The Devil and The Lovers Birth Cards

How the two cards meet

Together these cards describe someone for whom desire and commitment are central themes, and for whom the real question is often whether a bond is chosen or merely kept. People with this pair tend to feel things intensely, and to learn most about themselves through what they are drawn to. The Devil is about attachment, appetite and the patterns that hold us; its two figures are chained loosely enough to step free, which is the card's quiet point. Beneath it, The Lovers is choice, union and values.

Where they pull

The pull runs between compulsion and choice. The Lovers asks you to commit to what you value, and The Devil shows how easily a commitment becomes a habit you no longer examine. When the Devil leads, attraction can turn into a chain. When The Lovers leads without the Devil's honesty, you may pretend there is no shadow in what you want. The pair asks you to look at both.

Sitting with it

Think of one thing you are deeply attached to: a person, a comfort, an ambition. Is the chain loose or tight? Could you step out if you chose to, and do you choose to stay? This pair does not treat desire as a problem. It suggests that your freedom lives in making your attachments conscious.

Questions to sit with

• Which of your attachments would you choose again today?
• Where does a want keep you from what you value?
• What would it mean to stay somewhere freely rather than out of habit?

Who lands here

Birth dates up to January 1, 1948 can add up to The Devil and The Lovers, and so can dates from December 31, 2006 on. Nobody born in between has it. It is most common for people born in the 1900s to the 1920s. Among everyone born from 1950 to 2009, fewer than 1 in 100 have it. Dates that give it include January 8, 1905; May 3, 1915; and September 7, 1925.

The cards on their own

• The Devil (15)

  The chain measured, and found loose enough to lift.

• The Lovers (6)

  A choice that tells you who you are.