The devil is temptation, the shadow and the bond to what is destructive. In a dream it shows a part of you that tempts, controls or deceives, often a habit or a dependence.
When the dream feels light
Defeating or escaping the devil speaks of freedom from a temptation or an addiction.
When the dream feels dark
Making a pact or being caught by the devil points to a dependency, guilt or a bond that controls you.
Ask yourself
What is tempting me, and what does it cost?
Correspondences
- Archetype
- The Shadow — What you have refused to see in yourself, dark but full of force.
- Element
- Fire — will, passion and change
- Planet
- Mars
- Tarot card
- The Devil
- Alchemical stage
- Nigredo, the Blackening
Bondage to desire and fear. The chain is loose; you could step out of it.
Words that call this sign
hell, satan
Related signs
The Wolf · The Rat · The Bat · The Goat · The Storm · The Forest · Night · The Shadow
The card of this dream
The Devil. The chains of desire, habit and fear that you have agreed to wear. The Devil crouches above a man and a woman chained to his pedestal, yet the chains are loose around their necks. He is attachment, temptation, addiction and the shadow: what binds you can be released, if you see it clearly.