November 4-6, 2011: XV - The Devil
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XV
THE DEVIL
(Capricorn)MEDITATION COLOR: Indigo (very dark).
HEBREW LETTER: A’ayin, eye, the organ of sight. Also means “appearances,” especially surface appearances; “to flow out,” as tears; “fountain” or “spring,” from resemblance to eye; and “sparkling of wine,” the delightful allure of an inebriant’s entertainment. Pan is the Greek word for “all.”
CARD NAME: “Devil” comes from the Greek diaballein, “to slander”; therefore, its meaning is related to speech, and especially the disparaging or defaming naming of something as other than what it actually is. Interestingly, its oldest root, gwel-, “to throw,” also gives us a Greek word meaning “will.”
ESOTERIC MEANING: The Renewing Consciousness. Through it God – blessed be He! – renews all things which are newly begun in the creation of the world.
TREE of LIFE: Hod to Tiphereth. (Links ‘Glory’ and ‘Beauty’; or Intellect with the Ego-center. The Trickster or Deceiver revealed as the Redeemer. Acknowledgement of intellect’s role in shrouding Light in Form.)
ESOTERIC TITLE: The Lord of the Gates of Matter, the Child of the Forces of Time
TANTRIC & ALCHEMICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Material creative energy; phallus, Set, Pan.
DIVINATION: Blind impulse, irresistibly strong and unscrupulous; obsession. Materiality, material (creative) force, temptation, bondage. Ordeal, trouble, struggle. Secret plan about to be executed; hard work, obstinacy, rigidity, aching discontent, endurance.
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I've been pulling up the image of this card every now and then while I'm sitting at my work computer. The energy of this card is not entirely what I thought it would be and hence the lessons of the Devil have already begun.
I've mostly been looking at the color scheme of the card more than the imagery itself and letting the ideas roll around in my mind.
Here's what I have so far:
At the top most portion of the card there is what appears to be a black cloud. Black is the color of Binah in the Queen scale. What immediately comes to mind is the root idea of is this card is form-more so the GIVING OF form. Take that which has no intrinsic shape or form and applying a form to it - The active aspect of Binah.
The background of the card is a pinkish, salmon color - which is attributed to Tiphareth in the Prince scale. The prominence of this color in the card suggests the Ruach as the chief influencer and focus of the energy this trump represents.
The large phallus in the center of the card is brown. Brown or more accurately, dark brown, is the color of Binah in the Prince scale and to me, represents the active force of Binah in the Ruach. The main function of this force is to distinguish one thing from another. We do this through language. With words...descriptions. I suppose the ultimate function of this card is the act of providing a context for ourselves, others, things, objects, etc. etc.
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Hey Shadonee... i wanted to pm you to ask you how are you getting on with the Devil lol...
But when i got to Moscow, my pc broke and...
Anyway, hope to discuss it more in detail when i am back to comfort of my place and my lap top and NOT typing at an internet cafe...
These are my previous impressions of the Devil, before Liber T
(Its the title poem from my new book: )
The Devil(An autobiography)
Do you not know me?
I am your adversary in this tale:
that arrogant voice born of doubt
and fostered by fear.
I dwell in the constant storm
of your uncertainty,
sprouting in darkness,
fed by your fury
and drinking up your pain
until you stumble and fall.
Still you dismiss me with a smile,
denying my existence
as I bury you alive.
copyright
2011L.R.S.With Liber T my perception changed - for some reason, the Devil stopped being scaring, full fear and doubt... and became simply a horny (and stinky?!) ram... I connected the most to the eye on his forehead and i think that's what turned the image upside down for me... Hmm, its as if he was far more dignified in my eyes before...
Mind you, i spent hell of a time with him, my whole new book is in fact about the Devil... so i must say this change in perception does come as a surprise!
I shall expand when i have the possibility to do so. -
"With Liber T my perception changed - for some reason, the Devil stopped being scaring, full fear and doubt... and became simply a horny (and stinky?!) ram"
Same here. In fact, I developed compassion and respect for The Devil that I have never had before. I had some fun working with it.
I think one of the most important lessons I learned from the Devil is things really aren't what they appear to be. Sounds cliche but in practice it really helps to be mindful of that. And what I mean by that is: there are times where, physically, things look to be a certain way but we intuitively perceive that there's something fishy going on.
On the flip side of that, we can get trapped in our projections, our perceptions and our interpretations of events mistake them for the truth. I think your poem sums this point up nicely
One of the things I found myself doing while I was working with this card was staring off into the space before me, and watching the events around me. Sometimes it would still my mind and I'd realize that in that very moment, I can do anything I want. There's no one stopping me. There's nothing physically in my way that would interfere with me. I can do as I please. To me, being in that particular state of mind is represented by the horny goat, looking out in front of it and realize that it can leap on a ravish anything it set out to do.
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@Al-Shariyf said
"
One of the things I found myself doing while I was working with this card was staring off into the space before me, and watching the events around me. Sometimes it would still my mind and I'd realize that in that very moment, I can do anything I want. There's no one stopping me. There's nothing physically in my way that would interfere with me. I can do as I please. To me, being in that particular state of mind is represented by the horny goat, looking out in front of it and realize that it can leap on a ravish anything it set out to do."
Loved reading your notes, Shariyf!
My lap top is still not repaired, so i am not posting as much as i used to - but i am keeping up with the schedule.