The Devil: tarot meaning, upright and reversed

Two figures stand loosely chained beneath a horned figure on a pedestal.

Upright

attachment · compulsion

Look directly at an attachment, bargain, or appetite that narrows freedom of action.

Reversed

loosening bonds · denial

A binding pattern may be weakening, though denial can make its hold harder to recognise.

In a reading

The position gives this card a particular task: a description of the situation, a challenge, or guidance. Read its image and meaning alongside the other cards and the question that brought them together.

Golden Dawn correspondence

Zodiac sign: Capricorn. This is the attribution in Book T.

Sources

A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. These notes are original interpretations of the Waite–Smith imagery, informed by that text.