The Devil Tarot Year Card
A year to look honestly at habits, attachments and whatever holds power over you.
What a Devil year means
The Devil shows two figures chained to a pedestal, yet the chains around their necks are loose enough to lift off. As a year card it does not mean a cursed year. It describes a year when your attachments come into view: habits, desires, money, relationships or ambitions that have more of a hold on you than you realised.
That can be uncomfortable, but it is also powerful. The Devil is the card of material drive and raw desire, and a Devil year can bring ambition, pleasure and success. The work is to enjoy them without being owned by them, and to notice which chains you could simply take off.
Fifteen reduces to 6, The Lovers, the background theme: the year's real question is about choice. What do you choose freely, and what are you choosing out of compulsion?
Work, love and inner life
Work and money: Ambition, money and power. Material success is possible, but watch for deals that cost more than they pay.
Love and relationships: Passion and intensity, and an honest look at dependency or control in a relationship.
Inner life: Breaking habits, facing the shadow side of yourself, and owning your desires.
Gifts of a Devil year
- Freedom from a habit or pattern that held you back.
- An honest understanding of what you really want.
- The drive to reach material goals.
- Enjoying pleasure without guilt.
What to watch for
- Swapping one dependency for another.
- Staying in a situation out of fear or comfort.
- Letting money or status make your decisions.
- Blaming others for chains you could remove yourself.
Working with your Devil year
- List what you reach for when you are stressed, and pick one thing to change.
- Notice when you say "I have to" and check whether it is true.
- Let yourself enjoy something fully, without guilt.
Questions to reflect on
- What has more power over me than I would like?
- Which of my chains are actually loose?
- What do I really want, and what am I settling for?
Who has The Devil as their year card in 2026 and 2027?
With Greer's method your year card depends only on what your birth month and day add up to. In 2026, The Devil is the year card for anyone whose month + day comes to 23, 32 or 41: 26 birthdays (about 7% of the year). In 2027 the totals are 22, 31 or 40, which gives 27 birthdays (about 7% of the year).
January 22, 2026: 1 + 22 + 2026 = 2049 → 2 + 0 + 4 + 9 = 15 → The Devil
All 26 birthdays with The Devil in 2026
January 22, January 31, February 21, March 20, March 29, April 19, April 28, May 18, May 27, June 17, June 26, July 16, July 25, August 15, August 24, September 14, September 23, October 13, October 22, October 31, November 12, November 21, November 30, December 11, December 20, December 29.
All 27 birthdays with The Devil in 2027
January 21, January 30, February 20, February 29, March 19, March 28, April 18, April 27, May 17, May 26, June 16, June 25, July 15, July 24, August 14, August 23, September 13, September 22, October 12, October 21, October 30, November 11, November 20, November 29, December 10, December 19, December 28.
Before and after a Devil year
Everyone with The Devil in 2026 had Temperance as their 2025 year card, and in 2027, 14 move on to The Tower and 12 move on to The Chariot. Most years the card moves forward one step, but when your total crosses into a new decade (2049 to 2050, for example) the digits reset and the card drops back. That is why some birthdays jump between The Devil and The Chariot.
These dates follow the calendar year, as in Greer's method. If you count your year from birthday to birthday instead, your Devil year runs from your birthday in that year to your next one. When does a year card start?