The Devil Tarot Journal Prompts: 30 Days of Reflection

20 de diciembre de 2025

BY NICOLE LAU

The Devil Journaling: 30 Days of Shadow Work, Bondage Awareness, and Liberation

The Devil journaling practice is a transformative 30-day journey into shadow, bondage, and the process of breaking free. Unlike journaling that focuses on positivity or growth, Devil journaling explores what enslaves you, what you've denied, and what controls you from the unconscious. This practice will change you—if you're willing to face uncomfortable truths and choose freedom.

How to Use This Journaling Practice

Guidelines for Devil Journaling:

Embrace brutal honesty: No denial, no justification, no minimizing
Allow discomfort: This practice will bring up difficult emotions—let them come
Don't judge yourself: Shadow work requires compassion, not condemnation
Write by hand if possible: The physical act deepens the shadow work
Set aside 20-30 minutes daily: Consistency creates transformation
Create safe space: Light a candle, have your Devil card visible
Date each entry: Track your journey from bondage to freedom
Take action: Journaling without action keeps you trapped

What You'll Need:

Dedicated journal or notebook
The Devil tarot card for visual reference
Private, safe space
Willingness to face shadow
Commitment to the full 30 days
Support system (therapist, support group, trusted friend)

Warning: This practice confronts addiction, shadow, and bondage. If you're in active crisis, seek professional help alongside this practice.

Week 1: Seeing Your Chains (Days 1-7)

The first week focuses on honest assessment of what enslaves you.

Day 1: What Enslaves Me
What am I enslaved to? Substances? Behaviors? People? Patterns? Beliefs? List everything that has power over me, everything I cannot stop despite negative consequences. Be brutally honest.

Day 2: My Addictions
What am I addicted to? Not just substances—what behaviors, relationships, or patterns am I compulsively repeating? What can I not moderate or stop? What am I in denial about?

Day 3: The Chains I Wear
What chains am I wearing? What limits me? What traps me? What keeps me from freedom? Describe each chain in detail. How heavy is it? How long have I worn it?

Day 4: My Toxic Patterns
What toxic patterns do I repeat? In relationships? In work? In self-care? What destructive cycles keep playing out? Why do I keep choosing what hurts me?

Day 5: What I'm Denying
What truth am I refusing to see? What am I in denial about? What do others see about me that I refuse to acknowledge? What would I have to face if I stopped denying?

Day 6: My Shadow Self
What parts of myself have I denied or repressed? What aspects do I hide or reject? What would I see if I looked in the mirror of shadow? Who am I that I refuse to acknowledge?

Day 7: Week 1 Integration
Review your entries from Days 1-6. What patterns do you notice? What's most obviously enslaving you? Choose one chain to focus on breaking this week. Write your commitment.

Week 2: Understanding Bondage (Days 8-14)

The second week explores why you're trapped and what you're getting from bondage.

Day 8: Why I Stay Trapped
Why do I stay in bondage? What am I afraid will happen if I break free? What's familiar about these chains? What comfort do they provide despite the pain?

Day 9: What I Get From Bondage
What payoff do I get from staying enslaved? Does it let me avoid responsibility? Does it give me an identity? Does it protect me from something scarier? Be honest about the benefits of bondage.

Day 10: The Loose Chains
Which of my chains are actually loose? Which bondage is self-imposed? Where am I choosing to stay trapped when I could walk away? Why do I pretend the chains are locked?

Day 11: My Justifications
What stories do I tell myself to stay trapped? What excuses do I make? What rationalizations do I use? How do I justify the unjustifiable? List every justification.

Day 12: The Cost of Bondage
What is my bondage costing me? Health? Relationships? Career? Dreams? Soul? Calculate the real price I'm paying for staying enslaved. Is it worth it?

Day 13: My Rock Bottoms
What rock bottoms have I hit? What crises has my bondage created? What have I lost? What pain have I caused myself and others? Face the consequences honestly.

Day 14: Week 2 Integration
Review Days 8-13. Why are you staying trapped? What are you getting from bondage? What is it costing you? Write about whether you're ready to choose freedom.

Week 3: Facing Shadow (Days 15-21)

The third week focuses on shadow work—facing what you've denied.

Day 15: What I've Repressed
What desires, needs, or aspects of myself have I repressed? What have I pushed down or denied? What's in my shadow that I refuse to acknowledge?

Day 16: My Denied Anger
What anger have I repressed? Who am I angry at that I won't admit? What rage lives in my shadow? What would happen if I acknowledged this anger?

Day 17: My Hidden Shame
What am I ashamed of? What do I hide? What would I die if others knew? How does this shame control me? How does it keep me trapped?

Day 18: My Secret Desires
What desires have I denied or judged? What do I want that I won't admit? What needs am I not meeting? How does denying these desires create bondage?

Day 19: What I Project
What do I see in others that I refuse to see in myself? What do I judge in others that I'm actually judging in me? What am I projecting?

Day 20: My Shadow Takeover
When has my shadow taken over? When have I acted out what I deny? When have I become what I claim to hate? When has my unconscious controlled me?

Day 21: Week 3 Integration
Review Days 15-20. What shadow aspects are you seeing? What have you denied? Choose one shadow aspect to begin integrating this week.

Week 4: Choosing Freedom (Days 22-28)

The fourth week focuses on the choice to break free and the path to liberation.

Day 22: Am I Ready for Freedom?
Am I actually ready to break free, or am I just thinking about it? What would genuine readiness look like? What would I do differently if I was truly ready?

Day 23: What Freedom Requires
What would breaking free actually require? What would I have to face? What would I have to change? What would I have to give up? Am I willing?

Day 24: My First Step
What's the first concrete step toward freedom? Not thinking about it, not planning it—what's the actual first action I need to take? When will I take it?

Day 25: Who Can Help Me
Who can support my liberation? What professional help do I need? What support groups exist? Who in my life would support my freedom? Will I ask for help?

Day 26: Breaking One Chain
Choose one chain to break this week. Not all of them—just one. What is it? How will I break it? What specific actions will I take? Write a detailed plan.

Day 27: My Freedom Vision
What would my life look like free from bondage? Who would I be? What would I do? How would I feel? Describe freedom in vivid detail. Make it real.

Day 28: Week 4 Integration
Review Days 22-27. Are you ready for freedom? What will you do? What chain will you break? Write your commitment to liberation.

Days 29-30: Integration and Commitment

Day 29: Who I Am Breaking Free
After 28 days of shadow work, who am I becoming? What have I learned about my bondage? What chains have I broken? What shadow have I integrated? How am I different?

Day 30: My Vow of Liberation
Based on everything I've learned in this 30-day practice, what vow do I make to myself? How will I continue breaking free? What specific commitments am I making to freedom? Write your personal liberation vow and sign it.

Advanced Journaling Practices

Once you've completed the 30-day cycle, deepen your practice with these advanced prompts:

The Daily Chain Check: Each evening, ask: "What chains did I wear today? What bondage did I choose? What freedom did I claim?" Write for 5 minutes.

The Weekly Shadow Review: Every Sunday, review the week. What shadow aspects emerged? What did I deny? What did I integrate?

The Monthly Liberation Inventory: Once a month, assess: What chains have I broken? What bondage remains? What's my next step toward freedom?

The Quarterly Freedom Check: Every three months, evaluate: Am I living in freedom or falling back into bondage? What needs attention?

Working with Resistance

Devil journaling will trigger intense resistance. This is normal. When resistance arises:

If you want to quit: This usually happens when you're approaching a significant truth. Keep going. The breakthrough is close.

If you feel shame: Shadow work brings up shame. This is part of healing. Be compassionate with yourself. Shame loses power when acknowledged.

If you're in denial: Notice the denial. Write about it. What are you refusing to see? Why? What would happen if you saw it?

If you feel overwhelmed: Seek support. This work is not meant to be done alone. Get professional help if needed.

Signs Your Practice is Working

You'll know this journaling practice is transforming you when you notice:

Increased awareness of chains and patterns
Reduced denial and justification
Greater honesty about addiction and bondage
Actual changes in behavior and patterns
Shadow aspects becoming conscious
Feeling lighter, freer, more authentic
Ability to choose freedom over bondage
Seeking and accepting help
Breaking actual chains, not just thinking about it
Living with more integrity and wholeness

The Constant Unification Perspective

In the Constant Unification framework, journaling is not just self-reflection—it's a method of bringing consciousness to what has been unconscious. Every honest word you write about bondage is an act of liberation, of seeing chains so you can break them, of facing shadow so you can integrate it.

The Devil journaling teaches that you cannot break free from what you won't acknowledge, that you cannot integrate what you deny, and that you cannot choose freedom while pretending you're not enslaved. This practice is not about feeling good—it's about facing truth so you can finally be free.

The journal becomes your witness to liberation, the page becomes your space for shadow work, and your pen becomes your tool for breaking chains. Every entry is an opportunity to see bondage, face shadow, and choose freedom. This is the work. This is the way. This is liberation.