THE LOVERS
Symbolism
Two naked figures of a man and a woman stand on either side of the card. They are not hiding anything, and they represent our purity. A snake spirals down the tree of knowledge behind the woman, with reference to the garden of Eden. The man has a tree with twelve flames of the zodiac behind him.
Above them are a Sun and the Archangel Raphael, both showing a connection to spirit, and higher guidance. The man, representing the conscious mind, looks to the woman representing the subconscious, who in turn has her gaze on the Archangel or superconsciousness.
A mountain between them which some refer to as being phallic but also relates to abstract thought is what connects the masculine and feminine.
Keywords
Upright: Inner communication, divine marriage, honesty, self-love, abstract thinking, values, partnerships and relationships, soul-mates and twin-flames.
Reversed: Superficiality, fear of going within, shame, guilt, fear of vulnerability/ nakedness, dishonesty, love trauma.
Upright meaning
The Lovers card is commonly associated with finding a love partner, in the Hollywood, fortune-telling way of reading the cards, which may well have a certain validity. But real Love depends on how we are able to love ourselves, and how capable we are of feeling a connection to the divine, which is the ultimate source of love. Anything in the outside world, will only ever be a reflection of what we have found internally.
The subtle, (or not so subtle) message of the card is to turn our conscious mind inwards to the subconscious stories that hold the patterns and programs of our life. This communication asks us to look deeper than usual and to be honest, (naked) and sincere. We have to recognize what is going on below the surface and understand who, and why, we are the way we are.
This inner dialogue of asking questions and listening creates self awareness, which is key to forgiveness, and self-love. If we don’t know which parts of us are needing love, we will find it hard to give it to ourselves. We have to connect with our body, our inner-child, and our needs. We have to hold space for all our subconscious stories to be seen. This transparency, is key to connecting with divine wisdom.
Any guidance channelled down from source often gets twisted by our fears, doubts and hidden programs. The more aware we are of our programs, fears, and doubts allows us to discern and surrender any egotistical filters we have. We then experience a more direct communication with that arch-angellic spirit.
Any journey we dare to practice which involves a deeper level of self-honesty, coupled with a practice of self-care and acceptance, will lead to feeling more in love with ourselves and life. This is fundamentally attractive, and we will become a natural magnet to people consciously, or subconsciously, seeking to have the same inner-connection. This is why the card speaks about attracting people into our lives, mirroring our willingness for intimacy and growth.
Reversed meaning
The Shadow of the Lovers will bring out the ways in which we subconsciously deny and suppress the inner honesty and communication the card calls for. There are simple reasons for fearing honesty or nakedness. They are all connected to our past, and the pain we hold around trauma and the mistakes we may have made. If honesty requires us to own our shame and guilt, we may avoid it in order to avoid feeling the discomfort of those emotions.
Mistakes we may have made are embarrassing, and although they were potentially amazing lessons, shame is the common trigger, making it hard to own our errors. This ‘hiding’ is a form of dishonesty, which will be reflected in our dishonesty with others, and how others may treat us. Seeing the beauty of the lessons we have experienced, and humbly accepting our human stupidity, is key to avoid repeating the same lessons again!
When we disconnect with ourselves on a deeper level, we end up being unclear about what we want or what we need. This means we will have poor boundaries and confused goals. We often won’t recognize this as being dishonest. It will be easier to see someone’s outer dishonesty in infidelity, for example, than to see how we are cheating ourselves out of our true needs.
When our inner judge and critic are loud voices, and unconscious programs, we naturally avoid inner dialogue. But we can learn to see these voices as old programs, that we are able to let go of, with forgiveness, and self-acceptance. The shadow Lovers card comes with this message. See our mistakes as amazing lessons, be grateful, feel accountable, and then we will be free of repeating old patterns, and attracting all the lovers with difficult lessons!!