The Devil - Bondage

When the Devil card comes up in Tarot readings people generally get into an state of anxiety. I could be the same if I didn't know better, and besides I've been experiencing enough anxiety the past few days, without heaping more upon myself.

 There are positive and negative aspects of this card. I understand the negative very well, as a person in recovery and a member of a 12 step program for over 20 years. The positive is that I became honest, open minded, and willing enough to accept my shadow self and I have been recovering ever since.

Pan is the great god represented here, once worshiped by the Greeks, as the Great All. He roams and haunts the woods and pastures of Arcadia. His nature is characterized as being wild, fertile and untamed.
In Greek myth, Pan was not considered evil, but simply being in his natural state, untamed, and amoral.

Not surprisingly his name is derived from the word 'panic' and he likes to give folks sudden frights. Whenever this card comes up in readings I do, though it seldom does, the thought that comes immediately to mind, is one who is in some kind of inner bondage.


As human beings, we are all aware of our shadow self. The saying. " we are only as sick as our secrets" is very true. It takes humility and honesty to face the truth, to confront our shadow side, and the most shameful parts of ourselves, and to look into the face of Pan, in acceptance. The acceptance that Pan is merely natural not evil, enables us to release our creative power when we face our own darkness.

 If Pan does not face his shameful secrets, he will only exhibit a sense of superiority, projecting the worst of his character on to others,  manifested in the form of prejudice, bigotry, discrimination and persecution toward others, whom he considers 'evil.'