GoldenWolf
This card is about the unification of opposites. Gemini is the astrological attribution fittingly enough. The main figures are a light skinned woman on the left and a darker skinned man on the right. They are moving their foreheads together in a Tantric kiss (third eyes joined). This is the first set of opposites.
In front of this couple are two alchemical beasts-a white eagle on the left (in front of the woman) and a red lion on the right (in front of the man). This is the second set of opposites. Between the is a chalice with a bee on it. A dagger is stuck blade down in the cup, a symbol of sexual intercourse/alchemy.
Behind the human couple are two full-length mirror. In back of the woman is an image of the traditional Golden Dawn image for this card. It shows Perseus rescuing Andromeda from a dragon. Robert Wang used this image alone for the Lovers. He indicates that Perseus is freeing her from the solid rock of materialism and from the Dragon of Fear. The letter phrase makes me think of the concept that love casts out fear. He says the "Love" depicted is one of Divine Union (the union of masculine and feminine forces in the individual-my conjecture, not Wang's). Behind the man on the right, the mirror shows Eve offering Adam an apple though Adam appears to have breasts. I'm not sure if this is a reversal of roles or if the figure is just androgynous. To me, these mirrors reflect not even our own desires, but ones society hands down to us. Women need to be rescued by a prince (although it fits in with the Prince awakening the Princess with a kiss in a spiritual sense too) and men seeing women as temptresses and not taking responsibility for their own choices. This is the third set of opposites.
Between the mirrors is the arrow of love coming down from heaven/Kether to earth/Malkuth. It is not aimed at either individual. It is a pure force. Above the arrow is a winged orphic egg with a snake around the egg making it a bit different than the one depicted in the Magus.
In front of this couple are two alchemical beasts-a white eagle on the left (in front of the woman) and a red lion on the right (in front of the man). This is the second set of opposites. Between the is a chalice with a bee on it. A dagger is stuck blade down in the cup, a symbol of sexual intercourse/alchemy.
Behind the human couple are two full-length mirror. In back of the woman is an image of the traditional Golden Dawn image for this card. It shows Perseus rescuing Andromeda from a dragon. Robert Wang used this image alone for the Lovers. He indicates that Perseus is freeing her from the solid rock of materialism and from the Dragon of Fear. The letter phrase makes me think of the concept that love casts out fear. He says the "Love" depicted is one of Divine Union (the union of masculine and feminine forces in the individual-my conjecture, not Wang's). Behind the man on the right, the mirror shows Eve offering Adam an apple though Adam appears to have breasts. I'm not sure if this is a reversal of roles or if the figure is just androgynous. To me, these mirrors reflect not even our own desires, but ones society hands down to us. Women need to be rescued by a prince (although it fits in with the Prince awakening the Princess with a kiss in a spiritual sense too) and men seeing women as temptresses and not taking responsibility for their own choices. This is the third set of opposites.
Between the mirrors is the arrow of love coming down from heaven/Kether to earth/Malkuth. It is not aimed at either individual. It is a pure force. Above the arrow is a winged orphic egg with a snake around the egg making it a bit different than the one depicted in the Magus.
