The Lovers

For other uses, see The Lovers (disambiguation)

The Lovers (VI) is the sixth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.

Lovers

drawing by Robert M. Place

Interpretation

In some traditions, the Lovers represent relationships and choices. Its appearance in a spread indicates some decision about an existing relationship, a temptation of the heart, or a choice of potential partners. Often an aspect of the Querent's life will have to be sacrificed; a bachelor(ette)'s lifestyle may be sacrificed and a relationship gained (or vice versa), or one potential partner may be chosen while another is turned down. Whatever the choice, it should not be made lightly, as the ramifications will be lasting.

The Lovers is associated with the star sign Gemini, and indeed is also known as The Twins in some decks. Other associations are with Air, Mercury, and the Hebrew letter ז (Zayin).

A. E. Waite was a key figure in the development of modern Tarot interpretations. (Wood, 1998) However not all interpretations follow his theology. Please remember that all Tarot decks used for divination are interpreted up to personal experience and standards.

Some frequent keywords used by tarot readers are:

• Love relationship ----- Union ----- Passion ----- Sexuality

• Pleasure ----- Humanism ----- Desire ----- Personal beliefs

• Individual values ----- Physical attraction ----- Connection

• Affinity ----- Bonding ----- Romance ----- Heart

Following the Marseilles Tradition, also there are:

• Choice ----- Doubt ----- Difficult decision ----- Dilemma ----- Temptation

Mythopoetic approach

The Lovers represent the impulse that drives us out of the Garden, towards adulthood. Sometimes, that impulse manifests as curiosity (Eve, Pandora, Psyche); sometimes it manifests as sexual desire (the basis of much great literature, as well as ordinary romances, most teen movies, and even horror films); sometimes it manifests as duty (a soldier heeding the call). Whatever it is, once we have stepped past the threshold, there is no returning to the garden.

The Lovers is associated through its cross sum (the sum of the digits) with The Devil, Key 15. He is often the source of the impulse, or that thing inside of us that responds to it. The Devil's energy is absolutely necessary, absolutely deadly.

The Lovers also represent raw desire.

Hajo Banzhaf suggests that if the Major Arcana is seen as a map of the Sun's circuit of the Sky, The Lovers is high noon. Consciousness is at its fullest. Frequently, cards show the Sun in the position of noon. Two trees, bearing fruit and flame, represent the intoxication of the material world.

When The Lovers appear in a spread, it typically draws the Querent's attention to whatever impulse drove her from home, to whatever impulse made him move out, reject the faith of his fathers, made him accept the call. That original impulse should be honored, but if it dominates the Querent's life, it will grow tiresome. The call must be renewed.

It can signal that an examination of the Querent's relationship with the garden is needed, be it exile or absence. Sometimes, it can be useful to go beyond Eden and talk about other gardens: the bittersweet Kingdom of Logres built by Arthur to keep back the rising dark for a generation, the idyllic Hobbits' Shire in The Lord of the Rings, or just a happy childhood. Look for misty eyes of memory, or bitterness at the lack of a past paradise.

The Lovers are also a reminder that we need others to become fully human. Lovers, friends, adversaries - each one teaches us, each one stretches us.

Alternative decks

• In the "Flemish Deck" by Vandenborre (c.1750 – 1760), the card is called L'Amour ("Love").
• In the Vikings Tarot, this card shows Frigg with her golden sandals standing between the brothers Vili and Ve.
• In the X/1999 Tarot version made by CLAMP, The Lovers is represented by Kotori Monou.
• In the Mythic Tarot deck, the Lovers is depicted by the Judgment of Paris, who chose Aphrodite (the goddess of Love), who in turn awarded Paris the most beautiful woman, Helen, which began the Trojan War.

In pop culture

• In The House of the Dead 4, part of Sega's House of the Dead series, the second boss is named for the Lovers, a pair of Tarantulas (one small male atop a gigantic female with the weak spot fired on the male tarantula above the female's head). All of the bosses in the House of the Dead series are named after cards from the Major Arcana.

• In the video games Persona 3 and Persona 4, the arcana features mythological figures associated with love and lust, such as Cybele and Ishtar. The characters Yukari Takeba and Rise Kujikawa are also associated with Lovers arcana.

• In the James Bond film, Live and Let Die, Bond meets Solitaire, a beautiful virgin tarot expert who has the uncanny ability to see both the future and remote events in the present. Using a stacked tarot deck of only cards showing "The Lovers", Bond tricks her into thinking that seduction is in her future and then seduces her. Solitaire loses her ability to foretell the future when she loses her virginity to Bond and is forced into cooperating with Bond to bring down the antagonist.

• The Lovers is a monster card in the Yu-gi-oh! card game, as part of a group of cards called the Arcana Force.

• The Lovers, an enemy stand in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is used by Steely Dan.

• In Saint Seiya Episode G series, Pisces of Aphrodite is depicted as The Lovers in the tarot cards version of the manga.

• In the SNES video game Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen, the Lovers are depicted as two nearly nude people standing back to back holding up flowery plants atop their heads. On drawing the Tarot card after liberation of one of the towns, it increases the Reputation Meter by 2 points, and summons Cupid to make enemy units attack each other when used during battle.

References

• A. E. Waite's 1910 Pictorial Key to the Tarot
• Hajo Banzhaf, Tarot and the Journey of the Hero (2000)
• Most works by Joseph Campbell
• G. Ronald Murphy, S.J., The Owl, The Raven, and The Dove: Religious Meaning of the Grimm's Magic Fairy Tales (2000)
• Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade (1987)
• Mary Greer, The Women of the Golden Dawn (1994)
• Merlin Stone, When God Was A Woman (1976)
• Robert Graves, Greek Mythology (1955)
• Juliette Wood, Folklore 109 (1998):15-24, The Celtic Tarot and the Secret Tradition: A Study in Modern Legend Making (1998)
• Robert M. Place, The Tarot: History, Symbolism and Divination (Penguin, 2005)

External links

• "Lovers" cards from many decks and articles to "Lovers" iconography
• Collection of Tarot Card Meanings for The Lovers Card