The Devil & The Decans of Capricorn Season

The tarot is not a malevolent practice. In its most basic definition, the tarot is a 78 card deck that contains the entirety of our human experience. It simply breaks it down into more bite-sized pieces, making it easier to digest. In fact, there are numerous references to multiple religions throughout both the major and minor arcana. In the Rider Waite Deck the Devil is giving the Vulcan salute, which is actually a traditional Jewish blessing. It has also been represented as Jerusalem and the Kaaba in Mecca. Ruled by Capricorn, the Devil invites us to turn our limiting beliefs into a liberating truth, to embrace our desires thoughtfully in the midst of this transformation. There is a blessing of the shadow, in befriending those hidden away parts of us. “Bring light into darkness and you will find a lot of old junk – and new treasures!” The dark is not evil. And sin? That’s just a concept we humans made up in order to keep people feeling trapped and small, filled with shame and guilt, two deadly sins that remain lethal to only one thing, the ego.

People believe they deserve their shame; they do not believe they deserve their humiliation.

Donald Klein

Guilt says I did something bad, which isn’t necessarily such an awful thing. It keeps us from being total assholes all the time. While we may do something or say something that isn’t in complete accordance with our personal values or beliefs, guilt helps us learn from those mistakes. It helps us to not repeat those same patterns. Shame says I am bad. It leads to disengagement and desperation, which leads to numbing. It keeps us shoved into those socially approved boxes, and under the thumb of those in power.

The Devil is the first card in line three of the tarot, ending with the World card. This is the rebirth line from the birth to death spiral, the one where we emerge from the cocoon and blossom into that butterfly we were so desperate to become. This is a major soul expansion, one that can have the brain freaking out, and there is also a big lesson to be had. We can survive damn near anything.

You can hide from the Devil, but he’ll always find you.

Allen Iverson

In the book Jitterbug Perfume, they spend most of the book trying to figure out a way to cover up the atrocious smell of the god Pan, the Greek god of fertility. Upon wearing this new fragrance, he slowly loses himself, no longer remembering who he actually is. Bit by bit he begins to die. (Fun fact: Pan is the only Greek god who actually does die.) That’s what happens to us when we cover over those parts of ourselves that others may not find so desirable. We too perish underneath our masks.

The Card of Change

We live in a world where we all have to learn how to be our own personal jongleurs, juggling all of life’s needs. We try to find some semblance of work-life balance that just seems harder and harder to accomplish, what with the technological and social media advances of our time. The Two of Pentacles, our guide from December 21 to December 30, symbolizes “the harmonious interplay of the four elements in constant movement” and is “the picture of the complete manifested universe, in respect of its dynamics”(Book of Thoth). Much like the theory of gravity, in which Sir Isaac Newton tells us that what goes up must come down, our lives act in much the same way. There is a constant undercurrent of flowing outward and inward happening around us all the time. If only we could give it our full-bodied attention, we may be able to ride out those waves onto the shores of our own hearts.

The sacred infinite loop, as depicted in the card, encourages us to remain flexible and adaptable, because this life can, and does, change directions easily and at any moment. We are not always subjected to those changes by outside forces. Sometimes those changes can come from within, from a need to cultivate a better relationship with ourselves. We have to get honest with ourselves first, to get in touch with the shadow self and bring it into the Light. Only there will the true magic happen.

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.

Dolly Parton

For far too long I, and I don’t think I am alone in this, went along doing all the things I thought I was “supposed” to be doing, not really ever checking in to see if it was what I truly wanted out of this life. It has taken me a long time to realize that my peace and the relationship I have with myself is far more important and valuable to me than doing “the right thing.” What is right for you isn’t necessarily what will work for me. The truth is that it doesn’t matter what that other person is doing. It matters what you are being called to do. You.

The Card of Work

No man is an island, and we don’t live in a vacuum. Sometimes the support of others is required to achieve a goal; not everything can be accomplished solo, nor does it need to be. The Three of Pentacles, our guide from December 31 to January 9, is the embodiment of teamwork, of functioning as a unit in a world that seems to expect us to do it all on our own. “No one can whistle a symphony,” says H.E. Luccock, “It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” Take it as a sign to collaborate with others, creating synergies to achieve big results.

We all have our own talents that if put to good use not only serve the greater collective, but could also prove to be quite dharmic on a more personal level. The Three of Pentacles symbolizes this “material establishment of the idea of the universe, the determination of its basic form” (Book of Thoth). It invites us to demonstrate the skills and mastery we have and to continue to improve our competency in them, whatever trade, art, or labor they may be. “His energy is constructive, like that of the builder or engineer” (Book of Thoth), one who creates a comprehensive plan and follows a schedule in order to complete it. He is a person not only in his work, but also through his work.

To possess a talent and fail to use it means to misuse it.

Duke Clemens August of Weimar

When we first begin our journey back to ourselves, it can feel rather awkward. Other people may question your sanity, or think that you have performed a complete 180-degree turn from the person they thought they knew. Both opinions are 100% legitimate. This card of construction is the encouragement that we need to trust that we are on the right track, that we are where we are supposed to be in this life. You are competent at what you do, even if you think you are so desperately behind. Keep going. You are making progress, even though it may feel like only an inch.

The Card of Power

We all want to live a rich life, one that is ample, while at the same time bringing us peace and joy. There is a security and stability to be had with generating wealth, but we often embody that possessive spirit a bit too much. The Four of Pentacles, our guide from January 10 to January 19, invites us to be more intentional with our definitions of success and prosperity, to open up to other forms of abundance – friendships, creativity, music, and the like. We can honor and respect money without becoming so attached to it that we lose sight of what is really important in the grand scheme of things. And when all else fails, there is that old saying: You can’t take it with you.

Depicted in the Four of Pentacles is a king who appears to be holding on to that coin for dear life, one who always wants to be in control. He is the epitome of Scrooge McDuck swimming in his own money, this “generating idea…exhibited in its full material sense” (Book of Thoth). This is not to say that he didn’t earn his money through hard work and dedication, but for what purpose exactly? There is saving for a rainy day and there is hoarding. There is being generous with what you have accomplished and there is being selfish. Sometimes letting go of that selfishness might bring you more happiness than that hoard ever did.

Not just personal unhappiness but all strife in life, including war, is the result of an over-emphasis on temporary things; money, power, and material possession.

Robert S. Jepson, Jr.

We do need money to survive in our capitalistic society. That is a fact. We also need room to just be, to take space for ourselves. We have this amazing ability to grasp and crown ourselves apart from the world, while simultaneously entering into its humble service. This requires boundaries, gaining control of your doorway, of who comes in and who stays out. It is a deep and necessary work in which we find ourselves, one in which needs care, space, and time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither were you. I fear I may forever be a work in progress, and that my friends, is this journey we call life.

Mad love, Jenna

deck credit: Rider-Waite Tarot Deck, drawn in 1909 by Pamela Colman Smith under direction of Arthur Edward Waite