Tainted Love

A Blog of the Devil and the Lovers Card

 “Love isn't brains, children, it's blood. Blood screaming inside you to work its will”-Spike

Out of all the Tarot Cards, I find the Devil card one of the most interesting. When I was learning Tarot, I found that the Devil Card changed from deck to deck. The Witches Tarot depicts it as the card called the “Shadow Side '' and it is all about fear and terror. The Mystic Dreamers and Tarot de la Nuit are all about temptation. And in the Druidcraft Tarot, it was represented by the Celtic God Cernuous and showed all about the fear of being enslaved by your passions. Through in the typical Rider White Tarot, The Devil Card represents our shadow self and being enslaved by attachment.  

But when you take a closer look at Traditional RIder White Devil Card, you see a peculiar similarities. For starters, The Devil Card is doing the same hand pose as the Hierophant. This is a way to show the Devil card as something that violates tradition and the social norms that come with it. It becomes the upside down of what you believe is true. But the striking difference is just how similar it is to the Lovers Card. Both Cards show a couple next to each other with something looking over. The Lovers Card, a card traditionally about unity and love, has an angel hovering over the couple as a blessing to them. While the Devil Card, traditionally about disharmony and being enslaved to your darkness, has Baphomet looming over a couple. And the similarities continue as The Lovers card is number “6” in the Major Arcana and The Devil number is “15”. But when you add the “1” and “5” you do get “6”. 

So this clearly means that the Devil Card is the opposite of the Lovers? Not quite! We have to look and see who Baphomet actually is and demystify their fear. Baphomet was first worshiped by the Knights Templar in the 12th to 14th century. The Knights Templar were beginning to dive deep into esoteric and occult knowledge which lead to their demise in France in 1307. Now Occultists have worked with images and the entity that is Baphomet years later. It is said that Baphomet is the Symbolic embodiment of opposing forces. For starters, they are half human and half goat, Good and Evil, and even Equal Parts Male and Female. Baphomet, according to many Satanists, and Occultists, is seen as the goal for a perfect society. Utilizing two opposing forces as a way to create.

Now….Doesn’t that sound familiar? That is the energy of the Lover’s card. And come to think of it…Why do we see The Devil as such a bad card anyway? The Devil in the traditional Rider White deck is not doing anything nefarious. He isn’t even holding the chairs of the couple. All he is doing is mocking the Hierophant. The Couple is in chains however them in chains could be something they did as their choice. The card is imploring us to see beyond our judgements and challenge the way we see things. When we do we come up with the now apparent question; Why does this card have something to do with the Lovers card?

It is because the Devil Card is the darker side of Love. The second half of love that the Lovers did not fully expand or go over.  

You see, Love isn’t easy to define because Love is a feeling. I like to think of it as the Feeling that comes out of Free Will. Rather you love yourself, Love your family, Friends, your Partner or even God/Gods themself!  It is hard to understand logically because Love is an energy. A powerful primordial energy that resides within ourselves and resides in all living things. Love is a feeling that is hard to explain but just is. It is why we get inspired to write love songs and say declarations of love! As a way to channel through this energy. But it is hard to be known. Just felt. It leaves us vulnerable but it thrills us. It makes us Strong but yet it makes us Weak. Love makes us both Masters and Slaves. 

Or in a words of a Famous Anti-Hero British Vampire would say

“Love isn't brains, children. It's blood. Blood screaming inside you to work its will.”- Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Season 3 episode 8 “Lover’s Walk”

The Greeks would categorize and separate Love into 9 different categories. These categories are all aspects of what love is but divided to help understand this mystery. I will discuss each of them underneath and what they all mean. 

1. Philautia- This is love of one’s self. This is the type of love you feel about yourself and is the cornerstone of how we view/shape love. Aristotle once wrote that how can we love others if we do not love ourselves. If we do not love ourselves, we try to latch onto another person’s love as a way to nourish us. However, if our love for ourselves is strong and healthy, we can love others with personal boundaries and independence. It is with philautia that we heal and move forward.
2. Storge- Love for the Family. This is the type of love we find when we are with our family. This can relate to our Parents, Grandparents, Siblings, Children and Cousins. This love is of our ancestors and our lineage. This love can also be formed when two people become parents. As they are not bound in love to carry the seeds of the next chapter of their life. 
3. Phila- Love for Friends. This is the love we share for our friends and the connections we make. This is a love that is grown from trust and sharing the same values. This bond is strong and is a important piece in forming a relationship
4. Ludus- Playful Love. This is the love of Carelessness and playfulness. Think of this love when you flirt with someone. Or when you wish to seduce and tempt another person. This love is usually found when one or two parties wish for something casual. 
5. Eros- Sexual/Romantic Love. This is the love of Sexual attraction as well as Romantic Attraction. Think of the God Eros/Cupid shooting his arrow at you. This love is usually physical. It is sensual and passionate love. Usually what many people think of when they think of love.
6. Pragma- Love that Endures. This is a love of sacrifice and common growth. This is Love that endures through life and the chaos that comes with it. This is not limited to Romantic Relationships as Pragma exists within the best of friends. Love like this is like baking. It takes along time and you cannot rush the cooking process. You got to let it raise on it’s own.
7.  Mania- Obsessive Love. This is the Toxic Obsessive love that comes from when you do not love yourself. Jealousy and Envy goes hand in hand with this love as it dominates and sees love as an object rather than a living thing.
8. Merakai- Creative Love. This is the love of creativity and expression. This is the love you create and add a part of yourself into something like a painting or cooking. It is the Artists love. 
9. Agape- Universal Love: Sonder is the phrase where you understand that other people live a life entirely different than your own and are completely independent from you. Universal Love is love of humanity as a whole. This is unconditional love and a love that humanity tries to achieve. It is the love that Jesus Christ, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Buddha, Guru Nanek, etc all strive for in their lifetime. It is the Mystic’s love. 

The Lovers and The Devil covers all of these words of love! However The Lovers focuses mostly on the feeling of Pragma or the love that covers while The Devil Card covers the feeling of Mania. Mania is a love that has no grounding and once fallen we become a slave to the feelings.  Hence why the couple are in chains. They are being held down by each other. Not by Baphomet who is there basically to ask us to look beyond our societal understanding of what love actually is. You see, Love sometimes is not always positive.

Recently HBO has released a tv show called The  Last of Us. This is a TV show that was adapted to the video game. During the Official Podcast, The Show Runners talked about how the tv show, much like the video game, is a love story; And that is not the best. Show Runner Craig Mazin stated “ I think throughout our series, we will continue to come back to the notion that love conquers all, and that's problematic that we think of love as this solely positive thing—a beautiful thing—and it is! But love, especially a love that a parent has for a child, is primal and it can lead to the most intense fear and the most intense fear can lead to the most intense behavior, including violence, and if you scratch the surface of tribalism, racism, xenophobia, you will find love. Love is not always good”. Craig Mazin. In the show and in the video game, many main characters have done questionable things for the sake of their idea and their version of love.

For the Devil Card is the representation of Love that is not free. It was not because the Devil tricked them or the Devil led them to being trapped but because the Couple could not stand to part from each other.  While the Lovers Card shows Love that is free and filled with Growth. The Devil shows love that is filled with Mania and Obsession. But it is not Baphomet that shows us the obsession and the mania but that of the Couple. The Devil card was showing us, in a trickery way, that what they held so dear was responsible for it.  

So when it comes to the Major Arcana, the Lesson that the Devil Card shows us is the quote that Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer said; Love is not Brains but Blood. However, in the story of the Major Arcana, The Fool learns and moves on from the lesson. So that is not the end of the lesson, because this is a limiting belief. We have to look beyond and not get stuck in the Devil’s trap. The Trap is to accept that statement and not move on from changing it. Yes Love is passionate and we may not be able to control how we feel; But we can choose what we do with it. What the Fool’s lesson is that he has free will to walk away and to unhook himself from love that is unhealthy. We have to remember our worth. 

So when the Devil Card appears in your cards about your relationship; The card is asking you how do you love? How do you love in this relationship and are you free in this relationship? The Devil will ask you to think of the power you let go willingly and see if you can take it back.