The Devil
Major Arcana · number 15 · Il Diavolo
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The Devil is force in its raw state: ravage, violence, vehemence, extraordinary efforts, a drive that sweeps you away. It is not necessarily evil, says Waite, but it is something you do not entirely control. If these days you feel bound to a person, a habit, a job that drains you and attracts you at the same time, it is no accident. The chains on the card are loose: they can be slipped off. Beware of easy money and of passions that demand everything. The practical advice: look straight at whatever holds you and ask whether you choose it or merely endure it.
Source: Arthur Edward Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910) · read the original passage
Reversed
Reversed, the Devil loses his grandeur and only the worst part remains: weakness, pettiness, a blindness that makes you mistake harm for destiny. If you notice you keep repeating the same mistake, in love or with money, saying there is nothing you can do, this card contradicts you: there is. The danger is smallness, a grudge nursed in secret, tit for tat. It is not a sentence, it is a warning. The practical advice: if a situation makes you feel small and without choice, talk to someone outside the circle, a friend, a professional, and ask them to see what you cannot.