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The Devil Tarot Card Spread - A Tarot Spread for Redeeming Your Shadow

By Tina Gong

Published February 22

Summary of the Devil Tarot Card Meaning

In order to further their personal growth, the Fool has endeavored to feel, taste, touch and experience everything that the world has to offer. In this striving to expand their horizons, the Fool has forgotten the original purpose for all this experimentation; to proceed in their spiritual development. Pleasures become addictions, desires become chains. Ashamed of what they believe are their own base instincts and their inability to control them, the Fool withdraws deeper into their own guilt and insecurity, unknowingly creating a shadow self to project their shame on. Seeing this shadow self everywhere, the Fool names it “Devil”, and proceeds to sever it away from their conscious being. Only when the Fool learns self-forgiveness, and releases the shame of their very human failure, can the Devil be redeemed and restored, and the unholy made sacred again.

Light: Guilt, shame, addiction, pleasure, playfulness
Shadow: Freedom, independence, release

To learn more, read the full Devil tarot card meaning.

When to Use This Tarot Spread

For shadow work.
For moments you feel guilty, ashamed or insecure, and need help examining these emotions.
For help with self-forgiveness.

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The Devil Tarot Card Spread

Ego - Who is the person that you think of yourself as? What identity are you most interested in preserving?
Shadow - Who is your shadow? What part of yourself have you rejected? What are you ashamed or insecure about?
Comfort - What makes you comfortable? What is it about your attachments that you find so soothing? What makes it difficult to face the shadow?
Avoidance - What are you trying to avoid? What feelings does your shadow bring up in you? What do you fear?
Projection - How is the rejection of your shadow affecting others? Where in your outer life do you see your shadow? Who is your scapegoat?
Rejection - How is the rejection of your shadow affecting your personal life? What else are you rejecting in order to remain comfortable? What are you giving up?
Forgiveness - What does forgiveness and healing look like? How can you soothe yourself? How do you heal your wounds?
Release - Where are you headed if you can find forgiveness? What is your potential once you free yourself?

A Note on the Fool's Journey Tarot Spreads: This is part of a series of tarot spreads inspired by the lessons of the Fool’s Journey, represented by the major arcana of the tarot. Since each major arcana card embodies a stage in one’s life journey, a lesson, or an archetype, we can use them as the foundations to explore moments of our own personal journeys. They also happen to be great ways to explore the meanings of each of these tarot cards in a very personal way.

For more of these spreads, please head here.

And if you'd like to purchase the deck depicted in these spreads, you can click here to purchase it! You can also purchase its Marseille cousin.