In most traditional tarot decks Capricorn
is associated with the Devil, the fifteenth trump of the Major Arcana.
In the Rider Waite
Tarot the Devil is depicted squatting on a small altar where two naked
demons, male and female, are held in chain. He keeps his right hand raised, with
his palm depicting the astrological glyph for Saturn, the ruling planet of Capricorn.
In his left hand he holds a flaming torch. His forehead features a reversed
pentagram, which is a symbol of matter triumphing over spirit.
The pentacle is
also a representation of the human body, and when it is reversed the genitals
are above the head, indicating sexual desire or reproduction prevailing over
higher consciousness.
Although the Devil is conventionally
regarded as antagonistic or opposed to God, its etymology discloses a striking
and controversial affinity. The term “devil” derives from the Indo-European deva, which is the Sanskrit word
for "god, deity".
As a result, many languages directly descended from Sanskrit, such as the Gypsy language, use the
term devil as the name of God. Also in many other cultures the name used for
God in ancient times became the term employed to identify the devil and also
vice versa.
For the Gnostics, the Old Testament god, Yahweh, is indeed regarded
as a demonic and evil being, as opposed to the true God. The Devil is here a
lower god, a flawed consciousness, a Demiurge, the creator of the
physical world where we live and the author of the realm of separation (kenoma),
or Human Arbitrary
Configuration (HAC).
The most common meaning of the Devil
relates to its capacity to generate illusions and arbitrary limitations. The
main of such illusions is the perception of a separated reality, and the lack
of awareness of whatever exists beyond the physical world.
In general, the
Devil is a card of bondage and addiction, which may range from one’s entire
experience of life or to just a specific area. It can therefore refer to my
whole perception of reality, when this is based on rigid belief systems that
exclude and deny whatever does not belong to them. It can also relate to one
particular aspects of life, such as eating, smoking, or drinking where I may be
enslaved or also have preconceived ideas. The Devil applies to addictions as
well as to attitudes of excessive control and rigidity, which are still forms
of bondage.
The trump can traditionally indicate
a situation where the individual is blocked, dominated by his narrow mind or by
strong obsessions, vices, sexual urge or other things that are usually regarded
as abominable or unacceptable. It may indicate a binding attraction towards
people, behaviours or situations that the individual hates, and yet he is
unable to stop either because the urge is too strong or due to fear of
consequences. It can be an invitation to being aware of such obsessions and
urges, not allowing them to spread unconsciously or taking some action so that
they are safely released or transformed.
The Devil may also denote an
invitation to take it easy in a certain situation and accept to be a bit
mischievous, not getting too serious, controlled or rigid, letting go of
shyness and fear.
Yet, there is a deeper element in
the Devil, which constitutes the arcane essence of this trump. In this respect
it stands for an awesome resource of power, which the seeker needs to master in
order to move on the path.
This power is a most terrifying element, something
generally regarded as wicked or sinful, which may be seen as such simply as a
result of deeply rooted conditioning and denials. Here the Devil relates with
the crucial use of sexual energy, in all its expressions, and its capacity to
raise our multidimensional awareness and liberate us from the bondage of separation,
or to cause obsession, addiction and violence.
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| by A. Carracci |
The neural activity our brain produces whenever facing any extreme,
shocking and risky situation, no matter whether this is a shamanic experience
or a criminal act, is basically the same, and this can lead to a lot of
confusion. The borderline between enlightenment and insanity, ecstasy and
perversion is very thin, which is what makes the shamanic path a most
controversial and often perilous one.
The Devil is a most stirring and
devious initiatory card, a major test on the way of healing, which can unveil
its original nature as Pan, the traditional horned god of pastoral
life and vegetation. The Devil, as Pan, is the keeper of the so called bona fide horny bit,
the climax of libido, and the guardian of the threshold between HAC and
non-HAC.
Pan is an all-embracing god
comprising all aspects of life. His name means “all”, and was given to him by
the gods to acknowledge the libido drive as the all-inclusive feature of the
entire universe. Hence Pan is the god of everything and everyone, HAC and
non-HAC, good and evil, representing the Great Whole at all levels, from the
most intense physical sensuality to the peaks of transcendental asceticism.
To
the people of ancient times Pan represented the complete spirit of unity,
blending the apparent polarities of the third-dimensional world, life and
death, day and night, light and darkness. Pan was once the most popular god in
the western world and his horned statues could be found more abundantly than
those of any other god. Yet, since Pan was the god of unity and
multidimensionality, when the current HAC took over, there was no place for Pan
anymore and the emerging HAC cultures began to demonise him. Hence, soon Pan
became the Devil.
Pan is mythically
located in the constellation of Capricorn and is the representation of Saturn,
and the original inspirer of the Saturnalia. Shamans and
healers of ancient times would embody the spirit of Pan especially on the
Winter Solstice, in order to preserve the balance between polarities and the
alignment to the vertical axis, or Core Multidimensional Identity.
The ancient
Pagan custom to gather around an evergreen tree, revived with the current
Christmas Tree, is connected with another obvious feature of Pan: i.e. Father
Christmas or Santa
Claus.
Santa and Pan are alter egos, sharing the same nature in different
contexts. Just move the n of Santa to the end and you get Satan! There is a legend that Pan died
at the exact moment of Jesus’ crucifixion. Pan’s alleged death was supposed to
represent the end of Paganism or, more pragmatically, the separation from our Core Multidimensional Identity
and the castration of our human original ecstatic nature.
The legend about Pan
dying at the same moment as Jesus, may obliquely imply that Pan is also born,
like Jesus, at Christmas. Hence, watch out!
©
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