Major Arcana · XV
The Devil — tarot meaning
attachment, compulsion, shadow
Upright
Attachment and appetite. Look at the chains: they are looser than they seem, and naming the bond is the beginning of freedom.
Reversed
A bond breaking, or one finally admitted — awareness loosens the chain.
In the Papus Tarot, 1909
Le Diable — The Devil · Hebrew letter ס Samech
Papus: fatality, the astral light misused, the whirlwind of the lower forces. Martinists name this the reign of the prevaricator — real, but never sovereign.
In the Oswald Wirth Tarot, 1889
Le Diable — The Devil · Hebrew letter ס Samekh
Wirth calls the Devil the great magical agent: not an enemy but an unrefined force. The two figures are chained loosely; what binds them is their consent.
Shown from the 1909 William Rider & Sons deck (public domain). A card is read in relation to the question and the cards around it; these meanings are a starting point, not a verdict.