A Tarot lesson about Key 15, The Devil, Capricorn, a card considered fearsome by many.

Another January. Another chance to see if I’m really serious about keeping my New Year’s resolutions—or if I’ll start breaking them right off just like I did last year? Another chance to get over myself, to climb the high mountain with the surefootedness of the CAPRICORN goat, to laugh hysterically at my old ways, those patterns that just don’t seem to be working anymore. Those blocks I keep unconsciously putting in my own way and tripping over—all those hang-ups that keep hanging on?

After all, it’s a brand new year. Is this really the year to put my life in perspective? Can I actually do it? Really do it? Or am I going to remain chained like the poor fools on Tarot Key 15, The Devil, and accept the bold-faced lie that I’m simply incapable of altering my fate? What can I do to change my life? To change the world? I can’t help but wonder whether Benjamin Franklin ever asked himself that question? He was a CAPRICORN, you know. Or Albert Einstein? Joan of Arc? Those Voices got her into a whole lot of trouble, but she listened and changed the course of French history.

I wonder whether other CAPRICORN Frenchmen like Paul Cezanne or Henri Matisse ever wondered about their art being accepted by the world? Suppose they had just turned in their brushes without really making an effort? We all know about a CAPRICORN named Richard Nixon—about the blind ambition that cost him the presidency (the Father of Lies on this Tarot card has the wings of a bat, a creature known to suffer from incredibly poor vision). Yet we also know about Nixon’s extraordinary determination to climb the mountain of public life one more time. After all, a real CAPRICORN never knows when to quit, even when it might be the intelligent thing to do.

CAPRICORN has a knack for learning from his or her mistakes. Sometimes really big ones, and we all have CAPRICORN in our charts somewhere! Another opportunity for soul growth, as we say in the metaphysical trade, and believe me, the year ahead is going to be an opportunity for big-time soul growth for just about every nation in the world. So pay attention, accept the challenge of the moment, or you may end up with an even bigger test in its place. Why not face the music and dance?

The bestialized humans on this card are suffering from ignorance. They need to wake up and open their eyes to reality. They haven’t even noticed that the chains around their necks are loose. It wouldn’t be such a big deal to slip right out of them? We sit here telling them, “Wake up, stupid. Take the chains off and get the hell out of there.” But do they listen? Of course not. They represent aspects of ourselves, our blind resignation to our present fate, whatever that might be. They are experiencing shame, guilt, regret, remorse, or far worse. They know they did something to deserve the mess they’ve gotten themselves into, and naturally, it was the devil that made them do it to begin with. How could they possibly take personal responsibility for the trials and tribulations confronting them? Heaven forbid!

Perhaps when they were children their father or mother or Aunt Harriet told them they would never amount to anything? They weren’t pretty enough, handsome enough, smart enough, clever enough. Maybe their third grade teacher put a hex on them by telling them about their sloppy penmanship, and they still have trouble reading their own handwriting?

What’s the use? Why even try? I hate my life. What could I possibly do to change it? How many more lies do I need to tell myself to stay exactly where I am? How long can I go on feeling guilty about my past mistakes and shortcomings? How tight or heavy can I make the chains that bind me? How long can I stay depressed about the economic state of the world? World hunger? Greenhouse warming? Terrorist acts? Biological warfare? Smallpox vaccine? There’s always something out there to make me depressed, honest to God! Or could it be time to ask myself—is there anything I can do to change the quality of my life? Anything at all?

Look at what Edgar Allan Poe (another CAPRICORN) did with his alcoholic depression. He wrote dismal, disconcerting, really scary stories about strange people and bizarre events. Thank heavens he didn’t just sit there and stare into his empty brandy snifter or hypodermic needle. If you really want to be depressed, it’s okay, only do something tangible with it like Poe. Turn your dark addiction into something profitable like a genuine CAPRICORN (we do all have CAPRICORN somewhere in our horoscope—just like we all have bones, a spleen and knees ruled by CAPRICORN). Write something really morose that will be around for a few hundred years and scare the hell out of not only elementary school children but full-grown college students reading English assignments late at night where every creak in the house sounds like some maniac ready to jump out and chop you to pieces before burying your remains behind some stupid brick wall.

Or wiggle your hips and sing out like Elvis. The world may forgive you for your conspicuous imperfections that took you away from them far too soon, and your face may also end up on a postage stamp. Or make people laugh like Danny Kay or Cary Grant, two more great CAPRICORN talents famous for their sense of humor. A subtle meaning attached to Key 15, The Devil, is mirth.

This card represents our tremendous need to laugh at ourselves, to stop taking ourselves so damn seriously. Like on those days where everything goes so wrong that there’s nothing left to do but laugh? We’ve all had days like that. As a last resort laughter is a whole lot better for our health than tears, although on occasion a good cry can be therapeutic or even downright cathartic. As long as you don’t overdo it and make yourself sick, a real possibility with prolonged depression or despair.

Let’s face it… Satan is a sick joke waiting to push us over the edge of some mountainous precipice into the valley of rejection, denial, or abject cynicism. It’s that little cloud that hangs over the head of a disgruntled CAPRICORN when the bills from holiday spending arrive on a cold January day. When Scrooge wakes up after Christmas and cries out in utter woe, “Did I really spend that much money on all those stupid presents? Have you seen my Macy’s bill? Good grief!” Days when CAPRICORNS think they’ve cornered the market on depression. Only the wise ones know better.

Take Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who got so depressed and despondent about the rights and state of his own people that he had this dream, and that dream started changing things. Aspects of his dream came true , and those who believed in that dream kept climbing up the icy slopes of that dark mountain against the harsh northern winds of prejudice and hate until the color a person’s skin became far less important than the breadth and depth of their character. Dr. King never asked, “What can I do to change things?” He just did it and altered the course of history by forcing people to wake up to the chains that were keeping them in bondage because they were afraid to do things any differently. They were afraid to take a chance before he gave them the vision.

CAPRICORN is the sign of undaunted leadership. Fear is another word for Key 15, THE DEVIL. It is the fear of failure that more often than not obstructs success—the fear that freezes us in our tracks on a wintry CAPRICORN day—the fear that is capable of imprisoning our dreams.

The Hebrew letter assigned to Key 15, The Devil, is Ayin, with one translation being “the eye as the organ of vision.” Even small children find out soon enough that what you see is not always what you get. A can of worms might be wrapped in shiny paper tied with a bright ribbon. Judging by appearances can lead us far from our goals, far from the truth and possibilities ahead. Judging by appearances reinforces old prejudices, misconceptions, superstitions, envy, jealousy, and greed—the uglies of Key15 that keep us from being healthy and whole human beings. The concepts or rules of the past century could fail us in a rapidly changing world. It just may be time to enlist a snowplow of courage to clear the path before us.

The parent, boss, or authority figure, represented by Key 15, THE DEVIL, and the sign of CAPRICORN, is seldom as awesome or terrible as first perceived when we take the time to look beyond the façade at the real human being, warts and all. Even those who have “arrived” have defects to rise above. The comedic aspect of Key 15 reminds us of how successful comedians turn their liabilities into assets that keep them laughing all the way to the bank. So laugh at the devil. Laugh in the face of your fears. Make friends with the shadow side of your nature. Dispel the darkness of your own ignorance by waking up to the infinite possibilities of living life more fully this year.

Try to keep at least one resolution part of the time, and plan ahead for next year’s resolve. Don’t be afraid to apologize to yourself if the parent within has been too tough on the child within during the year just passed. After all, you have a whole new year in which to clean up your act, to wise up, to chase the bogeyman of doubt, fear and shame away. To be happy! It's never as bad it seems. It could be far worse.

Smile. Laugh. Look beneath the surface. Forgive mistakes, and correct what you can. Discard the chains that bind you. Throw darts at the devil and chase all the dark shadows of your lower nature into the bright light of the sun. In taking this advice you actually have nothing to gain… except a renewed sense of your own self worth and a bright future filled with endless possibilities!