You’re my mask
You’re my cover my shelter
You you’re my mask
You’re the one who’s shamed
Do do my work
Do my dirty work scapegoat
Do do my deeds
For you’re the one who’s blamedI’m your dream
Sad But True – Metallica
Makes you real
I’m your eyes When you must steal
I’m your pain when you can’t feel
Sad but true
Metallica (Black) – 1991
15 Lucifer (The Devil)
A figure of godlike proportions stands in front of a couple who hold their arms up to him.
Welcome to the presence of the most hated and feared man in the world, The Devil. He’s a man with many names but seeing that we intend to make friends with him let’s use his proper name: Lucifer Bringer of Light. Isn’t that a bit confusing? He’s supposed to be the man who single-handedly brings confusion, madness, and evil to the world, yet his name is that of a teacher.
Lucifer has become our scapegoat; which is exactly the sort of thing we do to our school teachers and parents as they try to train us to be happy people – whilst we stubbornly refuse.
Lucifer is here to teach the lessons we need to understand before we can progress. In doing so, he will hold us from what we are not ready to manage. His lessons can seem harsh to us whilst in the middle of them, but ultimately he is doing our bidding.
If you take a slightly closer look you’ll see that his horns are only a crown – a badge of office. Notice that the pillars on either side are growing leaves and that the chains are offered and willingly accepted, not imposed. His secret is shown in his shadow.
The greatest lesson that Lucifer has for us is the lesson of bondage & true knowledge. If we ask the right questions and are judged ready to know, Lucifer will let us see the secrets of ourselves and the universe. This knowledge will allow us to free ourselves from the bondage of the Earthly limits we learned from The Wise Man (card 05).
In many traditions, this card is commonly linked to marriage. Initially, that seems strange (or negative). The real message here is that we commit ourselves to a shared quest. To succeed we may have to let go of some ego to achieve what we could not before or alone.
DIVINATORY MEANINGS
Learning, Informality, Challenges to be overcome for growth, Protection, Guidance, Bondage, Marriage, Punishment for pride, Shackles accepted by choice (but commonly forgotten), Lessons requiring to be learned & understood.