TIME TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR.
El Dictador, like The Devil/El Diablo, is a stop-everything signal for you to face your shadow self. You know the one. Your jealous, insecure, self-sabotaging, cruel, addicted, vindictive inner tyrant. As the dark side of El Walter, El Dictador uses its power not to generate love for self and others, but to dominate, torture, and annihilate. It’s that sharp-toothed gremlin that jumps out of nowhere, wreaks havoc, and—if you’re lucky and self-aware—leaves you with that “tierra trágame” swamp-pit in your stomach.
If you get El Dictador in a reading, don’t panic. Face the low-key Pinochet you tend to ignore in yourself, and get curious: What is this behavior costing you? Where is all that shame and anger lodged in your body? And what practices will help you subvert this internal oppressor?
It’s not pretty, and you might have to make amends, but if you call upon your powers of manifestación (bilingual double-pow!), you and the world will be all the better for it. We’ve all been there. Be kind to yourself.
♫ “Rising” by Lhasa De Sela
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If you didn’t know… The Devil—who has an oval mirror for a face—wears the familiar gray hat and cape of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The two figures below him, who are naked and chained, also have mirrors as faces. Between them, a gremlin.
This is part of our Winter 2022-23 issue featuring Chancletazo for Your Soul by Marlène Ramírez-Cancio, The Tarot Issue.
