Western Tarot symbolism
The Devil
The Devil stands over two tailed human figures whose chains connect them to an altar. Reversed gestures and an inverted torch echo sacred motifs in a distorted direction. The commentary stresses that the apparent ruler is also in bondage and need not remain master forever. The divinatory list includes violent force and fatality, not a simple identification with one theological being.
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In the sources
Principal account
LiteraryThe Devil stands over two tailed human figures whose chains connect them to an altar. Reversed gestures and an inverted torch echo sacred motifs in a distorted direction.
Further detail
LiteraryThe commentary stresses that the apparent ruler is also in bondage and need not remain master forever. The divinatory list includes violent force and fatality, not a simple identification with one theological being.
Context & interpretation
The active library scan carries L. W. de Laurence’s name and reproduces material associated with A. E. Waite’s Tarot exposition. Its symbolic descriptions and divinatory lists are distinct registers, and neither provides a guaranteed prediction.
Original passages
Source 1
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
front of the altar, from which two chains are carried to the necks of two figures, male and female. These are analogousOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Western Tarot symbolism; active reader leaf 71
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0149-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0149-E001-P0071
- Original scan leaf
- 76
- Recorded leaf number
- 76
- Current Reader position
- 71
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Source 2
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot: The Veil of Divination
unfortunate combinations, competing interests. 15. The Devil.—Ravage, violence, vehemence, extraordinary efforts, force, fatality; that which is predestined but is not for thisOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Western Tarot symbolism; active reader leaf 149
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0149-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0149-E001-P0149
- Original scan leaf
- 155
- Recorded leaf number
- 155
- Current Reader position
- 149
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Continue exploring
Death
A rider whose passage joins mortality with transformation.
Shared source pageJudgment
A trumpet’s summons calls the figures from their tombs.
Shared source pageTemperance
The blending of life’s essences between earth and water.
Shared source pageThe Fool
The Tarot traveler poised between innocence, freedom, and uncertainty.