The Pick of Destiny...
refers to this card on the cover of their self-titled album, Tenacious DTenacious D (album)Tenacious D is the first studio album by American comedy rock band Tenacious D, released on September 25, 2001 by Epic Records. The album's polished production was a departure from the band's acoustic origins, due in part to the production of the Dust Brothers."Tribute" was the first single...
. They also refer to it in their movie Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, and their short lived HBO series, Tenacious D (TV series)Tenacious D (TV series)Tenacious D, is a TV series that ran on HBO in 1997, 1999, and 2000. It featured the fictional accounts of the real band Tenacious D, which is composed of members Jack Black and Kyle Gass... - Marilyn Manson'sMarilyn Manson (band)Marilyn Manson is an American metal band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formed in 1989 by Brian Warner and Scott Putesky, the group was originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with their uniquely theatrical performances gathering a local cult following in the early '90s. This attention...
fourth album, Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)Holy Wood is the fourth studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson, released in November 2000 through Nothing and Interscope Records. The album marked a return to the industrial and alternative metal style of the band's earlier efforts, after the modernized glam rock sound of Mechanical...
, features all the tarot cards on the booklet up to the Devil. - In Jojo's Bizarre AdventureJoJo's Bizarre Adventureis a manga written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. Every main character's name in each part can be read as JoJo. The manga, published by Shueisha, first ran in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1987 to 2002, before being transferred to the seinen magazine Ultra Jump in 2004. The current story...
, Ebony Devil is used by enemy Devo the Cursed. - In the anime Yu-Gi-Oh! GXYu-Gi-Oh! GXYu-Gi-Oh! GX, known in Japan as , is an anime spin-off and sequel of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime. It aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between October 6, 2004 and March 26, 2008, and was succeeded by Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's...
, the villain Sartorious, who used tarot cards frequently, used The Devil in a flashback to predict his descent into evil. - In The Hunger episode "The Seductress," the image of The Devil can be seen as a poster in Alexander's room.
- In the manga series X/1999 and it's anime counterpart XX (manga), also known as X/1999, is a Japanese shōjo manga series created by Clamp, a creative team made up by Satsuki Igarashi, Nanase Ohkawa, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Mokona. It premiered in Monthly Asukas May 1992 issue and ran there until the magazine's editors showed concern with the increasingly violent...
, the Devil is Yuuto Kigai. - In the ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
Tarot deck, the Devil is depicted by IagoIagoIago is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello . The character's source is traced to Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio's tale "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi . There, the character is simply "the ensign". Iago is a soldier and Othello's ancient . He is the husband of Emilia,...
. - In the Mythic Tarot deck, the Devil is depicted by Pan.
- In the popular video game series, Tekken, The Devil can be seen as an antagonist throughout the series. Four people in the series have been controlled by the Devil: Kazuya MishimaKazuya Mishimais a fictional character in the Tekken fighting game series. Although originally appearing as the main protagonist in the original Tekken game, he becomes one of the series' leading villains from Tekken 2 onward, after being overtaken by the Devil Gene, where he is known as Devil Kazuya .-In the...
, Jin KazamaJin Kazamais a video game player character in the Tekken fighting game series released by Namco Bandai. Trained by his grandfather, Heihachi Mishima in order to enter the King of Iron Fist Tournament, Jin wishes to avenge his mother's apparent death...
, Jinpachi Mishima, and Azazel. - In the Virtua FighterVirtua Fighteris a 1993 fighting game developed for the Sega Model 1 arcade platform by AM2, a development group within Sega, headed by Yu Suzuki. It is the first game in the Virtua Fighter series, and the first arcade fighting game to feature fully 3D polygon graphics. It has been ported to several home video...
series, The Devil is the name of one of the six branches of Judgement Six, the antagonistic organization behind the series' tournaments. This branch funds military strife and terrorist activity. - In the series Death NoteDeath Noteis a manga created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and manga artist Takeshi Obata. The main character is Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook, the "Death Note", dropped on Earth by a god of death, or a shinigami, named Ryuk...
, Near is seen holding The Devil tarot card when he deduces that there is a shinigami in the midst of the Japanese Task Force. - In the extremely popular Kingdom Hearts 358/2 DaysKingdom Hearts 358/2 Daysis an action roleplaying game developed and published by Square Enix for the Nintendo DS with assistance from h.a.n.d. It is the fifth installment in the best-selling Kingdom Hearts series, and serves as an interquel beginning near the end of the first game, Kingdom Hearts, and covering the period...
(from the Kingdom HeartsKingdom Heartsis an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...
series) the Devil is one of Luxord's cards that he uses as weapons. - In the SNES video game Ogre Battle: The March of the Black QueenOgre Battle: The March of the Black Queenis a 1993 real-time strategy role-playing video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, directed by Yasumi Matsuno with artwork by Akihiko Yoshida...
, the Devil is portrayed as a one-eyed nearly-nude demon with a big horn on his forehead like a unicorn, holding a blue flame on his right hand and taking control of a woman with his left hand. On drawing the Tarot card after liberation of one of the towns, it lowers the Reputation Meter by 1 or 2 points, and summons the demon AsmodeusAsmodeusAsmodeus may refer to:* Asmodai, a demon-like figure of the Talmud and Book of Tobit* Asmodeus , Austrian black-metal band*Asmodeus , the name of several characters in Marvel Comics*Asmodeus...
to use a strong black magic attack on the enemy units when used in battle.