The Devil Yes or No: No, Something Unhealthy Is Driving This

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Devil is a no in both directions, for two different reasons. Here is how I read it for yes or no questions about love, work and anything with a hook in it.

If you want the short answer, the Devil is a no. In a yes or no draw the upright card says attachment, fear, temptation or an unhealthy bargain is influencing the choice, and that a yes given under that influence is not a free yes. It is one of the few cards I read as no whichever way up it lands.

This is a card of no as a warning. The chains are loose. The figures have not taken them off. The no is to putting them back on.

Is the Devil a yes or a no?

Upright, I read the Devil as a no. Reversed, I read it as a no. Those are the same directions my free yes or no tarot draw uses, so if you drew the card there, this page explains the answer it gave you.

Tina Gong's the Devil guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with attachment, addiction, materialism, sexuality and bondage. Brigit Esselmont's yes or no tarot overview at Biddy Tarot notes that readers assign yes and no values differently, which is true, and it is why I state mine rather than pretend there is one correct table.

Why the upright card reads this way

I read the Devil as no because the card is about choices that are not really choices: the bargain, the compulsion, the thing you keep returning to against your own interest. When a question is about whether to go ahead, the Devil says that what is pulling you toward yes is the thing to be wary of.

The no is not moralising. The Devil is not telling you the thing is wicked. It is telling you that you are not free in relation to it, and that a decision made unfree is a decision the chains made.

The Devil reversed as yes or no

Reversed, I read the Devil as still a no, for a different reason. The reversal describes release being possible, the chains loosening, and the no is to repeating the same agreement that put them on. It is a no with a door in it.

If you drew the Devil reversed, the question is whether this is the same bargain in new clothes. If it is, the card says no. If it is genuinely something else, draw again with that clearer question.

The Devil yes or no in a love question

In a love question, the Devil is a no to the relationship that works by attachment rather than love: the one you cannot leave, the one that is mostly physical and you are pretending otherwise, the one with a hook in it. It is very often drawn about an ex, and there the no is to going back to the same pattern. Reversed, it suggests you are getting free, and asks you not to walk back in.

The Devil yes or no for work and money

For work and money, the Devil is a no to the deal with strings, the job that pays well and costs your health, the debt taken on to feed a habit, the investment driven by greed or fear. Reversed, it is a no to signing the same bad contract again in a different name.

When a yes or no draw is the wrong tool

The Devil answers questions about freedom and compulsion. If the thing you are asking about is genuinely healthy and the card still says no, look at what in you is attached to it rather than at the thing. A single card answers a single, well-formed question. If the question is really three questions, or is about another person's choices, a yes or no draw will give you a confident answer to the wrong thing. My guide to a one question psychic reading explains how I handle questions that need more than one card.

What to record before drawing again

Keep three short notes: the exact question you asked, what in the situation you feel unable to walk away from, and what the honest cost of it has been. The second note is the chain. The third is the reason the card says no.

For comparison, the Lovers yes or no and the Tower yes or no answer differently. The the Devil card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Devil as timing and the Devil as feelings cover the two other questions people most often ask of it. You can draw a card for your own question with the yes or no tarot tool. For a personal interpretation, my guide to an online psychic reading explains how readings work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.