There is no doubt that Death and The Devil are the most infamous cards of the Major Arcana. Exploited heavily by the entertainment business, these cards are perceived as bad and evil. Lucifer. Mephistopheles. Satan. The Prince of Darkness. Baphomet. This card has all sorts of bad associations. But what is this card really trying to tell us? Usually we think that the primary reason for all the evil in the world lies outside us, that some mysterious force we call the Devil forces us into outmoded ways of behaving that no longer serve us, or into actions that bring pain to us or to others. But as usual, the problem is inside, in our own weaknesses and addictions. What is important is to be honest with oneself and see where these behaviours originate. There is no outside force making us do things. The man and woman on the card only seem to be chained; they could leave any time they wanted, but they want to stay. Just as an ordinary person loves his weaknesses and habits, whether he admits it or not, the man and woman stay inside their containers of perception and behaviour. This card is not about balance but about the tremendous power of extremes. Of course, it is not wise to engage constantly in bestial, material ways of conduct, but in order to achieve great things, sometimes unthinkable progress and victory, extreme focus and will are welcome.
On the card
Perhaps the most prominent motif in this card is its completely black background. This card and The Tower are the only Major Arcana cards with that feature. Obviously, the black background represents the absence of light, pointing to the fact that the evil aspects of this card are merely the result of an absence of light. The Devil has an inverted pentagram on his forehead, a symbol of distorted and ill-founded mental faculties. In its natural orientation the pentagram symbolizes a human being, but this one symbolizes falsehood and delusion. He sits upon a half-cube, symbolizing an imperfect understanding of the physical world, which is represented by a whole cube. The two people beneath him are personifications of the self-conscious and the subconscious mind; their horns and tails indicate that delusion bestializes and degrades human consciousness. They are chained to the cube, but as was said before, that is another delusion: they are content with their bondage, not knowing what they could become if they set themselves free. Another inversion of the natural order of things is visible in the way The Devil holds his torch. If you point fire downwards, sooner or later you will get burned. The Devil's breasts allude to his androgynous nature. Through the sum of its digits and through its iconography, The Devil is related to The Lovers (number 6). Both cards speak to our drives, the drives that take us out of the Garden of Eden. The central figure in each card is winged, each lives in the archetypal ether, and each is crowned: the angel in The Lovers with fire, The Devil with a pentagram and ram's horns. Both cards show a naked man and a naked woman. But in The Lovers there is still a sense of newness, wholesomeness and hope; in The Devil they are chained by the neck and partly transformed into creatures of the underworld, transformed by their taste of darkness, by the fruit of the underworld.
Upright
Positive associations of this tarot card are will, persistence, permanence and commitment.
Reversed
The most prominent associations of this card are weaknesses of the body and the soul: entrapment, attachment, lust, greed, ignorance, anger. It is our bondage to all things material. Generally speaking, this card is not a good sign, but in a position where commitment is needed it can have a positive effect on success. It can also be a sign that you are gaining control. It can personify the animal, instinctual and even bestial parts of us.