Dance with the Devil (Tarot Blog Hop)

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(It is with great pride that I write my 1200th post on this blog--I was always told by my family that one of my problems is that I do not know how to shut up.)

Welcome to the first Solistice Tarot Blog Hop of 2015--in my neck of the woods, it is the Summer Solistice; meanwhile my friends down under are enjoying the Winter Solistice...though I am not sure that I would recognize it as being winter, given my strange Northern Hemisphere ways.

Today's Tarot Blog Hop is a trip through the twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana. If you are doing the hop, you may have just came from Christiana Gaudet's blog, the second Temperence entry in this hop. Or you may be traveling backwards and just left S. Johanna Hill's blog, the second Devil entry of this particular Tarot Blog Hop.

I choose the Devil card because all the cards that I am comfortable with had already been spoken for. And I figured if I was going to deal with a card that I was uncomfortable with, I just as well struggle with the Devil card. After all, I was having trouble trying to figure out what my own version was going to look like.

Five minutes after picking the task of dealing with the Devil card, I knew exactly what my version would look like....

....so I guess that I am far more comfortable with the Devil than I thought I was.

Hello, we would like to talk to you about the Devil...

Being Wiccan, and a lifer at that, my vision of the Devil is not your typical Satan. For me, evil is the uglier aspects of nature; in particular, the ugly side of human nature. You know that part of humanity that lusts, becomes addicted, feels greed, and can explode in ugly violence. Quite often this side of humanity is played like a puppet by politicians, religious leaders, and ad executives.

In my version of the card, the mascot of an evil company is sitting on the altar. It might be the mascot of a big box store or restaurant chain. Or it might be an investment company. Or maybe it is the true image of the United States. Hanging from its horns is a bag of loot, and a stick. The bag could be filled with carrots, but it is probably money--money being a carrot that most people chase after.

(For those who are curious, the symbol on the bag is the astrological glyph for the asteriod Isis, the 42nd asteriod discovered by man. In astrology, it relates to issues of fragmentation versus wholeness, sibling issues, and androgyny issues.)

The couple in front of the altar, who are not chained to the altar, represent the voice of society, which informs most of us what is good and what is evil. One does not necessarily have to agree with what the voice of society says.

(The couple I used for this illustration are actually a couple of my friends, dressed up in the clothes that they wear while playing in their band. For the record, I do not think that they are actually evil....but I could be wrong; after all, they are musicians.)

Do you dare play Bingo with the Devil?

Besides, making my own version of the Tarot card, I also made a Bingo card of some of the things associated with the Devil card. It is part of a larger "art project" that I am working on. I did think about filming myself dancing, hence this post's title, but I decided that I didn't want anyone to go blind.

And because I was thinking about the Devil, alongside of my recent bout of making bad, bad videos, I did consider what I would use to represent the Devil in a video clip---it was not really hard to figure out. I have gotten in the habit of using a rather creepy looking Santa doll for all the really evil people that I have been talking about in my various Mad Uncle Morgan clips.

(No, you do not actually need to watch the video--it is there merely to illustrate my point.)


When you think about it, Santa could be a symbol of the Devil, especially if you are using my version of the Devil card. The modern nature of Santa Claus is pretty much in line with a crossroads demon, full of salesmanship, offering carrots, and torturing people with sticks. But that jaded view of Christmas and Santa might simply be my bad childhood speaking.

Anyways, thanks for reading.

If you are continuing with the Tarot Blog Hop, the next stop is S. Johanna Hill's blog, the second Devil entry of this particular Tarot Blog Hop. Or you might want to travel backwards to Christiana Gaudet's blog, who is talking about the Temperence card.

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