- Element
- Earth
- Arcana
- Major
- Attribution
- Capricorn
- Feeling shows as
- A theme running the situation
- Stage
- The feeling has acquired a hook
The Devil
as feelings
They want you in a way that does not feel entirely free to them.
Why
The Devil is intense and it is about bondage rather than depth. As a trump it describes a theme large enough to be running the situation rather than a passing mood, which is why it outweighs the cards around it.
Upright and reversed
What it is like to hold this feeling.
A reversal is not the opposite of the upright card. It blocks it, delays it, turns it inward or takes it too far, and which of those depends on the kind of card it is.
Upright
The Devil is intense and it is about bondage rather than depth. There is real pull here — physical, compulsive, hard to leave alone — and there is a chain attached to it. The card describes a person drawn to something they may not have chosen if they were thinking clearly, and aware at some level that this is the case. It is not a warning that they are a bad person. It is an accurate description of attachment that has a hook in it, on one side or on both.
Reversed
Reversed, the chain is being seen. Either they are recognising the compulsion for what it is and beginning to loosen it, or the denial has deepened and the pattern is being defended. The card reversed is usually the more hopeful of the two.
Reversed, a trump is a theme being resisted, delayed or lived out privately. The theme does not disappear when the card is inverted — it goes underground, which is generally harder on everybody than the upright version.
Where the feeling is in its arc
The feeling has acquired a hook.
The Devil is a feeling with something attached to it that was not chosen. The pull is real, it is strong, and part of it is not free.
What is missing is agency, and the position is honest that the chain is usually being held rather than locked. That is worse news and better news at once.
Attributed to the sign Capricorn, the cardinal earth of structure, ambition and the weight of the material. A trump carrying a sign describes a climate rather than an event — the weather a feeling is happening in, and weather lasts.
The same card, four situations
It does not mean the same thing for an ex as it does for a stranger.
Each reading below is built from two things that differ card to card: what the element does to a feeling, and how far along that feeling is.
Someone you have just met
A zodiacal trump at the start of something describes the climate the connection is beginning in rather than a reaction to you. What it reports will still be true in a month, which very little else this early will be. Here specifically, the Devil is a feeling with something attached to it that was not chosen. The pull is real, it is strong, and part of it is not free.
A relationship you are already in
Inside an established relationship a zodiacal trump names the season the two of you are in. Seasons are long, and what is happening is usually larger than the week it is being felt in. Here specifically, the Devil is a feeling with something attached to it that was not chosen. The pull is real, it is strong, and part of it is not free.
Someone who ended it, or who you ended it with
For a connection that has ended, a zodiacal trump describes a condition rather than a decision. It says what the ending was made of and declines to predict whether the weather changes. Here specifically, the Devil is a feeling with something attached to it that was not chosen. The pull is real, it is strong, and part of it is not free.
A feeling neither of you has said out loud
When nothing has been said, a zodiacal trump means the silence has a climate to it — a settled condition rather than a held breath, and conditions do not resolve because somebody asks. Here specifically, the Devil is a feeling with something attached to it that was not chosen. The pull is real, it is strong, and part of it is not free.
The part most readings skip
What this card cannot tell you.
A feelings position is the one place a reader most wants to be told what they were hoping for, which is exactly why it is the easiest to misread.
- A card describes a quality of feeling. It does not identify a person, confirm that they are thinking about you at this moment, or guarantee what they will do next — and any reading that offers those things is selling certainty the deck does not contain.
- Feelings positions are the ones readers most want a particular answer from, which is exactly why they are the easiest to misread. If a card seems to confirm precisely what you hoped, that is the moment to check it against what has actually happened.
- One card is one input. A feeling that contradicts everything a person has done for six months is a card that needs the rest of the spread, not a card that has revealed a secret.
Keep going
A feeling is one position in a spread.
The full meaning of The Devil — upright, reversed, love, career, money and the symbolism the painting carries — is on its own page. If you have not drawn a card yet, the reading below deals a real one.
