XV - The Devil

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The Devil tarot card
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XV - The Devil

Keywords

Evil. Temptation. Challenge. Power & Responsibility. Need for Self-Love, Action, Truth. Shadow Work/Inner Battle. Mirror or Prism. To the Good/Light. Mindless Obedience. Confusion. Ignorance. Weaknesses. Lies. Crudity. Brutality. Materialism. Indifference. Cruelty/Egomania/Greed/Hatred/Psychopathy/Sexual Coercion/Violence. Immorality. Scapegoat. Trapped. Abuse. Fear. Chaos. Maya. Normalisation of Evil. Hell.

Themes

The Devil is a powerful cosmic force, like gravity, that prods us. What will you do? Will you be dragged down - or will you free yourself?

The Devil is our weakest point through which we are tempted most, and which when engaged in battle produces the greatest growth.

The Devil is what we collectively invent when we refuse to accept or deal with evil on Earth. All the war, greed, lies, violence and sexual coercion is displaced onto The Devil. So we don't have to change. The Devil is a useful scapegoat.

The Devil can be about undeserved guilt and shame that needs healing. Such as that from childhood sexual abuse.

The Devil may indicate a need to attend to material matters (and not about evil).

How to handle evil, both personally and collectively?
As you delve deeper into life, new situations/responsibilities/people may evoke unexpected patterns in you or expose previously unknown weaknesses.
You may also more directly encounter the evil and materialism that is so widespread on Earth.
No matter how enlightened you are, it's like the cartoon with an angel and a devil on your shoulders. Who will you listen to? Vigilance is vital.
Other techniques include: self-love, inner battle, shadow work; connect to Good/Light; ask the forces of Light to help you; prayer; flee it and build your spiritual strength; connect to Truth, beyond maya. Read more here, here, here.

Comparisons

As the reverse of The Magician, The Devil is the application of creative power and intelligence to selfish and wicked ends.

The Devil is a parody of The Hierophant. It is "the concealer of sacred things" (vs. the "revealer").

Strength (VIII) grappled and harmonised with the personal animal nature.
The Hanged Man (XII) looked at and owned the personal shadow.
The Devil looks at these not only personally, but also collectively.
Armed with the Truth from Justice (XI) and the Angel of Temperance (XIV), the seeker is being equipped to be a warrior for the forces of Light.

The suffering and evil of The Devil may be insufficient for us to evolve. Trapped and ignorant, sometimes we will need the sudden shock of The Tower.

Notes & Quotes

In virtually every pack the chains are loose enough for the captives to free themselves.

"Human beings do not understand where their rejection of certain laws will lead because they have never studied the far-reaching consequences of a thought, a word or an action. If they had more discernment, they would sense that at the exact moment they reject these laws, they become weaker, because they open the door to dark powers which seize them and bind them hand and foot. It is a law: the less we control our thoughts, our desires, and our whims, the more enslaved we become.
You may say that you want to be free to satisfy your desires. Fine, but you must know that this is the direct path to slavery. You will be a slave to yourself, or rather to very primitive inner forces which will strike you down and take complete control over you. True freedom begins with mastery of oneself. When wise men advise human beings to learn to master their impulses, it is not for the pleasure of bullying them, but because they know that the absence of mastery opens the way to illness, imbalance, and death."
(O.M. Aïvanhov)

"Just as the Spirit needs matter in order to create, so good needs evil in order to manifest itself; otherwise, without anything to stimulate it, good remains dormant. Evil arouses good, and good then projects itself onto the matter of evil, as if onto a screen. It is thanks to evil that good can show itself to be good; without evil we would not know what good is. If we tried to wipe out evil, good would also be eliminated. Evil is the root system of good, and if the roots of a tree are cut, it dies.
This does not mean that we should try to increase evil, to feed and reinforce it. No. It is quite strong enough as it is. But we must accept that it cannot be avoided, and we must learn to use it. We cannot evolve or transcend ourselves if we do not encounter difficulties. So, be glad! You will always be stimulated, always inspired and alive, because evil will always be there. You will always have problems, there will always be flies, wasps, snakes and wicked people; it is up to you to make use of them for the good."
(O.M. Aïvanhov)

"Look beyond the obvious to the heart of every test and you will conquer fear." (Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki)

"The Devil can be a mirror or a prism." (Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki)

Also see:-

Maps of Consciousness articles

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