| Strong power that is instinctive and provocative, craving for power, but also against evil. | |
| Dark magic, ritualized sexual activity, the transformation of the self through group rituals. Reverse: the Inquisition on behalf of God that burned the people (mostly women) who were supposed to be witches. | |
| Awareness of a complete and authentic self. Lucifer plays the role of bringing light. | |
| Awareness of a complete and authentic self. Lucifer plays the role of bringing light. | |
| The energy that always desires evil and constantly causes it to be good! |
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I. Background of the Devil Thoth Tarot card
The principle of darkness (creative energy in its most material form) is drawn at the center of the Devil Tarot card is a mountain goat (Hymalaya’s goat) with a pair of powerful horns. It symbolizes Bannebdjet of Mendes’ Egyptian God, which the Greeks considered Pan, the son of Hermes, the lustful plant God. His facial expression exuded an insidious expression because he was the embodiment of darkness, of dark instincts and even unknown things, also the key to open unused spaces in the human soul. You only know instinct, you never know anything else.
There is an intense power operating is the ultimate darkness of creation, dangerous but necessary for life. It is also symbolized by a scepter with winged sticks and Uranus snakes (the ancient Greek symbol for the King), its hilt crashed through to the roots. There is an Egyptian symbol of the winged sun hidden between bird wings on the tip of a stick. It corresponds to the light in the dark (the big third eye on the forehead of Pan God) appears intentionally from the deep bottom: “For pure will, the unremitting purpose stems from the desire to achieve results is perfect in every way. ”(Crowley“ Liber Al vel Legis ”42-4).
II. Analyze and describe the Devil Thoth Tarot
1. Theme (Male Goat)
a. Opponent of God
The Devil Thoth Tarot shows the dark side of God, the soul that creates the world, hidden or confined in the matter, represented by a black crow or a male goat with horns. When God is understood in the double sense, both a loving father in paradise and a God of hatred and punishment, there is no need for the Devil with its present meaning. Therefore, he is hardly mentioned in the Old Testament, and if it is mentioned, he is just an exiled angel, but never a true rival of God. It just stops at the level of God’s image associated with one-sided good, and the Devil is the crystallization of all evil.
As Jung pointed out, the division of four parts of a whole is the four most dominant, in which the fourth position makes the whole, but by nature, it is always understood in a double way. Because except for those three traditional paradises, the fourth position was occupied by Mary’s devotion that spread during the Middle Ages, so it could only be understood in a double sense. But because Mary becoming a pure and unblemished goddess in heaven, it is necessary to create an absolutely opposite image in the world: It is overconfidence in the Devil Thoth, the unknown character for up to that point, along with all its extremes in hunting witches.
b. The scapegoat (sublimation)
In the past, every culture thought that aggression should not be suppressed but respected. It needs to be given space so its blind violence is limited and at the same time, directed towards more positive paths. Ancient atonement rituals and mystical worship systems created channels that led to the transformation and sublimation of the prototype energy of Dionysus and Asasel, the goat God of the Middle East, the scapegoat. If something belongs to God is denied or suppressed, the Devil Thoth Tarot will occupy it and carry out cruel tendencies in activities such as the Appeal of the Sabbath (Black Mass), burning the victims who are considered witches, bloody Inquisition, the Crusade. (Edward C. Whitmont).
c. Collective darkness
In the West, the Devil was first created from separation and struggle in Christianity. The collective darkness was attributed to the Devil in the Middle Ages. To resist its temptation, we can only rely on pure faith. The true relationship with the Devil is left to the mystical figures and alchemists, who are more objective when confronting the darkness. Hermes or Hermes Psychopompos (the character who accompanies spirits from this world into the next world in Greek mythology) is regarded as the escort of sinful spirits because he moves in the realm of darkness with aching pain and uncovered cunning. He is the soul that created the world, a soul that is hidden or imprisoned in the material.
In the rosary of alchemy, Hermes speaks of himself: “I bring light (Lucifer = who brings light), but darkness belongs to my nature.” Pan, in turn, is the horn of the son of Hermes, and he had a mischievous face because he knew that the Devil was expressing his nature under the shadow of light. In the Devil Thoth Tarot, we see everything that this world does not like to look straight at it.
d. To be initiated (the third eye)
The devil has to smile due to this because he realizes that people do not see themselves creating reality and then fighting with it. Following the Gnostic trend in religious thought, the Devil Thoth Tarot is often respected as a true friend and God of humanity, in contrast to the Christian God who is erratic and lacks intolerance, the man who ordered the sacrifice of his own son to reconcile with mankind, even though he had immense power. However, one can sympathize with these images, none of which can deceive us with the idea that this world does not exist evil, no matter what we call it.
We must learn to not only see the Devil in others but also to understand that there are fundamentals within us. We humans are dark magicians, not exactly noticing that fighting our shadow (fighting evil) only leads to collapse and destruction. In contrast, Devil’s third eye on the forehead reflects the wise and conclusive awareness that has been mulled over the self within the patterns of consciousness and behavior of a person.
e. Horned (horns)
Contrary to the unicorn, the Christian symbol corresponds to a five-pointed star with a tip pointing up, and thus, it represents the sacred symbol of unity (a sharp tip), the horns of a male goat symbolizes the pentagram in the opposite state with one lower end and two sharp tips pointing upwards (which were painted in the Rider deck like a reversed pentacle between Devil’s horns), indicating polarity and sin, and becomes a symbol of dark magic. Crowley suddenly announced advice to the British government that they should oppose the German swastika with effective measures by using the sign of victory that Winston Churchill spread.
g. Crown (lotus crown)
The lotus crown between the horns reminds of the Egyptian God Nefertem – “absolutely a perfect person.” He is the God of light and also the God of death. In Egypt, the lotus – the flower that carries the sun within it, is thought to have originated in the original waters, and at the same time, symbolizes the creation of the world from wet areas, and its scent is said to be able to rejuvenate oneself. The flowers, which bloom when the sun rises and closes at night, are related to the God of sun and the development of light from the mud of the primitive age. However, in Egyptian mythology, the lotus crown is the sign through which Isis realizes that Anubis, the child abandoned by his mother, Nephthys, is the son of Osiris. The lotus crown, therefore, confirms that the wearer is the son of good (evil is part of the good).
2. Tree of Life (statue of the penis)
a. Trunk (Lingam – penis statue)
The majestic trunk behind the male goat, in the image of a penis, represents the vivid power of sexual activity rising from the deep bottom.
b. Nuts (yoni – female genitalia statue)
The trunk symbolizes the penis statue rising up to the top edge of the painting and piercing Nut’s yoni symbol, the queen of heaven, which, along with it, entered this eternal part, Goethe ended his Faust character: undying femininity that draws us forward. This is not simply a sexual behavior, although it is not implied, it focuses more on the complete image of the combination of male and female capacities.
c. Root set (testicles)
The roots of the tree are clearly drawn to “show a multitude of leaps of success” (Crowley), corresponding to the longitudinal cross-section of the testicles, where we see the next generation before their lives are formed. We recognize that four male embryos and four female embryos have been given genetics as an arrangement of God.
d. Uraeus scepter (sex)
Part of the dark underworld which is full of the miasma of Creator power is symbolized here, and connected with the ruler of the constellations (Nut) metaphorically, expressing the downfall of primitive things into mundane material (all great gods in ancient times have this dark aspect). This is shown in the ray of light with the winged solar circle and the scepter with the stick-shaped head of Ureaus snakes stretching endlessly down to the center of the earth.
The anchoring in the earth corresponds to the energy of men, it rises as soon as the eternal femininity of the goddess calls. In contrast, the woman’s creative femininity draws the shape (semen) upward and drives it like a lamp leading the way into the receiving port. On a higher level, this also corresponds to the cognitive behavior of Kundalini or the power of snakes (the Devil’s total numbers are equal to the Lovers), starting from the bottom of the spine going up to the top.
III. Interpretation of the Devil Thoth Tarot
1. Background of the Devil Thoth Tarot (cruel)
“The cleverest trick of the Devil”, the addict, Charles Baudelaire, said, “is to convince us that he does not exist.” Among all the cards, the Devil Thoth Tarot (in accordance with his nature) is the most elusive. In general, he is manifested in the experiences of dependence, lack of will, in the failure of good intentions, as well as in processes that violate our firm beliefs. Marie- Louise von Franz wrote:
The best analogy that a person can describe the consequences of devastating devils is the result of the rabies virus. When a virus enters the nerves of a person bitten by a wild animal, it is known that the virus will move exactly to a place in the brain of the bitten person from where it can dominate the entire body. It made him afraid of water so that the virus could not be knocked out of his mouth; it made him wander to be able to interact with a large number of other creatures, and eventually, bite madly so the virus could spread to new carriers. One can think about how a virus can subjugate an important person like Kant or Goethe to the extent that they can only do things that replicate the virus in a mechanical way! Autonomous complexes act exactly in the same way; they can distort or destroy the whole personality.
2. Overview of the Devil Thoth Tarot
The Devil Thoth Tarot, along with Death and the Tower, are cards with a creative potential that cannot be turned into useless by the horrifying terror or the reversal of it into a divine. This card relates to the Lovers because it represents the shadow of the Lovers, which is to fight for the union and harmony through awareness of instincts; it complements Death because it creates life new through sexual motivation; it completes the Art because it is in opposition to the moderation of creation by the insobriety of chaos like the other side of the Lord.
The Devil Thoth Tarot card represents the insatiable greed of the Lust Thoth (XI), the dark part of High Priestess (II), the worship of materialism and hypocrisy, against Hierophant’s principle (V), the easy-to-bribe shadow and self-righteousness of the Adjustment (VIII), or the dark magic of Magus (I), and show that sin erupted and was overcome at the Tower. The Devil is always a tyrant who always stores his wealth for himself and suppresses diversity. He can be a tyrant of the mind or a tyrant of feeling and always live with someone else’s money, and so, we lack the whole and this becomes our failure.
3. Awareness
On the level of our consciousness, the Devil Thoth Tarot card shows that we begin to contact with our dark side. There are experiences through which we are aware of the loss of freedom and dependence. Occasionally, possession and trust in demons, craving for power and invasion are noticeable, things that seem very attractive by crystal black, but they are shabby things in everyday life, secret perverts, small intrigues, weaknesses of ordinary people such as laziness, craving, motivation for personal prestige, jealousy, aggression, and similar distractions.
The shadow can also appear as Oknos, the character is the embodiment of Cupid and Psyche’s evil spirit “yes, but…” and constantly fixes a string but then immediately destroys it. His name also means hesitation, and he represents entanglement in disappointing hesitation. In addition, the Devil Thoth Tarot card also represents rigid thoughts that we are forced to follow, or it can express our fear of evil out there without understanding that we are just looking at our own soul through the mirror.
4. Career
In our professional experience, the important thing is put into one’s own ability to apply or into being dominated by others. The Devil Thoth Tarot warns about being lost in material or unable to resist the interest of power. It shows us that the culprit and victim are two separate sides of the same twisted form of energy that they complement each other. However, it can also warn of a vague deal, which can lead us to conflict with the law, so we must be afraid that denial may lead to the risk of money, freedom or health. It is always a challenge to understand where and how we act against our beliefs.
5. Relationship
Being under the right to massacre of his own shadow and fighting with it (as a substitute) in another person, there is no place more dangerous than the power of this card. Although the Devil Thoth Tarot can also represent temptation, passion, and enchantment, he is often a warning about the surge: he describes the sad development of relationships as entanglement and subjugation in affection, violence, and sadism, which are always based on the power of darkness and the fear within us.
Sometimes, the karmic links also have a part in it, the prolonged entanglement manifests itself in the fact that the two people are constantly evoking each other’s wounds. This card shows the opportunity to change a person’s behavior and the opportunity to realize all the unrealistic possibilities (CG Jung), every mistake (when something is missed), our sins, and the unknown thing within us is our shadow.
More The Devil Cards from Famous Tarot Decks
1. The Devil Rider Waite Tarot
The Devil Rider Waite Tarot card depicts Satyr God as a half human–half goat creature, dancing to the sound of the trumpet that he holds in his left hand. In many myths, the goat is considered as an animal that is not clean and full of lewdness.
<< See More >> The Devil Rider Waite Tarot Card Meanings
2. The Conditioning Osho Zen Tarot Deck
The Conditioning Osho Zen reminds us of an old tale of Zen, there was a lion raised by a herd of sheep, he grew up with a thought that he was a sheep.
<< See More >> The Conditioning Osho Zen Tarot Card Meanings
3. Le Diable Tarot De Marseille
The Devil – Le Diable Tarot de Marseille may refer to an imminent amount of money or everything related to major financial transactions that are sometimes secret or shady.
<< See More >> Le Diable Tarot de Marseilles Tarot Card Meanings
