Manga Tarot: The Devil

Seasonal Glyph: Fall

Two figures, a man and a woman, are bowing down or cowering in the midst of a raging fire that has taken the form of a devil. In the foreground is a withered tree stripped of its leaves.

This card evokes for me the image of a forest fire. Dead wood is consumed by fire more easily than wood that is still green and full of life. In the same way, we are more easily consumed by the fires of lust, anger, hatred, or other unwholesome mind states when we allow our inherent goodness to wither away and we become spiritually dead.

Perhaps once we've been consumed by these fires until nothing but ashes are left, the experience will provide the fertilizer for new spiritual growth - if we are lucky enough to break free from destructive habits and learn from our mistakes.

Alan

I don't care for this card. It's the worst in the deck, IMO, (in terms of both artwork and concept). I think it is too limited and too focused on one, negative meaning... a meaning that I ascribe to a different card anyway.

Mellifluous said:

I don't care for this card. It's the worst in the deck, IMO, (in terms of both artwork and concept). I think it is too limited and too focused on one, negative meaning... a meaning that I ascribe to a different card anyway.

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I have to say that this isn't one of my favorite cards in this deck either. I don't know if it's the worst for me, but it's one of the worst. The card misses the more playful and more overtly sexual aspects of this archetype. Even for its negative significance, the man and woman bowing submissively isn't as effective a portrayal of bondage as the more usual chained figures.

I am curious though. Which card do you feel is closer to the meaning portrayed by The Devil? The Tower, perhaps?

Alan

Yes. You got it in one. lol The abject fear they seem to be in is something I associate with the Tower.

Though the Tower in this deck does show more personal power than most of them do. Maybe it's another example of meanings being shifted around to different cards in this deck. Hmmm.

The card misses the more playful and more overtly sexual aspects of this archetype. Even for its negative significance, the man and woman bowing submissively isn't as effective a portrayal of bondage as the more usual chained figures.

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This is exactly my gripe with this card as well. It also misses out the idea of deceit.

Plus, I just don't like the look of the fire monster - or the light it casts, as the case may be. It looks a bit silly/ugly to me... Surprising, in such a beautiful deck.

The branches and leaves are more visually interesting to me, in terms of artwork, but don't really seem to fit with a Devil card. Though they do match up with the Autumn glyph.

Edit: I just reread your first post and I suppose it does capture the obssession meaning - the possibility of being consumed / preoccupied by an obssession. The card should have touched upon so many more things though.