Thoughts on The Lovers

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 19 Feb 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Pipistrelle	19 Feb 2005
I've always had problems with The Lovers card, not quite grasping its meaning. Others don't seem to have this problem, so what I'm about to write probably won't come as any great revelation to the rest of you but I thought I'd share it anyway. I've been comparing my decks today. I've just had the Lovers card from the Crystal next to the Lovers from the Aquarian (plain deck but amazing Lovers card!) The Crystal has always perplexed me because the man doesn't seem that interested. In the Aquarian, the two people are equal. They are looking deep into each other's eyes. Their love is obvious, deep and strong, from the way they're looking at each other but there is a seriousness there - a hint of tragedy. It looks like they're about to part. Maybe he has to go to war, or she has to go and marry someone else (or vice versa :) ) but there is a suggestion that this is possibly the last time they'll see each other. There is love but there is pain - but despite the pain, they will not stop loving each other. They belong wholly to each other and when they part, their hearts go with the other person. In the Crystal, the woman is giving all of herself, offering herself to him, her eyes closed, vulnerable, her head tilted to kiss him, trusting. But the man is not as keen. She is going to get hurt. He looks as if he is about to push her away. In a moment, when he doesn't kiss her back, she'll ask "What's wrong?" and he'll break her heart. Love is giving yourself completely knowing you may get hurt. Even in a solid lasting relationship there are times when the pain caused by a tiny rift is too much to bear. It's like love and pain are two sides of the same coin. By opening ourselves to love, we open ourselves to pain, we let ourselves be vulnerable. We trust everything to another person. So the Lovers card is about giving yourself completely. Knowing you may get hurt, knowing you probably WILL get hurt, but doing it anyway because to protect ourselves from pain is to deny love, and to deny love is...well...the Devil. :) Copied directly from the notes I just wrote so please excuse the unpolished prose! Any comments? Kind thoughts, Pip

firemaiden	19 Feb 2005
I've noticed that the woman is very often looking away while the man is focussing only on her. To be even more confused about the meaning of this card, study the image from the Tarot de Marseille. P.S. What you have just written, is actually a reading!

temperlyne	19 Feb 2005
I've always seen the lovers as signifying a choice from the bottom of the heart. By making this choice you have to leave the other options and focus fully on your hearts desire. So you loose something in order to gain what you really really (think you..) want. In the end it may not turn out to be everything you imagined, but you need to make the choice wholheartedly if it is ever going to work.

Emily	19 Feb 2005
There is the possibility of choice in the Morgan Greer Lovers - to stay or go. The man is facing her but the womans body is turned away - He is holding her but the card gives the impression that she could push his hand away from her waist and move away or she could pull him closer. They don't kiss just sort of hold one another. Their faces are quite neutral - she looks into his eyes but he's not looking into hers.

The Thoughts on The Lovers thread was originally posted on 19 Feb 2005 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.