Atu XV - The Devil

The Devil

Another of those largely misunderstood cards, the Devil can represent that which bedevils us, and also "devil" people in our lives, but more to the point, it represents how we create our own chains, and use the shadow side of our souls (ego) to justify our repressions.  The creative force is suppressed here, blocked by Saturn's rings, while the horned beast smirks at our self-created trap.  The beast is in fact a neutral force, judging nothing, but affirming Crowley's basic tenet "Do what thou wilt is the whole of the Law".

from the original website: 

 XV - The Devil.
"The Devil is not to be feared but rejoiced. The card is no doubt phallic and sexual but is mostly depicting the harmony between man, beast, earth and spirituality. The third eye tells us that we must see the infinite possibilities within our perceptions... thus the magic of creativity. The goat is also the Scapegoat, labeled and shamed by those who don't understand and refuse to explore their own spiritual side. Smiling and coy, the goat is fearless and confident in being himself. You cannot be fooled as you are more clever than opposition. Peace."
bryan

"This is laughter, humor, reality. It is human nature accepted, recognizing your own faults as well as those of others and bringing them to light. Natural instincts, desires, and needs are there for the good or the bad and they cannot remain hidden, if they do, they become our worst enemy. Making friends with our darker side."
Angie

"nuisances, hassles, bedevilments, interference, interruption, the need to maintain your sense of humor and not take yourself too seriously"
Starr

"The Devil card, raw power unleashed. The sexual graphic depicts the moment when creativity is unrestrained. Electricity sparks in the background, and webs of creation and change are at their most primitive state. The spheres contain developing creations. This card represents creation and conception. It has already begun."
Solitaire

"Earthly passions are turning you inside and out. The sign of Capricorn is about being reserved, patient; however, the nature of lust and sex is too overbearing sometimes. Not a bad card. However, could be if natural urges are extremely surpressed willingly. The Devil is not to be taken literally, as most people like to personify this entity. But, the Devil is inside us all and does need expression to a great degree. What we tend to forget in all this confusion is that there is a Higher Power at work here (notice the "Eye" between the goat's head), and that everything eventually returns to this source. So, relax and do not deny our earthly urges; but, at the same time, don't let them consume you either. If this card comes up, your logic(mind) is trying to align up with that higher source to manifest here in physical reality (Earth)...don't give up..."
Dreamer

"The horns on the goat, central to this card, are spiral and rising infinitely to the heavens. The card, to me, represents (among other things) unbridled creativity. Improvisation is the key as the type of creativity suggested here is not cognisant of the result. What will be will be. A free spirit is able to tap into the energy of this card and experience inspiration in the field of the arts and music, or indeed any area. It is not coincidence that at the centre of life's reproductive and replicative nature is the molecule DNA which is also based on a double helix or spiral. In this one molecule involving a code of 4 bases (spiritual significance of 4) life's infinite variety is found."
Tom Adams

"And what is the symbol of Capricorn? It is a picture of the WOMB, united with the sperm: Solve et Coagula."
myrrh

"The devil card is clearly the representation of the phallus. This card represents the sexual aspect of a person. It can be contrived as the devil controlling our sexual urges by some but merely represents Pan, the demi-god who was mischevious but not evil, merely being natural."
PAN

"The Devil is the creation of man. He is the obsession that has taken over and is now the master. It is the CHOICE of his creators to remain captive or to break free."
Sheila Holloway

"A card with a number of meanings: that which we reject and therefore imprisones us. Integration is the key. Integration and analysis. To look without bias, without fear. To see with the eyes of God. There is no enemy anywhere."
Matt

"On the bottom of the card one finds people trapped within the cells, mechanized, organic robots. In classical Tarot tradition, Pan squats over two people in chains around their necks, which they could throw off at any moment. Thoth Tarot takes this to the next level and shows people trapped within their own bodily cells (selves) as domesticated primates (robots). This represents the programmed condition of 99% of the people one meets, but by the realization of this programming, such as a shock to the mind (as seen in the previous card, The Tower; Magical Tarot runs in reverse) one finds the way beyond it, Pan. A programmed nature or rigid mental mindset or routine that one should challenge and change(Art) in order to destroy it (Death), and this must happen repeatedly, magickally (The Hanged Man). A mirror that shows you that you must change in order to lead your own path."
The Fool

"Time of introspection and caution.
Questioning spirituality; reexamination of beliefs.
Can be initiation into new realms of discovery.
Can be renewel of faith.
Conflict with environment and people.
Can indicate stress or fear of something.
Trial that must be overcome."
isis

"The first being to first cut a path through some black new jungle can be forgiven almost anything. Those who come after, to widen the path, do well to show more caution and respons- ibility. There is some kind of appropriative curiosity here, like when you get a new tv and your cat just has to explore the box it came in. The deepest meaning of this card is to be the first in a new dark place, and compelled by necessity to establish for oneself and those to come the idiom of that place. It speaks of a responsibility which has no recourse to peers, or to a culture, or to the divine, wholly unad- vised, and wholly alone, yet wholly commited."
'mammal

"The devil is mans practical side. RA=light=knowledge=GOD Osiris is dark or the earth and is the devils turf. A living man is the devil until he gets enough enlightenment to leave his Natur behind. Pot nature is the egyptian way of saying the mind. It's symbol is the pentagram inside a circle. We all start here on earth devils. If you want to go to heaven then work hard by knowing all:)"
THomasOTH

"Raw nature. No limits. To do what you want to do, without care for what anybody else thinks, weather they are wrong or right. To be free."
Lin

"A creative, progenerative, active principle. The goat and the laurel wreath are both fertility symbols; the two spheres and the column rising behind the goat create an embarassingly obvious phallic symbol; and has anyone noticed that the two spheres depict a pair of cells undergoing mitosis (or possibly the first stage of meiosis), with the chromosome strands lined up down the center?"
Michael S. Gentry

""What matters creative endless toil, when at a snatch oblivion ends the coil".
These are the words of the devil; misleading, discouraging and untrue. Beware of the devil's deception."
Steve Elliot

"The master of illusions: Loki. Voluntary Bondage. The trap of the lazy and insincere: ignorance is bliss. This card illustrates the pathetic human condition of choosing an illusion over that which is true when finding that truth requires effort."
Gerald del Campo

"As you can see the people are trapped in the sphears at the Devil,s hoofs. The sphere is greatly cracked though.
The Devil's interpritation is that of a binding that is unnessary. One you that can be gotten out of."
Michelle

"Stress & humor. Temptations of the world. Face your problems with tenacity. Laugh! Don't take problems so seriously. Sexuality & sensuality = Attraction & resonance. Finding your spiritual self and looking from that viewpoint will conquer stress."
Alison

"The creating force in it's most chaotic form."
Matt