Chains in tarot
Chains are the plainest image of bondage, and in Christian art they belong to the damned and to the devil bound in the pit. On the Devil card a naked man and woman stand chained by the neck to the block on which the Devil crouches. The chains hang loosely and could be lifted off, a detail many readers treat as the key to the card: the bondage is accepted, not imposed. In readings, chains mean addiction, obsession, fear or any arrangement we stay in because leaving feels impossible. The question is always whether the lock is real.
Cards that show chains
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Strength
Strength: The chain of flowers
A garland of roses and leaves circles her waist and loops round the lion. Waite calls it a chain of flowers, 'the sweet yoke and the light burden', gentle restraint freely accepted in place of a chain of iron.
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The Devil
The Devil: The chains and ring
Chains run from a ring on the front of the block to loops around both figures' necks. The loops are loose and wide. The figures could lift them off, which makes the card about consent to captivity as much as captivity itself.