15 | The Devil
Model, Grant Gunther
"Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?"
-Black Philip, The Witch
The Devil is card number 15 in the Tarot’s Major Arcana. The number 15 in numerology is most commonly thought of as 1 + 5 = 6 when working with its meaning and interpretation. Once broken down to the number 6, it embodies the frequencies of harmony, family, curiosity, and responsibility, which can be further explored in The Lovers card.
The Devil is about giving in to temptation and vices, showing us our shadow self is out of alignment and needing to be looked at and integrated. Our personal demons come in many forms and guises, like self-worth, jealousy, shame, rage, abandonment, anxiety, and so on. Making us so uncomfortable that we’ll do anything we can to escape from being with the emotion once it’s stirred up, causing us to retreat and run away rather than sit with the feeling. Our devilish behavior can manifest as thoughts and urges centered on instant gratification, falling into old patterns, or numbing as an escape. The Devil represents handing over your power to what has control over you in exchange for not having to deal with the deeper issue. When this card comes up, it’s time to reflect and be real with yourself about where you're spending your energy that’s draining you.
General Meaning - Vice, temptation, the shadow, addiction, dependency, pleasure, self-sabotage, & excess.
When Reversed - Freedom, release, redemption, detachment, reflection, & reclaiming personal power.
Navigating The Devil’s archetypal energy-
The Devil is another card, much like Death, that brings fear and anxiety with it. It is important then to acknowledge that it signifies a struggle with personal demons rather than satanic demonic forces that it’s so often mistaken for. Think, “the call’s coming from inside the house!” Or to quote Radiohead’s song, Just, “You do it to yourself, you do. And that's what really hurts. Is that you do it to yourself, just you. You and no one else.”
While it can be hard to look at the parts of ourselves we’re not proud of, doing shadow work is a necessity to personal growth and living a more satisfying and enjoyable life. It’s much easier not to look under the surface and blame others for our shortcomings, continuing to live life on a loop, be it addiction to work, shopping, substance, sex, or even anxiety. We use all kinds of ways to escape and run from our edge, doing anything we can to soften or avoid it altogether. However, the truth is it won’t go away until it teaches us what we need to know, and there’s no real escape. We’ll just keep returning to the same old problem with new forms, names, and variations until we learn what it needs to teach us, and realize where we’re separating ourselves from the collective. The only way out is through, and only once we allow ourselves to sit with, digest, and experience what the shadow wants to teach us will it no longer haunt us.
In this card, we see The Devil holding a lit joint in one hand and a cocktail in the other. Depicted with red horns and an inverted pentagram, a symbol associated with many meanings from the goat God Baphomet, to symbolism of the material realm with its downward point opposing the pentagram’s upward point of spiritual connection. The Devil’s head is thrown back in ecstatic laughter as he holds out these two vices of pleasure to those wishing to partake, happy to provide a short-term escape. The Devil is located in a lush green terrain representing the wild and unruly energy he brings with him; there’s no controlling or reasoning with this energy until things have run their course.
Next up, navigating chaos and watching things go up in smoke with The Tower. Stay tuned for the next card release in The Green Mountain Major Arcana’s journey next Friday, 8/8!
With love,
Megan Gonzalez
