The Devil in a tarot reading…..
There’s something about the Devil in a tarot reading that always makes me think ‘hot, sexy, temptation’. The Devil who tempts us to follow our passions for earthly desires and the danger that things might get too hot for us to handle!
The Devil is all about passion and desire!
It’s always fascinating to see people’s reaction to the Devil. There’s nearly always a variation of shock horror. Sometimes it’s a genuine recoil that the Devil represents Evil! More often there’s a little frissant of daring and naughtiness, sex, drugs rock ‘n roll.
Today I asked the Tarot for a card that reflects King’s Day in Amsterdam. It’s a national holiday in Holland when everyone in the country dresses up in orange and gets out into the streets to celebrate the King’s birthday. A day full of celebration, colour and excitement, of national pride, people gathering together, a party on every street in the country. Passion is the key word I associate with the Devil, which seems the perfect word to describe the party mood in the Amsterdam. The streets are already full of people, in orange, hats, dresses, wigs, sitting in bars in the sunshine, there’s music, dancing, lots of drinking, and smoking, and eating, families and friends set on enjoying the day. Things definitely have a party vibe, the atmosphere is quite intoxicating, quite devilish, hot and sexy.
Moderation in all things, is not what happens on King’s day. King’s day is about excess, everyone is ‘going for it’ and will get a bit over excited perhaps, get a bit tipsy, a bit rowdy, a bit over emotional etc. which reflects the cautionary aspect of the Devil. While pure passion is a wonderful fiery thing, the Devil depicts the potential for us to get overly attached to our desires and become addicted. Addicted to pleasure as well as addicted to stress and intensity, you can become a workaholic, a sexaholic and drug aholic, a worry a holic, an intense aholic… become obsessive or compulsive… there’s a strong sense of co-dependency with the Devil.
But still on a day like King’s Day I say the Devil is cheering us on to bring a little of the devil out in us. The dare Devil that feels fully alive, excited, extrovert, a bit horny, a bit risky. I certainly felt I was risking my life bicycling around amidst throngs of other bicycles all weaving along canals, over bridges, cobbled streets, through stunning parks, in beautiful beautiful Amsterdam where tulips were floating in lakes.
I ended up giving tarot readings on the street, as part of king’s day tradition where families sell their wares outside their homes, second hand clothes, books, home made cakes. Basti made waffles for passers by and I read tarot. Which was great fun. No one got the Devil! What a clever King to be born on April 26th when spring is fully sprung and summer is out.
Do come and have a tarot reading with me on line or in Battersea, London.