Connecting Tarot With Music: The Devil

Oh, the infamous Devil card, illiciting fear that is second perhaps only to the Death card. That fear alone is telling, isn’t it? Do you ever stop and witness your fears and what they say about you and your beliefs? Mine usually say, “hey, you’re really neurotic and your mind is a Pandora’s box of phobias!” I jest (with pointed truth), but our fears are important. They show us the things to which we relinquish our power and in some cases they show us inner pain and trauma that hasn’t been worked through. They signal opportunities for growth and courage to gain freedom.

The Devil in Tarot is all about the things that enslave us, and the root of those things is fear. The addict is afraid at heart, as is the person who won’t leave an unhealthy relationship, the person who won’t quit the soul sucking job, the person who won’t speak up, the person who is envious, arrogant, gluttonous, angry, codependent, greedy, sexually destructive, clinging with eyes and ears shut to a set of beliefs or dogma, and so on.

The Devil is an archetype of fear, an image manifested to give a face to the boogeyman dancing around inside us, pulling our strings. He takes the blame and we pretend he isn’t part of us, but he is. In many ways he is actually a part of us that is trying to protect us, he is trying to get our attention and to fill needs and express emotions we have been repressing and rejecting. After all, fear is a protective state and in real danger it is useful.

But when we don’t face him for what he is, he controls us whether or not we realize it, and like marionettes we behave in ways that hurt ourselves and others often without even understanding why.

As Carl Jung said, “until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

Cut the strings first with a light heart and laughter, which is the elixir for courage. The Devil can’t stand laughter. He wants you to take yourself so seriously so that you don’t realize how terribly ridiculous he is. He banks on you remaining uncomfortable with any kind of uncertainty and not trusting that the universe has your back. And if you don’t believe the universe has your back, do you at least trust that you have your back? Do you trust that you will not abandon you? Because that simple trust in yourself is all it really takes.

Next, face yourself.

It’s a tall order, I know. But you can do it. We can do it.

So! The song I picked to represent this infamous card is “Dangerous” by Big Data featuring Joywave. I’ve included the lyrics and just to forewarn you, the music video (at the bottom of this post) is a little graphic in terms of violence. Listen to this song with what I’ve written in mind.

How could you know, how could you know?

That those were my eyes

Peepin through the floor, it’s like they know

It’s like they know I’m looking from the outside

And creeping to the door, it’s like they know

And now they coming, yeah, now they coming

Out from the shadows

To take me to the court because they know

Gotta shut this down, cause they been watching all my windows

They gathered up the warant cuz’ they know

You understand, I got a plan for us

I bet you didn’t know that I was dangerous