Module 3

Responding to Animals

XV – The Devil

Upright: Attachment, Bondage, Restriction, Sexuality, Materialism, Addiction, Shadow Self, Playfulness
Reversed: Detachment, Exploring Dark Thoughts, Releasing Limiting Beliefs, Freedom, Restoring Control
(Card meaning can be found here.)

The prompt “responding to animals” initially presented a challenge within the Tarot, which does have animals in various cards, but not ones that I felt personally connected to. However, when I considered that anthropomorphism would still fulfil the module prompt, The Devil card immediately came to mind. As my practice often utilises vulture culture (animal remains), I was able to utilise a ram skull to represent The Devil given their horned goat-headed presentation. The Devil often reflects the profane, pleasures and follies of the flesh, addiction and toxic attachments. Without going into too much detail, this is a message with which I am very familiar.

A key design feature within The Devil card, aside from Satan himself, is the presence of 2 humans who are held in bondage and have been twisted by his presence. The Devil stands between these bound figures holding himself in a profane facsimile of the Magician’s gesture of “As Above, So Below.” Historically Satan is associated with 19th-century depictions of Baphomet, a goat-headed figure who presents a variation of Christ’s holy hand gestures. I replicated this within my sculpture, taking alginate moulds of my own hands imitating the gestures, and casting the moulds in wax. Aside from being a quick and easy method of moulding, the use of wax communicates the presence of fire, a metaphor for both his realm of hell and the suit of Wands from the Magician. To represent the human figures I took casts of the hands of a male and female friend, posing them as if gripping in pain. Initially, these hands were going to be back to back, with a sword driven through them, however a limit in materials meant that this wasn’t possible. I adapted by replacing the dagger (or Sword) with ropes to display the bondage they found themselves in. Having 5 independent features, I was able to place them in a Pentacle pattern, further cementing the relationship with The Magician. A Pentacle would be formed by extending the bondage to all hands and the skull, with a shibari (Japanese Rope Bondage) applied to the “human” hands, which are positioned to appear to be “pulling away” from each other.

Finally, as hands are all rendered in wax, I introduced additional wax. While it aesthetically matches the materials present, this was also a way of adapting to the fact that 3 of four hands experienced an issue when casting. As the alginate had a tendency to “sweat” the water used to mix it, water pooled in the fingertips of most of the mould, resulting in casts absent of said fingertips. Black wax was dripped over The Devil’s hands (only 1 had a small loss of fingertip), with red wax poured violently over the human hands. A wax of each colour also dripped from each of The Devil’s eyes.

The final challenge was mounting the sculpture. The wax used remained soft even after it had cooled, meaning that it was liable to deform or tear if hung. As I had been experimenting with resin in my prior modules, I utilised it here as well. I created a pinkysil mould of a disc that was large enough for each feature to be placed in (not all in one mould but one each). This meant each object had a solid base, which would have an angled hole to hang vertically. As each base mould was poured, additional accents were added to the epoxy, rather than leaving them clear. In my experiments, I collected both plant matter (Snap Dragons given away at the end of spring by the university) as well as a number of insect remains. Continuing the distinct design elements between the “figures in the scene” I varied the contents of the moulds. The Devil skull base plate contained dried leaves and flowers from the Snap Dragons, with its hand base plate containing the plant matter along with a few selectively placed insect remains. The human hand base plates had a small amount of plant matter, but a significant number of insect remains, with larger flying insects such as moths and beetles. This distinction communicates a common motif of growth and decay present in my works, as well as a dichotomy of beauty and disgust.

With all these features, The Devil presents as a profane mirror to The Magician, in both design and symbolism. Earth is present through the representation of the pentacle, as well as the plant matter submerged in the base plates. Fire is present within the wax prevalent within its construction. Water is alluded to in the base plates, as the clear discs appear like dishes of water, absent of dish. Finally, air is represented by the various flying insects, submerged within the plates (along with a single moth placed on the skull).