Major Arcana · 15

The Devil

The chains are loose. That is the hard part.

Upright · Reversed

Keywords: bind, appetite, the chain you can lift off
Upright: A bind that is real but self-maintained — appetite, habit, an arrangement that pays enough to keep. Seeing it clearly is most of the work.
Reversed: The loosening beginning, or a denial that any chain is there at all.

In a three-card spread

In the Past position: Read as what is still exerting force — not what happened, but the part of it still pushing on the present.
In the Present position: Read as what is currently available, and where you actually stand. The spread usually turns on this card.
In the Future position: Read as tendency: where this leans if nothing changes. A statement about the present phrased as a direction — never a claim about what will happen.

III

The major arcana

The major arcana are the twenty-two named cards, traditionally read as larger turns than the minors — not the day's advances and retreats but a change in the frame itself. When one appears in a spread it usually means the matter is not entirely yours to arrange.

Neighbouring major arcana

Written on this

The Devil Tarot Card Meaning: The Chains Are Loose, and That Is the Hard Part

The Devil, fifteenth of the major arcana: a bind that is real but self-maintained, why the chains are loose, and how the card mirrors The Lovers.

6 min read