Welcome to day three of the Green Knight Week here at White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings!    Today’s post is a Tarot Tuesday look at the Green Knight and his relationship to the Devil card in Tarot.   This relationship between the Green Knight and the energy of the Devil card is well attested to in Arthurian Tarot studies.   In fact, the Green Knight is literally the Devil card in The Arthurian Tarot by John and Caitlin Matthews!

I cannot think of another Tarot archetype that would better align with the Green Knight.    The Devil card is often maligned as a card of simply being bound and restricted by addictions.    However, there is a deeper meaning to this card, and that is the energy of the Wildness of the ancient Horned Gods!    The Devil card is there to remind us that we are a part of Nature and not apart from it and that giving into our desires is not only beautiful and natural, it is required to become truly whole.   That being said, the energy of being restricted by your own addictions is always there as a warning of what happens if you do not learn some moderation in your dealings with your inner Wild nature!   

Now, the Green Knight applies to both sides of the Devil card energy.   He is the embodiment of the Wild Green Woodland brought to life, encouraging the remembrance of the importance of Nature as he challenges Gawain to prove himself as a Knight.   This challenge could easily have truly bound Gawain to his own failures and self-loathing had he not succeeded in his Quest.   In fact, Gawain still had much guilt for the fact that he had one small failure in his journey.   He had accepted the girdle from Bertilak’s wife and not revealed it when he should have, but this guilt Gawain felt was more because of his own unrealistic expectations for himself.   Furthermore, that guilt is more tied up in his not truly embracing the energy of Wildness the Green Knight is showing him!   The freedom that Gawain attained was through completing his Quest and learning the truth, which was revealed by the Green Knight during their meeting at the Green Chapel.   This truth about the Green Knight being a test set forth by Morgan le Fay proved to Gawain that he was more important as a Knight than he had originally believed.

The Green Knight’s lesson to Gawain is very much in line with the lessons we must learn when we are confronted with the Devil card.   Are we bound by addictions or our own unrealistic self-expectations?   Are we ready to let go of that which does not serve and embrace our Wild natures?   Are we willing to embrace the Wild with some moderation to prevent addictive cycles?    These are questions to contemplate with the Devil card and also ones that the Green Knight raised in Gawain, even if we sometimes have to read between the lines to see them!

I hope you have enjoyed this short look at how the Green Knight relates to the Devil card in Tarot.   What is your favorite alignment between the Green Knight and the Devil card?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is the Green Knight card from The Arthurian Tarot.   I found the picture on https://es.pinterest.com/pin/560416747361394352/.        

LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I will be doing my first-ever Herbal Tea Blending Class on December 29, 2024!   This is a live event hosted at the shop Phoenix Lane.   Here is the link to the event on Facebook if you are interested in learning from me in person: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19hU6vdFm3/

Further Reading

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight translated by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Arthurian Tarot by John and Caitlin Matthews