The Asshole

A few days ago, I was out, discussing with a friend, and of course Tarot became the main topic. You see, we both share a passion for a particular style, the Tarot de Marseille. And we started discussing about a reading he did for a man, some aspects remained unclear. A married man, no kids, asking advice about quitting his wife.

It was a typical three card spread. The left card talking about what’s positive aspects are in leaving, and the right one about the negative points. These two were quite obvious. When you get Le Mat as advice and la Papesse as what to avoid, it’s quite obvious that walking away from the relationship might be the thing to do. Staying passively like la Papesse and waiting would be ill advised. We did not even discuss this, this part of the reading was clear.

What was puzzling my friend was the middle card, the card of advice, Le Diable. What does the devil has to do with advice? Often portrayed as the bad boy, unhealthy situations, attachments that should be removed. It looks like every modern reader talks about addiction when seeing the devil. At first view, all these seem to be negative attributes.

So, what kind of advice could the devil give in my friend’s reading? Well, we can certainly look at emulating the devil, instead of fighting it. After all, it’s there as advice. So what can the consultant do? In three words, being an asshole. Not caring about others and doing what’s best for him. Just leave without looking at the consequences for the other person involved. 

Sometimes in life, we have to look at us first, selfishly. That’s what the devil is telling us in this reading. It’s nice to think about everybody and their neighbors, but what’s the benefit for us? What do we gain? Just leave, don’t care about the mess you create. That’s the effing devil, after all. Shocking? Hell yeah!

Deck: Tarot de Marseilla, by Pablo Roblero