XV. Vice
Element: Earth
Excess / Abstinence
Vulgarity / Purity
Addiction / Recovery
A Crutch / Self-Control
Upright
- A crutch, in the sense of something possibly detrimental that one needs to get through life.
- Something with which one can injure theirself.
- Something which can be invigorating, intoxicating, and which can be easily misused to disastrous ends.
- Submission to sensual pleasures.
- Dependence upon anything that dangerous to some degree.
- Resignation of one's will and power to substance, hopeless addiction.
- Unhealthy fixations.
- Being attracted to dangerous people.
- Gratification or excitement with a sense of looming danger.
Vice signifies that which has the capacity to bind and disempower when one makes it the center of their existence. Imbibing a glass of wine to loosen up and enjoy a party can be perfectly healthy; living solely in the pursuit of alcohol robs life of the rest of its vast potential. In a reading, this card represents the possibility or the actuality of losing one's potential to vulgarity or addiction.
If it pertains to the realm of relationships, then this card can represent jealousy, unhealthy attachment, or perhaps a dangerous object of affection: a person with a prevalent dark side who happens to be very attractive.
Card Affiliations
Vice is the Two Worlds Tarot counterpart to The Devil, Major Arcana number XV in the Waite-Smith tarot and in many universal tarot decks. This card's meaning differs moderately from the universal meanings widely used for The Devil. Universal meanings for The Devil can be substituted or used to alter this card's meaning if the reader desires.
Reversed
- Overcoming an addiction.
- Swearing off a dangerous substance or a crutch.
- Abstaining from one vice or a multitude of vices.
- Purity culture, or any culture where abstaining from activities or substances is valued over health and wellbeing.
Vice Reversed signifies abstinence— purposefully avoiding vice so that one may also avoid the potential problems associated with addiction, dependence, and loss of faculties. Such abstinence could be from any perceived vice: swearing, sweet or fatty foods, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, sex, and even violent or vulgar movies or TV shows. Such abstinence may be temporary or permanent.
Alternatively, to draw upon the card's vicious nature, this could represent unhealthy obsession with ideological purity at the expense of wellbeing. Deeming morally neutral actions or substances "impure", or against a dubious greater good, can diminish quality of life to the extent that lives may be lost.