The Devil card in a reversed position suggests that you are enjoying creating chaos and resistance for no particular reason. Your sense of humor could be a bit twisted. Your motive may be vengeance or you are simply being an irritant. The juvenile prankster streak in you must be corralled and changed before it gets you into further trouble. Suppress those impulses until you successfully engineer a shift away from this careless behavior. Such antics will cost you in the long run even though they seem amusing in the moment.

Basically, the Devil card tells us what impulses we need to accept as part of our basic nature what Sigmund Freud called the "Id." We can only suppress it so far, but we can suppress it enough that it doesn't translate into addiction or destructive behavior. It's knowing who we are, and our own limitations. A resolution that’s much better than an eternity burning in hell, certainly.

Death
No card in the Tarot deck is as feared -- and as misunderstood -- as Death. What has traditionally been known as the Death card is not about literal death of any person. It may represent the death of something else, like a project, plan or relationship. It also points to a time of harvest, symbolized in classical decks by the reaping skeleton. Unless the fruits of summer are harvested, they are lost to winter's harshness and the people do not eat.

This card portrays the action of winter on the landscape -- lush greenery is cut back, revealing the bones of the landscape. The season of dark and cold separates the annual plants, that live and die in one year, from the perennials, which can take refuge in their root systems until the following spring, to sprout anew. As the scythe cuts the cords that link us to the past, it liberates us to go forward without fear, because we have nothing left to lose. We can see that everything pruned away is recycled for the fertility of the future, so that nothing is really ever lost, despite seasonal cycles of gain and loss.

In the more modern decks, we see Death mounted on a horse and wearing black armor. The emphasis in these decks is on the punishment of sin -- much like the way the medieval plague, which inspired the death image, was used to explain the wrath of God. Luckily, nowadays, we aren't so encumbered with such a guilt-ridden philosophy.

The Death card reversed suggests that you might long for the cord to be cut, but unfortunately you have to persist and endure without the relief of an ending. It is not time for termination and closure yet. Be patient with the current circumstances without resigning yourself to a negative outcome. Coming changes may alter the way you feel about the status quo. Remember that harvest isn't started until the fruit is ripe. Work at becoming wiser and mellower, sweeter and more nourishing, and your time of release may happen sooner than you think.

Curious about another card? Look up its meaning.