The Devil as Feelings: Wanting, Bound and Not Free

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Devil holds two figures in loose chains. Here is what I would read when it appears as someone's feelings, and why strong wanting is not the same as love.

If you want the short answer, I would read the Devil as feelings that are intense and not free. In a feelings position the card suggests the person wants you strongly, physically or obsessively, and that the wanting is tied up with something that binds: a situation, a habit, a need, a fear of letting go. It does not tell you the feeling is love. It tells you it is a pull.

This is a card people either fear or secretly enjoy drawing in a love question. Both reactions miss the point. The chains in the picture are loose. Nobody has taken them off.

The Devil upright as feelings

Tina Gong's the Devil guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with attachment, addiction, materialism, sexuality and bondage. When the card lands in a position that asks how someone feels about you, I read those meanings as the shape of the feeling rather than as a verdict on the person.

Upright, I read the Devil as a person whose feeling for you has heat and grip: desire, attraction, a pull they return to even when they have decided not to. It can be exciting. It can also be a feeling that owns them rather than one they own, and those are very different things to be on the other end of.

What I would not read into it is depth or care. The Devil wants. Whether it also loves is not something this card can say, and in my experience the two are often confused by both people.

What the card does not tell you

The card does not confirm that the attraction will become a relationship, that it is healthy, or that the person is free of other attachments, including to someone else. No card lets a reader check a real person's private feelings. What a card can do is give you an honest picture of the feeling you are hoping for or fearing, and a prompt to compare it with how the person actually behaves.

The Devil reversed as feelings

Reversed, the Devil is often read as release, breaking free, or facing what has been controlling you. As feelings, I read the reversal as a person starting to loosen their grip on you, or on the thing that bound them, which can mean a healthier feeling or an ending. Some readers read it as the bondage deepening in secret.

In your own question, ask which fits. Has the person pulled back in a way that looks like health rather than rejection? Or has the pull gone underground and become something they will not discuss? A reversed card is a prompt to notice which of those is true from what you can see, not a diagnosis of the other person.

The Devil as an ex's feelings

Asked about an ex, the Devil can suggest that the pull toward you is still strong, and that it is the pull of attachment rather than of resolution. Many on-and-off relationships live in this card. The question it asks is not whether they will come back; it is whether coming back would free either of you. My guide to asking a psychic whether an ex will come back explains what a reading can and cannot say about that question.

The Devil as a new person's feelings

For someone new, this card describes intense attraction, often physical, with something attached to it. That can be the start of something real. It can also be a situation, a secret, an unavailability. Find out which before you decide what the heat means.

What to watch for in their behaviour

Look for intensity that does not translate into freedom: they want you and cannot be seen with you, they return and withdraw on a cycle, they are drawn to you and resent it. A Devil feeling looks like wanting with conditions. Wanting without conditions is a different card.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the question you asked, what binds the person, as far as you can tell, and what binds you. The third note is the one people skip. Another draw will mostly reflect the same two figures in the same loose chains.

For comparison, the Lovers as feelings and the Moon as feelings describe different feelings. The the Devil card meaning page covers the card outside feelings questions, and the general card meanings at Biddy Tarot are a useful second reference. You can practise a single-card reflection with the free daily tarot tool. For a personal interpretation, my guide to a love psychic reading online explains how I work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.