✨️LET'S LEARN LOTERÍA✨️2 - EL DIABLITO✨️

 

2: EL DIABLITO (THE LITTLE DEVIL)

Alright friends, I’m about to take you all on a journey – we are going to learn about a game first created in Mexico during the 1700s by the Don Clemente company, a game called lotería, or “lottery.” And while the direct translation of lotería is indeed “lottery,” the game is more closely related to Bingo.

There are fifty-four different cards in a lotería deck, each with a rather colorful and easily recognizable object, animal, or person. Each player receives a plaque with several rows of corresponding objects, animals, or people. When a card is drawn from the deck such as “La Maceta,” or The Flowerpot, the card-drawer will say the name of the picture, then its “grito” or saying (the grito for La Maceta is “El que nace pa'maceta no sale del corredor” or “He who is born to a flower pot won't leave the corridor” in English), and everyone that has the same picture of la maceta on their plaque would put down a bean or corn kernel or coin to mark that same picture. The game is won in either of two ways: in the first, the first person to get an entire row or column filled wins; in the second, the first person to get the entire plaque filled wins.

I give this information because lotería is first and foremost a party game. At least, that is what it was designed to accomplish. But for many Latinos like myself, we wanted a system of divination that felt particularly our own. There’s a certain shared history with tarot, and oracle is obviously open to all.

But lotería feels like home; it reminds of us of our childhoods, of carne asadas for every celebration big or small, of huge birthday parties where we’d end up sleeping rather peacefully on a chair next to our cousins in the living room by eleven while the adults partied outside until three in the morning. It’s a testament to how Latinos have taught one another to “not take life too seriously.” Lotería is a game. But it is also a reminder.

The second card in the fifty-four card deck is El Diablito. Directly translated, this means “the little devil” though many translate it simply to “the devil” – context and grammar are important here, as any word in Spanish that ends in -ito means little. While the colloquial translation may be the devil to some, the emphasis on little is a significant factor in the card’s meaning. El Diablito’s “grito” or saying is “Portate bien cuatito si note lleva el coloradito!” or “Behave yourself buddy, so the little red one doesn't take you away!”

Let’s tackle some of the differences between translating this card to the devil versus the little devil: in tarot, as many people know, there is a major arcana card called The Devil as well. Many cultures have a “devil” or “demon” figure, and this is shared symbolism between the two systems of divination.

However, while tarot’s The Devil can be a representation of materialism and being led astray, The Devil in Latino culture is more religious (yes, we’re going back to the religion conversation, I promise it’s important!)

As I mentioned with card one, El Gallo, Latinos and Mexicanos are largely Catholic or grew up in the Catholic faith. The Devil is a manifestation of negative energy, hell, and eternal damnation, and every Latino Catholic knows better to invoke the entity. Even ex-Catholic’s like me have a strong affinity for staying away from him and his various elements, regardless of our belief in “hell” or otherwise. However, the Devil is exceptionally powerful not just because of his ability to lead people away from the Catholic God, but because he doesn’t actually need to lie to persuade people to follow him. The Devil is malicious because he knows how to use his knowledge and the truth to his advantage to ensnare his prey. Reality can be more terrible than fiction, and the Devil plays into this.

So, why not just leave the meaning of the card as above? Why the emphasis on “little” devil?

Latinos, and Mexicanos, largely live life not taking things too seriously. This often makes growing up fun and exciting, though it can also lead to a lot of “playful” bullying and lack of accountability about certain behaviors and traditions in the culture. But that’s a whole other conversation. The point here is that, because Latinos largely don’t take life too seriously, even the Devil’s powers are limited compared to internal power and belief in God. The Devil is powerful, and enticing, and corrupting – but he is also little in the sense that “this too shall pass.”

The “little” Devil are problems that affect us in the moment, but ones we can overcome through self-actualization, hard work, and reverence towards the ancestors and family. The “little” Devil is a problem, but NOT a permanent one.

In the upright position, El Diablito is a giant neon sign reminding the one being read for that while it seems like hell is here, it’s more of a mindset than a permanent state of being. Things can and will get better, so long as we look at the situation clearly and calmly. The Devil works hard, but Latinos work harder. He is drawn with red skin, horns, a pitch fork, sometimes a tail, as well as one cloven foot and one chicken foot – these symbols are largely borrowed from European/Spanish Catholicism and are often used for depictions of imps and demons rather than the Devil himself. This absolutely plays into the emphasis on “little” here.

In the reversed position, I tend to read El Diablito as clinging to familiarity or not knowing one’s self deeply enough – El Diablito reversed tells us that we are clinging so hard to situation, that we are so afraid of change, that we cannot see the nonsense we are being swept up in. It is a card warning us to take off our rose-colored glasses before hell really does rain its fury down on our heads.

Xelena González, the artist behind the Lotería Remedios Oracle deck, depicts El Diablito with red skin, a pitchfork, horns, and one cloven and one chicken foot (picture 1). There is no tail, unlike the original Don Clemente game art (picture 2). In my depiction (picture 3), I have removed the red skin, as well as the pitchfork and the cloven and chicken feet. My Little Devil (picture 3) is a red-skinned, charismatic man in a suit with a marigold in his pocket, representing the cunning nature of the Devil as well as his connection to the afterlife but without the full influence of the European “imp” style or classic pitchfork.

But those are where the differences between González and me largely stop: our interpretation of El Diablito is very similar – addiction, disloyalty, manipulation, small problems that seem large, and keeping to the status quo, etc. Her reversed meaning is similar too, in that the reversed Devil tells us to look inward to face our demons rather than looking to an outside source that may lead us further astray.

Alright, we are ending our lesson, and as always, a reminder: lotería as a game is completely open! It’s a fun party game that the whole family can enjoy, and I’m with most of my people – we want people to enjoy our culture too; however, lotería as a divination tool is, in my opinion, closed to those without Latino ancestry. I think it’s fine if people want to learn how to read lotería as a divination tool for personal use, but profiting? Calling oneself an expert without the culture, tradition, or knowledge to back that up? Not okay. Closed. Do not pass go, do NOT collect 200 dollars. But again, you want to read for yourself? Sure! You want to play it as a game?? Even better!

Thanks again for joining me for this lesson! I talk about a different lotería card every Tuesday, accompanied by the original game art, my WIP lotería deck art, and the art of fellow Mexican writer and spiritualist Xelena González.

Thanks again, I hope you all enjoyed! If you did, PLEASE leave a comment, question, or anything else related. I’m also happy to answer questions <3