#I've got a whole meta post in my head about how the witch's hat is actually a parasitic magical creature

[cookinguptales]

wwdits tarot: the devil

This is another fun card that’s largely misunderstood by people who don’t read tarot. I thought long and hard on which character should be XV. The Devil, and I had a couple very strong frontrunners. But in the end, my Devil could only be one option…

So The Devil is one of those cards that I think people assume is bad, and I mean. It is. But not necessarily in the way you’d expect. The Devil doesn’t necessarily refer to some powerful outer entity in your life who’s about to make you miserable. It’s not some evil person. The Devil is worse, in some ways, because it’s about all the worst impulses in you.

The Devil is a card that’s about choices — namely, bad ones. Imagine your shoulder angel and shoulder devil. This card is the shoulder devil. It’s the card of addictions and bad habits and self-talk that will always hold you back. It’s a card of materialism and indulgence and giving into your very worst impulses.

Put simply, it’s a card about temptation.

The Devil is about recognizing the part of you that’s tempted to fall back into patterns of behavior that feel good now, but will only hurt you in the long run. And the advice that usually comes with this card is to just tell them no.

I very seriously considered Jan for this card. She feeds on insecurities and dips her fingers into addiction. She’s very keen on power and materialism and she leads her followers down paths that will only ever hurt them.

But… again, this is not a card about a bad person, exactly. This is a card that simply encourages the bad things that are already inside of you. It encourages you to make the bad choices that you’re already tempted to make, and it makes addictions to things that hurt sound so, so sweet.

So actually, the Devil that I’ve chosen isn’t a person at all.

It’s a hat.

A cursed witch’s sphincter hat, that is.

Laszlo’s cursed witch-skin hat is an addiction that he just can’t seem to leave behind even though it has only ever brought him sorrow. It has hurt everyone and everything he has ever loved, but still he can’t seem to give it up.

And neither can Simon the Devious.

There’s certainly a sort of selfish materialism to the hat, a desperate and awful need to possess, to own, to claim, but more than that, it seems to warp even the good things in both of them to something bad.

I’ve always thought that the real tragedy of the feud between Laszlo and Simon is that they would actually be incredible friends. They get along so well. They have similar hobbies, they like the same movies, they both have a passion for home design — like, they seem to just genuinely enjoy working together and spending time in each other’s company.

And it always seems to be poisoned by that damn hat.

The two of them always seem to end up at each other’s throats, and it’s certainly because that witch’s hat is whispering to them. It’s become the bad devil on both of their shoulders. Frankly speaking, most vampires seem to give into their shoulder devil at all times — but usually that devil would at least help them!

But rather than being truly self-serving, the cursed hat only has the illusion of benefit. Like all of The Devil’s temptations, it is a misdirection from the truth — that this temporary joy will only ever lead to sorrow. The real curse on this hat seems to be the inability to let it go, even when it’s actively destroying your life.

Whether it’s an addiction to gambling, shopping, self-harm (physical or emotional), drugs, or an extremely cursed witch’s hat, The Devil is always offering instant gratification in return for your soul.

(Or, if you’re like Laszlo and you’ve already tried to sell your soul at the crossroads a few times for musical ability, The Devil can at least really fuck up your life. And keep you from enjoying the best friendship you've never had.)

Anyway. Imagery.

I do feel like there will have to be a rather radical departure from the RWS imagery here if just because for all that that sphincter still…. sphincts… the cursed hat is still a largely inanimate object.

The original RSW card shows Baphomet, or the devil, seated on an altar between two people who are enslaved to his will. They are physically chained to him, which is a symbol of being chained by addictions, bad habits, and indulgences.

I think for all that we’ll be taking the central figure (Baphomet) from the card, we can still adhere pretty closely to the rest. Instead of Baphomet seated on an altar, it will be the cursed witch-skin hat sitting on a pedestal to be admired. A pentagram still hovers above it, but it is Laszlo and Simon who are chained to its base.

I’ll leave it up to you whether they’re wearing any clothes.

wwdits tarot masterpost