The Devil
The Devil depicts a horned figure presiding over a shadowed parlor where chained people, a pentagram, and a ticking watch symbolize temptation, material obsession, and routines that bind. It shows how desire can harden into dependency, roles performed until the heart grows numb, and fear disguised as comfort. Upright, it asks you to name the ties and confront self-deception; reversed, it suggests slackened chains, a stilling pendulum, and the possibility of reclaimed agency. The card calls for ruthless honesty about bargains you accept and courage to break what drains life, pulling you back toward remembered sovereignty.
Keywords
Visual description
A pale, horned man sits on an ornate green-upholstered chair against a stone wall, a pentagram hovering above his head. He holds a small temple-like building on his lap and a large pocket watch or clock with a swinging medallion hangs in front of him. Two chained figures — a shawled woman on the left and a ragged man in a top hat on the right — are tethered by golden chains to the watch. The image is framed with an ornate gold border and a nameplate at the bottom reading 'UNCLE HIRAM THE DEVIL.'
Meaning
The shadowed parlor breathes with the hush of temptation as the horned figure presides, the pentagram like a crown of ancient compulsion. You can feel the weight of the small temple and the tick of the clock, a reminder of bargains made and routines that bind; the chained man and woman sit bewildered yet tethered to an idol of time and habit. Here is the story of desire becoming chain: pleasures folded into dependency, roles performed until the heart grows numb, and fear disguised as comfort. If you are caught in this picture upright, you recognize the forces that seduce and trap — material obsession, self-deception, and the slow erosion of freedom — and you are being asked to name the ties. If the card appears reversed, the air shifts; the chains slacken, the pendulum stills, and the possibility of disentanglement and reclaimed agency emerges. Whether you are waking to bondage or tasting release, the moment invites ruthless honesty: examine which bargains you accept, which voices you obey, and where courage can break the clasp. Transformation here is not sweet but elemental, a pulling away from what drains life toward what calls you to remember your sovereignty.
Crooked Way tarot
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