The Wild Unknown Tarot - The Lovers VI

Sulis

2 geese, I think they are Canada geese but I'm no expert ;), fly from left to right in the centre of the card. Behind them is a burst of light, blue light, starting from a point in the top, central part of the card and spreading out in a starburst pattern to cover the rest of the card..

I've been doing a bit of reading about animal and bird symbolism and geese seem to symbolise fidelity (they mate for life) and fertility (their feathers are often used in feather beds). They are noisy birds so they're also symbols of communication and co-operation.
Geese migrate in formation and so they also symbolise knowing when to lead and when to follow and apparently they never leave an injured goose.. If a goose becomes injured and has to drop out of the V-shaped formation, another goose stays with it until it can either try to catch up or dies..
Because of the migration they are also symbols of quests and of the mystery involved with starting a quest.
As well as mating for life, they share the upbringing and nest guarding when they have goslings.
All of these things make me think that these 2 geese are a very good choice for The Lovers card.

The Lovers card's number is 6. 6 is a number of balance and harmony and the choices we make to get balance and harmony back following the changes and upsets of the 5s. 6 is made up of two 3s (an active number about branching out, growth, creativity etc); there seems to be a flow of energy there, there isn't any stagnation with the number 6, it's a comfortable place to be.. It's a number that's about relationships with others, communication and of seeking out balance or in the case of The Lovers, the person or thing that completes you - I think that fits very well with the questing part of the goose symbolism; in the Majors it comes at the time when you're growing up, about to leave home and look for something more or someone, your life partner.
Looking at this image I get a feeling of calmness and healing because the colour blue for me is a very healing colour..

So this is a card about love, commitment, completion and fidelity. It's also about choices and I tend to think of it as a card about choices of the heart - if I ask about something and The Lovers turns up I think that I should go with my heart rather than my head (if there is a difference).. Love is about making the choice to surrender yourself to your feelings and to that other person.. It's a card about responsibility too and there is a massive element of trust with The Lovers card - it's a big thing to make yourself vulnerable and to tell someone that you love them, when you do that you open yourself up to the prospect of being loved in return or being rejected...
To me as a TdM user, this is often a card about making the choice to move on too - the image on the TdM shows a man standing between 2 women with a cupid firing an arrow above them. It looks as if the first woman is his mother as she's older and the second woman, who is is moving towards is younger with flowers in her hair (his new love)..
The Lovers is a very powerful archetype and I admit that it's not one that I find the easiest to understand.. On the surface it's a very superficial card but it has layers and layers of meaning..

As always, more thoughts are welcome..
 

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Pixna

Lovely, lovely interpretation, Sulis. I too find this card soothing and comforting. It exudes the peacefulness that comes from relationships that are in tune, when two beings are deeply connected on multiple levels.

I so greatly appreciate your research of bird symbolism. Yes, to me these look like Canada geese (we see them quite a bit here). I just love how you explained the symbolism of the birds, the colors, and the number of this card -- and the advice it puts forth about going with the heart rather than the head. Beautifully put!

Everything you said about this card resonates with me. I don't have anything more to add -- just want to let you know how much I appreciate your post about it.
 

Sulis

Thanks Pixna.. This is a card I've struggled with; I don't think it's the easiest archetype to really understand in traditional decks and when I first saw this card the lack of symbolism made me think that there wasn't much to interpret at all so reading up about geese in terms of symbolism has really helped.

To add to what I've said in my first post I just want to say that this is also a card of working together, in harmony with someone else because as well as rearing young together the V formation when migrating is also about working together.. It's a V shape for a reason; The V is so that each individual goose can actually see where it's going and isn't just blindly following the bird flying directly in front of it - I think that's really clever :).
 

Pixna

It's interesting that you said you've struggled with this card, Sulis. I have too. However, the minimalism in this card speaks more clearly to me than the Lovers in any other deck I've used, where the symbolism is often too complex or convoluted for me to make sense of. Here, intuition can play a much greater role, which I love. And your information about geese (and the V formation too!) has been extremely helpful.
 

Sulis

It's interesting that you said you've struggled with this card, Sulis. I have too. However, the minimalism in this card speaks more clearly to me than the Lovers in any other deck I've used, where the symbolism is often too complex or convoluted for me to make sense of. Here, intuition can play a much greater role, which I love. And your information about geese (and the V formation too!) has been extremely helpful.

I think the simplicity of these images also helps to link the cards together.. You can actually see something on one card heading towards another, you can see which way the energy is moving through the spread (I always lay cards out in groups of 3 or 5). You can see elements in one card repeated further on in the reading. That's how I read with TdMs, an angel will become something else in the next card or a certain motif will be repeated...
I'm waffling so I'll stop but I do think that often we get so much more from something that looks very simple or from a pip card than from an image that is jam packed with complicated symbolism - I think I do anyway :).
 

lark

I think what I was missing about this card is that they are alone.
They aren't with the flock anymore, something may have happened.... one is a little slow or lost or hurt and the other has slowed down to stay by it's side.
What I see in this card is the dedication to another that transcends comfort or desire or preference.
And it requires very little thought...it feels instinctive.
I love you and so my place is by you...simple.
The lines feel like other choices...directions that they can chose to go or ignore.
But no matter the direction they are never tempted off the path from their true north which is each other.
 

Pixna

I think what I was missing about this card is that they are alone.
They aren't with the flock anymore, something may have happened.... one is a little slow or lost or hurt and the other has slowed down to stay by it's side.
What I see in this card is the dedication to another that transcends comfort or desire or preference.
And it requires very little thought...it feels instinctive.
I love you and so my place is by you...simple.
The lines feel like other choices...directions that they can chose to go or ignore.
But no matter the direction they are never tempted off the path from their true north which is each other.

Beautifully put, Lark!
 

Marirowana

Thank you all, Sulis, Pixna and lark, for your wonderfull interpretation! It really helped me today when it turned up in my reading, I agree with all you said. I can confirm that they are Canadian Geese :)

I want to add something about the colour. It is a pretty intense blue, bright in the middle, and slightly darker on the edge. The first thing that came in mind was a clear blue sky, no clouds, all is going well! Nothing that can stop the geese from their quest, it's just the two of them together. That's what the lovers are all about, they are beyond trouble.

In Dutch we have a saying, 'geen vuiltje aan de lucht', litteraly translated: no impurity in the sky, meaning it's all serene, no trouble.

Blue is the colour of trust, stability, truth, communication.
Darker blues stand for a stable, calm conservative feeling. It is also the colour associated with the throat Chakra, which deals with communicatie of how we feel and what we think.

All of this resonates perfectly with what the lovers mean to me,
 

Pixna

Excellent observation about the clear, cloudless blue sky, Marirowana. I appreciate your interpretation!
 

Water Lady

Geese pair off when it is time for breeding season, they find a 'alone' place for just the 2 of them and a nest, after the geese lings are born and can fly they return to the flock.
so I really see these single geese as bonded to each other as lovers.