The Devil
The Devil appears as a horned, ram-skulled figure who binds others with chains, symbolizing bondage to appetites, debt, jealousy, control, or oppressive contracts. Upright, he offers seductive comforts—heat, luxury, and the numbing habit of routine—that can mask entrapment and feed on denial and secrecy. Reversed, the card signals awakening: you can identify the clasp, name the pact, and choose to unhook, renegotiate, detox, or walk away. It calls for radical honesty and owning your shadow while establishing grounded boundaries and conscious pleasure so desire becomes fuel rather than a destructive blaze; freedom here is practical and immediate—count the cost, reclaim your will, and step out of the ring you once mistook for fate.
Keywords
Visual description:
A towering, muscular figure with a ram’s skull for a head looms in a dark forest, the numeral XV marked upon a curling horn. A long braid hangs from the skull and meets a metal medallion on his chest, from which heavy chains descend. At the chains' ends, two small, naked, green-haired figures sit on gnarled roots with collars around their necks. Ferns and sparks glow around them as small flames lick from the ground.
Meaning:
The Devil arrives as the horned lord of the deep woods, evocative of the Slavic Chort—the bargainer who knots promises with iron rings and warms them by the fire. Upright, he offers heat, luxury, and the numbing comfort of habit, and we say yes while pretending the collar cannot slip free. You may feel bound by appetites, debt, jealousy, control, or a contract signed in hunger, and the more you avert your eyes, the heavier the chain seems. He feeds on denial and secrecy, turning desire into a trap and pleasure into a bill that compounds. Reversed, a sharp awareness forms like a key in your hand: you see the clasp, name the pact, and choose to unhook it, renegotiate, detox, or walk away. This card asks for radical honesty about what you serve and what serves you, inviting you to own the shadow rather than let it drive from the dark. Grounded boundaries and conscious pleasure tame the fire so it becomes fuel, not a forest blaze. Freedom here is practical and immediate—count the cost, reclaim your will, and step out of the ring you once mistook for fate.
Slavic Legends Tarot
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