Capricorn brings us to The Devil – but why?
What’s the link between the two? And why, in the DruidCraft Tarot, do we have
Cernunnos representing the Devil?
Let’s start with the two questions – what links
Capricorn and the Devil? Capricorn is
often seen as a goat, or part-goat, part-fish (for more on this, see my
Capricorn post here).
Goats have come to symbolize sexuality in many mythologies – for instance, Pan,
the Greek goat-god, who was linked to the idea of ‘wild desire’. In northern European traditions, we have the
Horned God, representing nature and sensuality. Throughout the ages, though,
the goat has also become almost synonymous with the Devil, supposedly
representing temptation and giving in to our desires. With Capricorn being an Earth sign, the
references to sensuality and physical desire can be extended to material
desires. So when we come across the Devil in the tarot, we’re reminded about
what’s overpowering or obsessive, the things we try to suppress or deny. It can
represent not only temptation, but also surrender – and reminds us that we have
the power within us to keep our feet on the ground!
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| Cernunnos: DruidCraft Tarot (trimmed) |
The creators of the DruidCraft have chosen
to break with this tradition, though.
Card XV depicts Cernunnos, the Lord of Animals, the wild Hunter, the
Herdsman, the Horned God, standing in a forest grove. At his feet lie the two lovers we saw in card VI,
asleep.
In more traditional images we usually see
the Devil-goat symbolizing the material world to which the figures have
voluntarily chained themselves – there are chains around their necks but those
chains aren’t tight, and the figures’ hands are not restricted. They are not
slaves to external forces or events but only to their own desires and
illusions. In choosing to use Cernunnos
to represent The Devil, the deck’s creators turn the focus of the card more
towards the need to accept responsibility for our instincts and how we act on
them - for our desires, be they sexual or material. Yes, there is still a
warning again obsession, but by drawing on Cernunnos as representative of the
raw force of Nature and our ‘animal’ instincts, they also remind us to respect
that force and to be responsible for how we use it, both socially and
environmentally.
That’s where I see Capricorn coming into
play here. Capricorn is an Earth sign,
so we have both the earthiness of the material and sexual realms represented.
It’s also a Cardinal sign – the ‘go-getter’ energy, the initiator. Capricorn
stands for integrity (a Saturnian concept, with Saturn being the ruler of
Capricorn) as well as ambition - but ambition in a practical, tenacious,
business-like sense. With that comes the
ability to take on responsibility, to ensure that respect is paid where it’s
due. On the ‘shadow’ side then, it can
appear as greed or lack of respect or integrity.
The creators write, in the accompanying
book to this deck, of the need to “integrate and channel” our instincts, this
life-force, rather than repress it, so that we can be happy, healthy, and
creative in “appropriate and responsible ways” – with Saturnian integrity, in
other words. So once again, although this deck was not designed with astrology
in mind, I can certainly see how Capricornian qualities relate to Cernunnos in
this incarnation as The Devil.
Druidcraft Tarot created by Philip Carr-Gomm and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, illustrated by
Will Worthington, published by Connections 2004
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