My experience with The Devil

About three years ago- I embarked on a relationship that I felt would last. He seemed steady, a guy who had learned his lessons and committed to always bettering his life.
I did a relationship reading then and the Devil came up. I didn't quite understand it then.

We have been split up for almost six months now, and I asked what his feelings for me were (gah! Prying... I shouldn't have done it but it taught me something). The Devil came up.

No matter what they say- no good can come when this card appears. There are 72 cards- a lot of them pretty lovely. I've come to learn there is such a thing as a bad card, a bad omen. In my experience- The Devil is a pretty big one.

I learned that he cheated on me multiple times, was heavily doing drugs when he wasn't with me, and it took until fairly recently to come to terms with the fact he played a lot of head games. All talk. No show. Emotionally manipulative. It has been hard for me to accept that what we experienced wasn't real. I believed the face he gave me, and when the mask fell off- he got ugly. I knew he had a past with drugs, and I showed how proud I was of him and how his past isn't something he should be ashamed of. I had no idea he was lying to me.

So, seeing the Devil today reminded me how none of it was real, and his feelings are not coming from a place of truth, but from some dark place where everything good dies. It was a sign, to me, that he never loved me. He was only using me to fuel is very lead-astray ego. I, like the fool I was- thought I was helping him. That card was trying to show me he was still in a dark place.

I'm posting this because as card readers, we are certainly drawn to philosophy. However I think it wise to not over-intellectualize cards. If it looks bad- it probably is.

I have a friend who consistently draws the Devil as "what she should do" and "action to be taken" and "what she needs more of" which we have come to interpret as her needing to do what she wants, let loose, and luxuriate a good bit, so I tend to see the Devil as not an evil card, but a card of indulgement. She would also often draw Temperance as "what not to be like" and "what you need less of", which we took as her being too moderate, balanced, afraid of offending others...

I admit I have trouble reading the 10 of Swords in a positive light, but not the Devil.

The Devil is a warning to YOU. It is resentments you are hanging on to. He IS in a bad place (another meaning of the Devil) and he (what I like about the RWS Devil card) is can give up the bad things when he wants, but he DOESN'T want.

You also can give up the angry, resentment, and pain of a bad relationship when YOU choose. Maybe it is time to forgive YOURSELF. You can't forgive him for being a dreadful person until you forgive YOURSELF for being involved with a dreadful person.


Barb

Ace said:

The Devil is a warning to YOU. It is resentments you are hanging on to. He IS in a bad place (another meaning of the Devil) and he (what I like about the RWS Devil card) is can give up the bad things when he wants, but he DOESN'T want.

You also can give up the angry, resentment, and pain of a bad relationship when YOU choose. Maybe it is time to forgive YOURSELF. You can't forgive him for being a dreadful person until you forgive YOURSELF for being involved with a dreadful person.


Barb

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I agree with everything that you said. The devil has a heavily negative connotation for OP but it isn't always so. I do have to disagree that addiction is something he can give up when he wants. You have never known a drug addict.

I know what you mean and I don't mean to be uncompassionate. But addiction is also a choice. He will have a HORRIBLE time breaking his addiction but the first step is to want to change.

barb

Sorry I opted out of this convo

Given that there's ample evidence about how addictive behavior in general and certain specific addictions are largely genetic, I'm with roseinthewinter12 on this one.

That said I think Barb has some really good points. Choice or not, OP's ex IS in a bad place, and his behavior towards OP was just plain bad. I don't always read the devil as a bad card, but in this case I think it's pretty clearly saying "no! this bad thing is still bad! leave it alone!"

The Devil is also a card of obsession--you're six months out and still asking yourself how this guy feels about you. He was bad news then; he's bad news now. If anything, the Devil might be telling *you* to stop asking and move on.

Kristyjnh said:

I have a friend who consistently draws the Devil as "what she should do" and "action to be taken" and "what she needs more of" which we have come to interpret as her needing to do what she wants, let loose, and luxuriate a good bit, so I tend to see the Devil as not an evil card, but a card of indulgement. She would also often draw Temperance as "what not to be like" and "what you need less of", which we took as her being too moderate, balanced, afraid of offending others...

I admit I have trouble reading the 10 of Swords in a positive light, but not the Devil.

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As I said, I think it can still be a bad card. It could be telling her to "be bad" literally As you know- we are after all human and connecting to that wild side every once in a while is important for our sanity. I tend to see it as disruption and destruction. In all things there is just a little bit of chaos, and I personally think it's quite rare when the devil shows up as needed chaos

Like others have mentioned, I do not ALWAYS see the Devil card as being negative...for me I refuse to allow/accept that mentality when reading because I understand that there is never an always any one meaning in Tarot. As we know, it just depends on other cards, situations, etc.

Having said that, I will say that the Devil showing up in readings pertaining to my own life have been negative each time, like the OP stated. The Devil has revealed some very upsetting things about people that had me completely and totally fooled. In fact, I was in denial about what I was seeing in the cards for awhile. I kept insisting in my mind that the Devil was showing up for reasons that were trivial in comparison to what was really going on. But again, just because the Devil has meant terrible and negative things were going down in my life on several occasions, that's what it has meant for me THEN. I still refuse to see it in a negative-only-always viewpoint. I'm stubborn that way ;-)

Ace said:

The Devil is a warning to YOU. It is resentments you are hanging on to. He IS in a bad place (another meaning of the Devil) and he (what I like about the RWS Devil card) is can give up the bad things when he wants, but he DOESN'T want.

You also can give up the angry, resentment, and pain of a bad relationship when YOU choose. Maybe it is time to forgive YOURSELF. You can't forgive him for being a dreadful person until you forgive YOURSELF for being involved with a dreadful person.


Barb

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Except... I don't have any anger or resentment. I'm actually quite at peace with it. I was angry, but I'm far beyond that. It actually surprised me, after all that he did, that I'm ok with it now. if anything- I feel quite sad for him. I was only trying to paint a picture of how devilish the devil can be. But yes I do agree there is a choice in the devil card.