Abrac
It suddenly became obvious to me what that symbol in the Devil's hand is saying. The key is in Waite's comment in the PKT, "Hereof is the chain [enslavement] and fatality of the material life."
One of Wiktionary's definitions for fatality is: "Invincible necessity, superior to, and independent of, free and rational control."; and from the Oxford American Dictionary: "Helplessness in the face of fate." This seems to be the sense in which Waite uses it here.
Levi also uses it in this sense a lot; he contrasts it with intelligence or will, fatality representing bondage and will representing liberty. In The History of Magic he goes so far as to equate fatality with "astral perversion" and the Satanic. In the chapter "Divine Synthesis and Realisation of Magia" he says in the context of astral perversion: "Each of these vices is personified by a black idol or by a demon, which is the negative and distorted reflection of the divinity who communicates life: these are idols of death. Moloch is the fatality which devours infants. Satan and Nisroch are gods of hatred, fatality and despair." The reference to Moloch is similar to another he makes in the same book concerning Kronos: "Fatality consumes itself and is that old serpent of Kronos eternally devouring its tail." In Transcendental Magic, "Astrology," in the context of describing the properties of certain numbers he says: "30 is that of Saturn or Fatality."
At one point I entertained the idea that it was a sign from palmistry but got bogged down in what all the individual lines might mean and missed the forest for the trees; now I can see the details aren't that important, its real importantance is as a symbol of the blind forces of fatality. The torch of intelligence between the horns of Levi's Baphomet has been brought down to the material level; Baphomet's pentagram which is upright has been reversed with the point of Spirit now below the points of the elements; and the sign of fatality is flashed by the Devil showing what he is and what he has to offer. Waite says the Hierophant gives a blessing with his right hand but the Devil's is the reverse of that, a curse apparently.
Some have suggested it's a Saturn symbol, which makes sense, it has some of the characteristics of a Saturn symbol. Some RWS clones go all the way and make it a Saturn symbol, Case for example. But if you look at the original 1910 version it's clearly not a Saturn symbol, at least not entirely. It may have been designed to resemble the Saturn glyph, but there's more to it. Palmistry lines seem to make total sense.
1910 Devil Hand
One of Wiktionary's definitions for fatality is: "Invincible necessity, superior to, and independent of, free and rational control."; and from the Oxford American Dictionary: "Helplessness in the face of fate." This seems to be the sense in which Waite uses it here.
Levi also uses it in this sense a lot; he contrasts it with intelligence or will, fatality representing bondage and will representing liberty. In The History of Magic he goes so far as to equate fatality with "astral perversion" and the Satanic. In the chapter "Divine Synthesis and Realisation of Magia" he says in the context of astral perversion: "Each of these vices is personified by a black idol or by a demon, which is the negative and distorted reflection of the divinity who communicates life: these are idols of death. Moloch is the fatality which devours infants. Satan and Nisroch are gods of hatred, fatality and despair." The reference to Moloch is similar to another he makes in the same book concerning Kronos: "Fatality consumes itself and is that old serpent of Kronos eternally devouring its tail." In Transcendental Magic, "Astrology," in the context of describing the properties of certain numbers he says: "30 is that of Saturn or Fatality."
At one point I entertained the idea that it was a sign from palmistry but got bogged down in what all the individual lines might mean and missed the forest for the trees; now I can see the details aren't that important, its real importantance is as a symbol of the blind forces of fatality. The torch of intelligence between the horns of Levi's Baphomet has been brought down to the material level; Baphomet's pentagram which is upright has been reversed with the point of Spirit now below the points of the elements; and the sign of fatality is flashed by the Devil showing what he is and what he has to offer. Waite says the Hierophant gives a blessing with his right hand but the Devil's is the reverse of that, a curse apparently.
Some have suggested it's a Saturn symbol, which makes sense, it has some of the characteristics of a Saturn symbol. Some RWS clones go all the way and make it a Saturn symbol, Case for example. But if you look at the original 1910 version it's clearly not a Saturn symbol, at least not entirely. It may have been designed to resemble the Saturn glyph, but there's more to it. Palmistry lines seem to make total sense.
1910 Devil Hand