Ambition, Control and Limitation: Capricorn and the Devil Card

CAPRICORN - The Goat - December 23-January 22 Greetings Capricorn, and welcome to a study of the Devil Card, which is a card all about you! In many decks, the Devil card is an image of a devil on a throne or pedestal. Two unfortunate creatures are chained to its base. The horns on the Devil’s head are a hint that this card belongs to Capricorn, the goat. It makes sense that Capricorns are closely tied to the Devil card. Your ambition, sense of responsibility, and need for structure are all illustrated by this card. Symbols related to your practical materialism are woven into the Devil card. You Capricorns are imminently practical. With each new situation you find yourself in, or each piece of information you receive, the first question you ask yourself is “How can I make use of this?” I hope you will be able to put the information below into good, practical use, since it reveals all the secrets about you that are hidden in The Devil Card.

Why This Pairing Makes Sense

Capricorn, you are driven by your ambitions. Your need to succeed is constantly prompting you to work harder, go faster, and find ways to be more efficient. There are many reasons why you want to succeed, including a sense of responsibility and a need to be accountable for your actions. But those reasons come and go. What remains the same is your pure ambition. Though the Devil card may seem like a negative card, it is a celebration of the material world and everything that can be achieved in it. It is also a card about power and what it can accomplish. Despite your ambitions, you have a healthy respect for authority and the way that things should be done. You are well aware of the rules, even when you decide to break them (and you do decide to break them sometimes). You take a conservative approach to many situations, carefully assessing them and fully understanding them before making your move. The Devil card clearly represents a hierarchy. There is just one person at the top (the Devil himself) and there are tiers of beings beneath him. This card represents organization and structure, sometimes just for structure’s sake. You are also reserved, and you don’t easily offer yourself, your ideas, or your emotions to other people. You are quite content being self-contained and independent, observing what others choose to do and keeping your thoughts to yourself. You make and take care of boundaries. The Devil card is associated with Saturn, which is the planet that rules restriction. It is about limitations and figuring out how to both work within them and break through them. It asks you to consider what you have chained yourself to and what those obligations mean in the grand scale of your life.

The Devil Card and Your Strengths

You are a deeply responsible person, Capricorn. You take your obligations very seriously and thoroughly commit yourself to fulfilling them. Due to this and your practical approach to life, you don’t usually rush to accept responsibilities. You have a good understanding of your capabilities and your ability to fulfill your promises, so you rarely run the risk of over committing yourself. The Devil card is a symbol of commitment and how those commitments can limit your future choices. The chained creatures at the base of the Devil’s pedestal could be there through misadventure, or they could have chosen to bind themselves to a material obligation after careful consideration. You are organized and orderly. In the areas of your life that mean the most to you, you have established systems of order that allow you to work efficiently. You have difficulty taking disorganized people seriously because order is so important to you. The Devil card represents structure taken to the extreme. It illustrates ordered, regimented progress that fits within a system. It is not a card that celebrates erratic behavior. This is a card of ordered cause and effect (for good or ill). Your determination is legendary, Capricorn. Some call it being stubborn, but your persistence allows you to accomplish many things that others wouldn’t dream possible. You are not discouraged easily and will continue to work towards your goals despite obstacles and setbacks. Once you make up your mind, you will put your plans into action in the most efficient way possible. The Devil card is a symbol of material practicality. It is a card illustrating the application of power. It is up to the powerful to apply their power appropriately.

The Devil Card (Reversed) and Your Weaknesses

Your natural tendency to keep your feelings to yourself and your independence can cause some people to think you are stand-offish, Scorpio. It’s not that you intend to present that image, but your preoccupation with your own interests causes you to turn inward, potentially disregarding the perceptions and feelings of others. As mentioned above, your unwavering determination can make you stubborn. There are even times when you know you should change your mind, but your pride or dedication to your own vision won’t allow you to do that easily. You can put up a great deal of resistance to ideas that are not your own. Though you are fascinated by and comfortable with your emotional landscape, you can be overwhelmed by your feelings. You can be overly sensitive and perceive slights when they aren’t there. If you start a negative train of thought, you can be easily swept along by it, sinking deeper and deeper into an emotionally negative feedback loop. When the Devil card is reversed, it represents power being misapplied. Upright, the card indicates an ability to manage and manipulate the material world. Reversed, it can point towards abusing those abilities to manipulate others. There are times you might be tempted to withhold information or feelings to sway others. The Devil card is a warning that you can get just as tangled up by that behavior as your intended targets. When the Devil holds sway, it can bring out the worst in people. When the Devil is held in tight control, it can be made to work for you. Your task is to understand how you can use your formidable internal strength to goad the Devil to help you do your work without falling prey to its entangling temptations.

The Devil Card and Problem Solving

Capricorn, when a problem appears, it would be hard to say that you are excited for the opportunity to find a solution. You usually consider problems the results of poor planning. However, the Devil is always in the details, and you can be found there, too. Your practical nature and desire to take things apart to understand them applies to both abstract and material problems. If you allow yourself to enjoy it, the delight that you feel when you are sifting through information and finding out exactly what went wrong and how to fix it can rarely be matched. If your acquaintances ask you to help find a solution to a problem, you take it seriously. However, you tend to take an accounting of all your other obligations before taking on a new one. You will also recommend experts if you feel as though the problem is about something you are unfamiliar with. As always, your practicality takes the lead, and you’d much rather point your friend in the direction of someone who can help them quickly and easily resolve the issue than see them spend time struggling without the proper kind of help. You have very firm ideas about how certain situations should be approached. If you see someone who isn’t handling a problem the way you expect, you are tempted to pluck the issue out of their hands and take care of it yourself. Depending on the individual, you may be showered in thanks, or they may feel hurt that you didn’t have faith in them to handle it on their own. The Devil card represents power and structure, as well as the tendency to get entangled with details or events that might restrict your freedom. When problems present themselves, pay attention to how you are applying your personal power. There might be a better way to use your power to find a solution.

The Devil Card and Your Work Life

When it comes to careers, you really should take advantage of your love of detail, Capricorn. Not everyone has the patience to approach things on a practical level with such enthusiasm and focus. You are also extremely comfortable working within a hierarchy and dealing with bureaucracy, which are two more traits that aren’t easy to find in a potential employee. Your immense practicality and love of the here-and-now can draw you into careers like accounting, engineering, and project management. The desire to see the results of your labor could cause you to enter fields like architecture or business management. Whichever career you pursue, remember the lessons that the Devil card holds. They can help guide you to greater and greater success. Use your ability to work within systems to climb to great heights in whatever profession you desire. Understand the rules and know when to break them. Harness your passion and dedication to drive you to greater accomplishments. Accept obligations carefully.

The Devil Card and Your Relationships

You are very cut and dried, Capricorn, even when it comes to your relationships. However, you are reserved and may be hesitant to express your emotions. This draws people who are patient and willing to explore friendships and relationships slowly. Your passion and love of material pleasures may come as a surprise to some people who might at first see you as being all business. When you are seeking close friends and romantic partners, look for people who appreciate structure. Your practical nature will drive you to consider a variety of details when picking a partner or friend. Seek partners who appreciate traditional relationships and stability. You can be very selective, particularly when seeking a romantic partner, so you feel most comfortable when you have the chance to get to know someone over time.

The Devil Card’s Guidance

Stand on the Devil’s pedestal to evaluate your obligations and your use of power. Work with the imagery in the card to gain deeper insight into your current situation. When you have a few moments of quiet, take some deep calming breaths. Allow yourself to relax and close your eyes. Picture a broad stone pedestal in front of you. When you are ready, step up on to the pedestal and survey the area around you. What do you see? The landscapes and images before you will give you hints about the areas which are in your sphere of control. Do they look healthy? Look at the base of the pedestal. Is there anything chained to it? These are things to which you feel obligated. Decide which chains should remain and which ones should be broken.