XV Temptation

Image ©Copyright 2009 Lisa Hunt & Llewellyn Publications. Used by Permission.


Here's a card that's been haunting me...well at least puzzling me for a bit now. Temptation traditionally The Devil. Well, temptation is definately the tool of "the devil" so to speak so that fits. The image itself is a wonderful rendition....at the door...deciding...enter or not....good versus evil....looking over her shoulder, just as every human I have ever observed, doing something they aren't quite sure of....or that they know for a fact is wrong. So it is not the card concept or the art that has me in a quandry. It is the tale itself.

The story is Bluebeard. The man that marries the maiden, leaves her in luxury but demands that she not open the door with the golden key. Well DUH....that's like temptation waiting to snag her!! So far so good....but here's the ironic twist (happens in life a lot)...when she opens the door she discovers the bodies of his previous wives who have not followed his directive. Gruesome. In the end, she manages to escape the fate that he intends for her and with his death ends up a very wealthy woman.

Here's where I find the paradox...the man was wrong, I mean he murdered his wives...and yet (in a way) the maiden was wrong too. She gave in to temptation and did something that she had been warned against...but in the end she triumphed. I'm trying to wrap my mind around exactly which way to go with this one....seems a paradox but maybe not. Let me delve in a bit more.

Looking at it from the perspective that temptation will exist...and ironically it can come from both good and bad sources. Well technically it comes from within ourselves but none the less, I'm just musing here. So there is temptation: do we resist it or give in?....here the temptation is created by a cruel man but actually not giving into it would have kept the maiden safe. In the dark so to speak, but still safe. So in this case was giving in to temptation good or bad? Helpful or destructive?

I guess in my mind, temptation is commonly about keeping away from things that are not good for you or at least not good for you in excess. That isn't really the framework of temptation on this card. "Opening the door can change what we know forever." (page 62).... hmmmm. In this tale, you might even say the maiden gave into temptation, discovered awful truths, and then was actually rewarded in the end. So in the end temptation has a dual nature?

Temptation's dual nature? There are times in life when giving into temptation helps us discover things that in truth we need to know. Realities that we may not find pleasant but realities that change the way we perceive life and that bring us to a different level. A reminder perhaps that temptation is found, not just in things of beauty but in things of ugliness. And then the temptor plays a role here also.

Well the very first temptor I suppose was God. I mean he told Eve NOT to eat the apple and satan encouraged her to.....and yet to me both are temptors. They just have different motives behind tempting someone. God's purpose was to protect and satan's to create havoc. In much the same way temptation still plays out today. One can tempt someone to try something new (to bring them out of their shell or broaden their experiences) OR someone can tempt someone to do something for personal gain (thrills, money, etc)

Then again WE are the temptor....it is our way of thinking and looking at the situation that makes it a temptation. For example if the maiden had just enjoyed the party and ignored the golden key. Accepting the fact that there are unknown things in her life would have prevented her from being drawn to the door. End result... good or bad? You decide. In a way...I think this story speaks also about intuition. You know, that little something that tells you something is wrong, an uneasy feeling, that pushes you to look deeper.

Perhaps the lesson from the tale is: ...There are lessons to be learned from the things that tempt us and in doing so we will be changed forever.