What, no sock handy?

Thoth Tarot, Crowley-Harris

Lon Milo DuQuette tries very hard, in his 'Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot', to convince me that the Devil is not the 'bad' card of the tarot. He nearly had me:

'If the Devil is supposed to be the card that represents evil, which card should we pick to represent good? All the other cards have the potential for good and evil...Can't the Fool be thoughtless enough, the Magus larcenous enough, the High Priestess seductive enough, the Empress wicked enough, the Emperor tyrannical enough, the Hierophant bigoted enough, the Lovers unfaithful enough, the Chariot pretentious enough, Lust lascivious enough, the Hermit self-abusive enough, Fortune ill-fated enough, Adjustment unfair enough, the Hanged Man tormented enough,  the Tower catastrophic enough, Death murderous enough, Art chaotic enough, the Star despondent enough, the Moon deceitful enough, the Sun narcissistic enough, the Aeon destructive enough, or the Universe cold and cruel enough to handle all the evil in the world? It should be obvious that the Devil is something other than ultimate evil.' 

That's pretty hard to argue with. But I still can't help seeing the Devil as a no-good, very-bad thing. He is called 'Lord of the Gates of Matter'. To me he is associated with all voluptuous fleshly indulgences that can lead to harmful excess. He is obsessive and abusive relationships, self-harm. Over-indulgence to the point of excess and beyond. Debauchery.

In this strange depiction of the Devil, we see a pink background with web-like patterns which remind me of ... let's say, dried mucous-based organic smears? The card is dominated by a huge phallus wearing a halo (at least I think that's a halo), and writhing in the testes are humanoid figures taking shape, ready to be expelled into existence, perhaps? (The starburst markings on the left and right inside the testes reminds me of images of cellular division.) Perched above the testes is a grinning three-eyed goat with very large twisty horns. The card corresponds to the zodiac sign Capricorn, thus the goat. But the goat has long been associated with the Devil. 

The Devil, to me, represents perversion of earthly pleasures, excess that leads to destruction. Knowing what we know about Crowley's life, it's not surprising that he writes:

'The formula of this card is then the complete appreciation of all existing things. He rejoices in the rugged and the barren no less than in the smooth and the fertile. All things equally exalt him. He represents the finding of ecstasy in every phenomenon, however naturally repugnant; he transcends all limitations. He is Pan; he is All.'

Note the phrase: 'however naturally repugnant'. I won't go into some of Crowley's personal practices because I don't want to make you sick, but trust me, many of them were 'naturally repugnant'. Like, throwing-up repugnant. 

So nah, mate. The Devil is not 'the All' for me. He might be sort of like the Id, he might be blind instinct, he might be natural appetite, but he is these things gone wrong. Other readers can read him however they want.

Now I do admit that the Devil can be read to indicate testing the water where the concept of 'sin' is concerned. What is true 'excess', 'debauchery', 'overindulgence'? What isn't? So the Devil can very well suggest testing of boundaries, testing of what we've been taught, to decide for ourselves what is 'debauched' and what is morally neutral. But that's about as good as the Devil gets for me.