Bedeviled

Bound, entwined, enmeshed, entrenched.

Beholden, be careful.
Stuck, sucked in, sucked dry.
Shadows, projection, poison.
Demonized.
Suffocation, soul strangulation

Treasure of taboo.
Kiss of rope in the dark.
Didn’t think I could?
Didn’t know I would?

Devil arises in a reading and across the table, the seeker’s heart skips a beat.

I am sure to smile slowly.

“Oh, the Devil card! Wonderful!”

Now we can play. Now we can poke and prod. Now we can shadowstalk.

In Christian mythology of the Bible, the Devil is conflated with the character of Satan, further conflated with e-v-i-l.

And thusly, we (raised in Western culture) lose so much damn fun, so many priceless treasures, so much self knowledge, and so much ecstatic exploration it is ridiculous.

Let’s unpack and track back to the plain ol’ Devil/devil.

Demi-urge of the World, assigned by the divine to tend to Earthly business.
To tend to the humans and all of our relatives, green and growing, feathered and furred.
To hold the realms of magic and sorcery.
Old Scratch standing at the crossroads, dice clinking in deep pockets.
Trickster who downloads throughout the ages the technological and consciousness uplevels of the written form, alchemy, metallurgy, and so much more.

Cue the literal demonization of this character and all that entails.

A particular favorite author and thinker of mine, Gordon White, remarks that the Devil is “a polyvalent, pulsing phenomenon at the very heart of Western magical tradition.”

This phenomenon - as we flip the corresponding Tarot card - emboldens our private magic, calls us to break ensorcellment, and forge alliance with our truest Shadow. We call off the spells cast to bind and distract us and counter with something of blood, bone, and sovereignty. We deprogram and de-escalate. Pry off shackles.

Abuse and emotional violence will not stand.
Oppression and obsession are overthrown.
Someone else’s baggage can get tossed from your airport because that trip is fucking cancelled.
Boarding pass revoked, narcissists.

Now you have fertile ground, rich and loamy to root some Dark Power.
Your Dark Power.
Use it wisely, Demiurge.