Step by Step Tarot. Terry Donaldson

basis of a personality imprint made upon you at an earlier point in your life. You must ‘unlearn’ away from this pattern. You must get away from all the sources of negativity and annoyance which vex your soul and trouble your mind at this time. It is not necessary to overload your mind at the expense of your own sense of peace and harmony.

      The Devil card often appears in a person’s life when a challenge is being made against them. This challenge may come through other people – here, you must be strong enough to withstand the opposing forces representing the influence of these people: they may well be hidden or out of sight, not wanting to display themselves openly, preferring to work against you in a more surreptitious manner.

      The basic message of this card stays the same, whether your opponents are fighting you openly or not: what you must do is stand by your principles, your ethics, and refuse to compromise with the forces against you.

      Another aspect of the Devil is that it touches upon all of that which we feel we cannot give up or relinquish: all of our stuff, habits and routines, which we know aren’t doing us any good at all, and which may in fact be holding us back from going ahead into what our futures may hold for us. What is it that you aren’t prepared to say goodbye to?

      Some people need devils, so that they can have an excuse for failure. ‘Well, I tried to do X, but, well, it didn’t work out, so it must mean it’s not “intended” to work out.’ Or they dramatize others in the role of the Queen or King of Darkness, against which they seem to lose their power of control. How can we rid our lives of casting others into this role? How can we come to see those who challenge us in life less as devils and more as our own personal trainers, leading us on to greater levels of self-empowerment?

      16 THE TOWER

      In this card we see a great tower being tested by the forces of nature. It represents everything that you have built up being put to the test.

      From the financial standpoint, now is most definitely a time for you to conserve resources, almost fanatically. Any kind of excess would work against you under this set of influences.

      It is vital that you use this period to clear as many debts as possible, karmic as well as financial. It may seem as though people in your life whom you had automatically assumed to be reliable are now proving themselves not to be.

      You must immediately bypass normal habits and routines, and take control over whatever area of your life has started disfunctioning. Then, handling the situation and removing any danger in it, proceed to reorganize the relevant activity so that the situation is not constantly happening again and again.

      Now is the time for you to apply your ethics – whatever they may happen to be – and that means examining that area of your life that is going wrong at this time and deciding what is best for you – and the society in which you live – on the basis of the greatest good for the greatest number.

      Don’t operate from a purely selfish dynamic – remember that others are relying on you for your qualities of leadership to help them get out of this mess as well!

      What could you be doing in your life at this time that will come to be the foundation of something really positive in the future? What pattern should you be stopping here in the present, i.e. specifically not doing, which will enable you to avoid suffering at some future time period?