Atu XV, the Devil, is easily the most misunderstood card in the entire pack, and yet, for Crowley, it was a card of tremendous importance. Of course, the idea of Satan was deeply significant to Crowley, so much so that Crowley is often described as "the father of modern Satanism." This is a subject endlessly up for debate, but I believe it's important to try to figure out what Satan meant to Crowley as an esoteric symbol. One can obviously draw biographical connections between Crowley and the Devil (remember his mother called him "the Beast," which led him to adopt the title for himself as the prophet of Thelema; he also had issues with his father, who I believe represented the demiurgic god of law and authority for Crowley), but what does he actually have to say about this symbol in regards to tarot? How can we come to fear the Devil less as Crowley learned, in order to strip ourselves from backward thinking?Firstly, we must reevaluate the mythology of Satan. As we know, the devil was the serpent which caused the Fall of man and woman, resulting in their expulsion from Eden. Yet, a line that is often overlooked in Genesis is 3:5, "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Additionally, in Genesis 3:22, God says, "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever..." Clearly the Devil wasn't lying, so why should he be known as the deceiver? Also important to understanding the devil is a well-known bit from Qabbalistic Gematria. Both the words for messiah (Meshiach) and serpent (nachash) add up to 358. Therefore, there is some deep-seated connection between the devil and salvation. Additionally, Crowley reminds us that Satan is associated with Set, the Egyptian lord of the desserts in the south, as opposed to Nuit who rules the northern regions.
Like any tarot card, trump XV has a number of Qabbalistic and astrological attributions that we must also look into if we are to truly understand its overall message. The Devil represents the sign of Capricorn, which is ruled by Saturn, Mars is exalted therein. It is therefore associated with the depths of winter, when the sun starts to move northward from the southern hemisphere. XV also connects Tiphareth to Hod and is therefore the influence of the True Self (or Christ Consciousness) upon the reason. This is absolutely crucial to understand if we are to see the Devil in a more positive light. The True Self or Christ-like identity is the hub of the individual consciousness. It is the highest expression of individuality within the consciousness as it stems directly from Kether, the original concealed point of singular consciousness that is beyond the abyss. The Devil thus represents the affirmation of true divine individuality within the intellect, the rational mind. Individuality is ultimately "proven" to our intellects by our integration of sensory knowledge, for if I feel pain, I believe that only I am feeling it; likewise, if I touch an object, my brain knows that I was not what received the touch, but rather was the one who touched something else.
The connection between XV The Devil and the senses is confirmed by the fact that the trump's letter is Ayin, which when spelled out in full is the word for "eye," or "fountain." Let us also remember that Capricorn is the cardinal sign of earth, the element of physicality. Given the meanings of the other zodiacal earth trumps, the Devil's association with the senses is not implausible; if the Capricorn is the senses, then the Hierophant as Taurus represents rote custom and practice that the body is taught to do, and Virgo in the Hermit is that same body ready to undergo cultivation and redemption.
This relationship between the Devil, the senses, and individuality is analogous with the mythology of the Devil. He is a figure who taught mankind independence from God, and thereby condemned them paradoxically to misery and greatness. For that reason he must not be seen as evil, but as entirely ambivalent; as Crowley says in his description of the trump: "The sign of Capricornus is rough, harsh, dark, even blind; the impulse to create takes no account of reason, custom, or foresight. It is divinely unscrupulous, sublimely careless of result."
And yet, oddly enough, the Devil is clearly associated with salvation. He stems from Tiphareth, the Christ-like redeeming sun; as the Serpent he numerologically corresponds to the word Messiah; and finally, in Liber 777, Crowley associates the 26th path on the Tree of Life (the path of XV the Devil) with the god Bacchus, a Roman deity very much associated with both divine ecstasy and human salvation.
And yet, oddly enough, the Devil is clearly associated with salvation. He stems from Tiphareth, the Christ-like redeeming sun; as the Serpent he numerologically corresponds to the word Messiah; and finally, in Liber 777, Crowley associates the 26th path on the Tree of Life (the path of XV the Devil) with the god Bacchus, a Roman deity very much associated with both divine ecstasy and human salvation.
Let us return to the what Crowley has to say about Atu XV: (I'll sum up the main points)
- "This card represents creative energy in its most material form..."
- "The card represents Pan Pangenetor, the All-Begetter," who also leaps "upon the highest and most secret mountains of the earth."
- It is associated with the divine madness of spring and high desolate places.
- The phallus in the background pierces "the ring of the body of Nuith." His wand extends into the depths of the earth. Therefore, the Devil exults in all things from the lowest to the high. "He represents the finding of ecstasy in every phenomenon, however naturally repugnant; he transcends all limitations; he is Pan; he is All."
Clearly the most obvious emphasis here is on the Devil's role as the creator of all materiality. How could that possibly be? Crowley also tells us that, as the later Ayin, O in other words, the Devil takes part in the name of God, IAO (a Golden Dawn god name for the Holy Guardian Angel). It is therefore part of a trinity with the Hermit and the Fool (Yod and Aleph respectively) which make up a hieroglyph of masculine creative energy as expressed in the HGA. Let us remember that the Masculine corresponds to the primary source of divine individuality within an entity. The Devil therefore fits nicely in with this triad. And as far as creation is concerned, we must return to the connection between XV and Ayin, "eye" and "fountain." We must note that this is clearly suggestive of the phallus, seen in the background of the card, which has has a sort of "eye" and is also a "fountain" of creation. But can we not also suppose that the analogy works backwards
? Can the human eye itself be a kind of phallus, constantly creating everything? Can we furthermore extend the "eye" to all the senses, as we mentioned before all the senses were integral in understanding the Devil? Therefore, the doctrine would state that the senses of the individual point of consciousness perpetually create existence without any discrimination, as we cannot prevent our eyes from seeing what is in front of them. What does happen is the brain discriminates the information it receives through the senses and filters out the information it doesn't know how to process, mainly because it hasn't experienced that information before and therefore has nothing in its neural network to compare it to. Could this be why the Devil represents things we fear? It's the totality of the universe that we are aware of on a remotely exalted level (the secret mountains of the earth), but which we are ultimately afraid of. It is the frenzied awesomeness of the unknown. We must be open to the divine madness of the Devil in order to expand our understanding of what is actually possible, as opposed to what we think is possible. This certainly puts reality into context, and affirms the old Magickal doctrine that "every act is a Magickal act." By sensing things through the body we come to believe that those things are in fact real, and thereby collapse the infinite waves of potential which make up matter into a single possibility that we can experience and integrate into our knowledge. We are creating life around us constantly. We must know this in order "to be as gods." Here is the hub of the Devil's ultimate message - you are a god because, through your individuality, you create everything around you. Perhaps Satan/Set rules the desert because this "reality" is ultimately barren as it exists below the Abyss, in the real as opposed to the ideal. This forces us to entirely reevaluate the Fall. Was it humanity that sinned or God himself? This is what certain sectors of Qabbalistic theory suggest - that the Fall occurred when God became curious about its own potential nature. Indeed, how can a Being that is ultimate and infinite come to know itself if it is in fact everything and cannot conceive of any difference within itself? Given all this evidence, it is clear why, as the founder of Thelema, a philosophy/religion that, at its heart, focuses on personal liberation and apotheosis, Crowley would undoubtedly have seen the archetype of the Devil as crucial in his cosmology.
Thus, in a tarot reading, we can confidently add a new set of divinatory meanings for the card: confidence, self-initiative, revolution in the name of one's desires, powerful creation of physical things, general carnality, assertion of the self, perhaps even being shown the truth through physical evidence. The standard definitions of obsession, addiction, dark thoughts, evil, imprisonment, etc., can be relegated to the ill-aspected section of the Devil's definitions. For we are all aware of how enticing the senses can in fact be, and how we can sometimes be slaves to them. Yet, in this regard, we must be careful - note that the Devil does not fall upon the sephira of Netzach, the passions and emotions, but rather on Hod, the intellect. So in this light he does not grip us by our desires, but instead enslaves our minds, convincing them to see stubbornly and narrowly. In his lowest form, therefore, he can be associated with ignorance, as Crowley suggests.
Ultimately it is all very mysterious but we must stop viewing the Devil in an anachronistic light. The Christian concept of the Devil is worthless. He himself is not evil - he is indifferent, and is in the right by simply following his Will and purpose. More importantly, he is an exalted aspect of you, not some external wickedness. That's absurd. We as confused beings create evil with our myopic concepts of reality, enforcing stagnant modes of living upon individuals, causing damage to others in our foolish embrace of the illusory ego.
This is the nature of the Fall, and how the Devil can be simultaneously condemner, savior, creator, imbecile, Satan/Set, and God. He is truly Pan. He is All.
