The Devil Tarot card expresses the realm of the taboo -- the culturally rejected wildness and undigested shadow side that each of us carries in our subconscious. This shadow is actually at the core of our being, which we cannot get rid of and will never succeed in taming. From its earliest versions, which portrayed a vampire-demon, The Devil evoked the church-fueled fear that a person could "lose their soul" to wild and passionate forces.

The Devil image which emerged in the mid-1700s gives us a more sophisticated rendition -- that of the "scapegoated goddess," whose esoteric name is Baphomet. Volcanic reserves of passion and primal desire empower her efforts to overcome the pressure of stereotyped roles and experience true freedom of soul.