[Bat Chicken]

http://www.mary-el.com/06.html

This is such an active and elegant card. It seems to flow and morph. The theme of sacred geometry appears here in the headdress of the female. It demonstrates the golden ratio by echoing the nautilus shell.

She is dark form, passive yin, the moon. He is light spirit, the active male yang, sun, who appears to flow into her arms and is almost indistinct. The alchemical element of fire seems to be the activating force. They seem to be merging as if they are the marriage of matter and spirit.

The angel in the background looks like statues of Mary. There are barely visible figures to her left. Thoughts?

[Debra]

Hm. His arm and hair against the red folds looks like a penis ejaculating. Take the dots suggesting facial features off the angel and it's more explicitly evocative of genital sex.

[Laura Borealis]

Beautiful, graceful lines !

Though this isn't like any other Lovers card I've seen, it hearkens back to the traditional symbolism too. The angelic face above the couple stands in for the cupid or angel on older versions (as well as the clitoris of those sweeping vulva folds). I hadn't seen the shadowy figure in the left corner... it almost looks like it's playing a lute? Is there one on the right, too?

I think there are definitely allusions to the alchemical marriage. We have the red and white. I forget at the moment what these are in alchemy -- sulfur and salt? It's late and I can't remember. And the couple, one black and one white as in the Thoth, which definitely depicts the alchemical marriage. In the Thoth, the bride is white and the groom is dark -- here, the opposite. I wonder why?

[BrightEye]

What bothers me about this image is that the lovers don't look in love. The expression on their faces is blank and it looks as if they're not involved at all in what they're doing, or with each other. Each of them seems to want to be somewhere else and not in the arms of the beloved.

[Debra]

Good point.
The Rider-Waite lovers don't look in love either.

[BrightEye]

Originally Posted by Debra

Good point.
The Rider-Waite lovers don't look in love either.

I know. But these here are intimately entwined, the RWS Lovers are not. Their facial expressions don't reflect the intimacy of the embrace. That's just my view though.

[Debra]

I see the same. The man seems pleased. The woman's expression reminds me of the old description of how to deal with unwelcome sex--Lie back and think of England.

Looks like both could use a cigarette.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/c...f-england.html

I wonder why the snail imagery.

[BrightEye]

Snails are bisexual even though they still engage in sexual activity. Maybe to express the union of male and female? The slime left by snails has also be linked to sex, but I can't remember where I read that...

[Debra]

Good catch, bisexual snails.

And the apparent unfolding-ness of the Fibonacci sequence in the shell is like a developing embryo. The ridged surface is an inside-out vagina.

Or something. Or everything It's wonderful.

Here's just posted on snails and sex, by Firemaiden in the History & Iconography forum!

Originally Posted by firemaiden

I recently remembered the snail in the Seven of Pentacles when reading this essay about the famous snail in the Annunciation by Francesco del Cossa

I'm convinced that the snail in the seven of P is a quotation of this painting. Which of course brings in a whole new conversation - the Seven of P as an annunciation ? The falcon as the holy spirit - dove in disguise ? or in antitheses ?

eta. So far, this card, the Hierophant and the Fool put me in mind of Frieda Harris's painting style. Great swirls.

[Laura Borealis]

That reminds me of the snail sequence from the beautiful documentary, Microcosmos.
Snail love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEva0pT9ndg