The Major Arcana and The Hero’s Journey: The Devil, Part II, Sympathy for the Devil*

In the Middle Ages Satan falls yet again—from fallen angel to monster. He is usually red or black with fangs, bulging eyes, pointy tail, and claws, although he is occasionally pictured as a goat. The Catholic Church wanted to paint the most terrible portrait of the archfiend that they possibly could.

But, according to Ronald Hutton,** the Devil wasn’t depicted as a man with goat horns and legs and cloven hooves until the late 1800s and early 1900s. This was a Christian reaction to the neoclassical movement, which occurred at this time and celebrated all things Greek. Wild and lusty Pan, spreader of unreasoning terror and more than a few thighs makes frequent appearances in the literature of that time. He, of course, fascinated the Victorians and Edwardians, and horrified most God-fearing Christians (or at least they said they were horrified).

The goat imagery is very appropriate because the Devil is a scapegoat. He is a construct that monotheists use to explain the presence of evil in a world created by a perfect God. Judaism, Christianity and Islam heap all of the sins and evils of the world upon Satan’s broad shoulders. They further teach that when the Second Coming occurs he will be thrown into a “lake of fire” (Revelation 20:7-15) or Jahannam (Islamic Hell) and with his fall, all sin and evil will be taken away from the world.

According to Wikepedia, the goat that the ancient rabbis charged with the sins of the tribe and cast out into the wilderness or off a cliff (depending on which source you read) was called azazel. The etymology of this word isn’t clear. It can mean “for entire removal”, it may be the name of the mountain where the goat was pitched to his doom, or it may be that the goat was for Azazel, a desert demon. Scholars find no mention of this god or demon anywhere before he appears in Leviticus 16, but he seems to be quite popular after that. (Wikipedia). In Hebrew texts, the Book of Enoch says “The whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azazel: to him ascribe all sin.” Some Christian scholars have equated him with Satan, and although he doesn’t appear in the Qur’an, Islamic literature says that Azazil is another name for Iblis, the Islamic Satan.

Judism, Christianity, and Islam have made Satan an effective and indispensable scapegoat.

So what, exactly were the sins that got him cast out of heaven and into the roll of evil corrupter of humanity? His basic sin is hubris, the same as that of the Greek heroes. But even here there is some disagreement. The Christians say he refused to bow down to God and the Muslims say he refused to bow down to Adam and Eve, God’s creation. In either case his pride got the better of him and he said, “Wait a minute. I’m big and important. Why should I do this?” He questioned authority. And when the authority you are questioning is a perfect God, you’ve backed yourself up to a logical and semantic cliff. The only way out is down. You can’t argue with God, or, in the words of Martin Luther, “Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees it must put out of sight, and wish to know nothing but the word of God.”

A part tongue-in-cheek and part dead serious article called “In Praise of the Devil” puts it this way:
“God, being the well-documented sadist that he is, no doubt wanted to keep Lucifer around so that he could punish him and try to get him back under his (God’s) power. Probably what really happened was that Lucifer came to hate God’s kingdom, his sadism, his demand for slavish conformity and obedience, his psychotic rage at any display of independent thinking and behavior. Lucifer realized that he could never fully think for himself and could certainly not act on his independent thinking so long as he was under God’s control. Therefore he left Heaven, that terrible spiritual-State ruled by the cosmic sadist Jehovah, and was accompanied by some of the angels who had had enough courage to question God’s authority and his value-perspective.

“Lucifer is the embodiment of reason, of intelligence, of critical thought. He stands against the dogma of God and all other dogmas. He stands for the exploration of new ideas and new perspectives in the pursuit of truth.”

Now, I’m all for logic and reason. They’ve brought us sewer systems, antibiotics, and the Internet. How could they be bad? But many of us have beliefs that comfort us in hard times and bring us joy in the good times. We can’t prove them, and they are totally illogical; but countless logical research studies show that those who have them are happier and healthier.

Logic and reason are solidly grounded in the material world. If you can’t see it, smell it, hear it, taste it, or measure it, it doesn’t exist. But the faithful of every religion and spiritual practice on earth “know” deep in their beings that this isn’t true. Physical reality is only a small, unimportant part of our world. The stuff that brings true joy and meaning to life is intangible —but, of course they can’t prove it. And it’s an easy truth to forget when the rent’s due and your low back is killing you. This is the lesson of The Devil key: When do you let go of “reality”? When do you stop balancing your check book, reading the news, and checking your blood pressure, and simply believe?

To be continued…

*Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil”, 1968

**Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft, Oxford University Press, 1999