This is the devil card created in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck. When we look at the image it certainly looks menacing, and downright evil, it is no wonder that when it shows up in a reading it gives at a minimum, pause to the quadrant and at its worse it provokes dread and fear. There are many ,if not most, web sites, that say that the devil is not meant to portend evil, Satan or the Devil. Any evil or demonic aspect is down played.This card is said to be an " an excellent indicator for success in business and career." I ask "Do we not do a disservice when we completely ignore the obvious symbolic meaning of this card, namely that of the devil, which symbolizes the devil and evil? I think we do.

Why bother to add such a card with such symbolism if that meaning is to be ignored? Let us look at some of the images created in this card. From the research we can see that it was created to mean EVIL , from the devil.

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1.The card is the fifteenth trump or major Arcana 15 reduces to 6 in numerology, a number often associated with evil as in the biblical reference in Revelation to the number of the beast 666. Yet the number 6 on its own is used as the number of a man two arms, legs and one head one body ) adding to 6.

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2. He sits above two naked human demons—one male, one female, who are chained to his seat. Note that they both have horns are their head and a tail, both common symbols for demons, the Devil and evil.

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3.The image of the Devil in this card is derived in part from Eliphas Levis famous illustration Baphomet in his Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1855) as seen below.("Dogmas and Rituals of High Magic"), in which he included an image he had drawn himself which he described as Baphomet and "The Sabbatic Goat",the best-known representation of Baphomet. This "demon" seems to be a purely imaged deity however ,its creation in its symbolic form, was to represent an evil nature.