6 - The Lovers

Note: This guide is based on the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck. Other tarot decks may have unique meanings, or some of these meanings may not apply.

Two figures, one with breasts and a vulva and the other with a penis, stand nude in casual poses on this card. They are implied to be Adam and Eve. A tree full of apples stands behind Eve, a serpent coiling up its length to hover over her shoulder. On the other side, behind Adam, the Tree of Life blazes with fire-like fruit.

Above them, appearing out of a cloud, an angel with red wings, purpleish robes, and flaming hair gazes down upon them with their hands aloft. The yellow sun above is positioned similar to a halo. In the background, a red mountain rises into the blue sky.

In Readings: Upright

The Lovers card is packed with symbolism. The two figures of "Adam and Eve," even if divorced from those names, indicate two people existing in harmony with each other. Their union or partnership has been thoroughly blessed by the angel over them. The imagery on the card is balanced and even, suggesting harmony in this relationship.

This card in the upright position suggests a pairing or partnership. It can be romantic, but it isn't necessarily always. In some ways, it can represent a choice between another person and something that the querent desires.

Card Combinations:

Suggestions for possible meanings of this card when combined with others.

The Fool, reversed: An ill-advised new relationship.

Five of Cups: A minor disappointment in a relationship isn't the end-all-be-all. This isn't a breaking point, but a bump.

Eight of Cups: The decision to leave is a surprisingly easy one to make.

The Sun: A happy, harmonious partnership is the key to victory against all odds.

In Readings: Reversed

In reverse, the harmony of this relationship begins to fall apart. Miscommunication and interpersonal issues abound. There is an air of dissatisfaction within this partnership or pairing that isn't easily dispelled.

When reversed, the Lovers card also begins to suffer from its background features: snakes, betrayal, and deception. There may be a sacrifice or a difficult choice to make in the name of returning to harmony.

Card Combinations

Suggestions for possible meanings of this card when combined with others.

Nine of Wands: Defensiveness and insecurity are the enemies of a healthy relationship.

Two of Wands: It may be time to let go of what isn't working to strike out toward something new.

The Chariot, reversed: The situation will spiral completely out of control due to an inability to see from each other's perspectives.

Knight of Swords: Charging ahead without addressing foundational problems isn't a great way to solve those problems.

Other Perspectives

Thoughts from: Jasper C

They stand together under its watch.

Two nude figures with curly hair stand together. They are cloaked on each side - the fruit behind the woman, the fire behind the man - which both protects and traps them. He looks at her, always at her.

And it rises above them, larger than life.

It is bright. She looks up at it floating above them, its glorious feathered wings outspread. It does not touch the ground. This is peaceful. It is an extension of that which created them both, of that which is known, of that which loves them. It is layered in robes hiding its body. Why is it hiding its body? They do not. There's nothing wrong with that, right?

She does not see the snake in the fruit tree behind her.

It is dark. The chains are heavy around their necks, yet are heavy enough that if she could just get a moment, she could remove the links and leave. It sits perched upon the pillar they are chained to, its birdlike feet and hair-covered legs not hidden by magic or cloth or non-existence. Its batlike wings are outspread, brighter than even the flames in this darkness. Its right hand, the one nearest to her, is raised skyward. The sky was up, wasn't it? And its left hand is holding a torch, aimed down towards him, never burning the hand holding it yet keeping his flaming tail ablaze. Her own tail is the fruit that protects her.

It is looking out at something. She wonders what it sees the she doesn't. She hazards a glance back at him instead.

In order to talk about the Lovers, you have to talk about the Devil. In order to talk about the Devil, you have to talk about the Lovers.

When people talk about birth cards, the pairings or trios usually seem like a stretch. But the most notable pairing that you can draw comparisons between is the Lovers and the Devil. These two cards mirror each other in artwork, design, and even meaning if you look close enough.

I'm Jasper, and these two cards are my birth cards (a fun irony from some wicked combination of math and hubris). Being aromantic and asexual, my analysis of these cards is more...postmodern.

It's already been spoken of at length about how the Lovers are about love and the Devil is about taboo. The Lovers is about what's expected, what's "normal" and socially accepted - a meetcute, a courtship, a marriage. People widely consider the Devil to be a perversion of the "true love" exhibited by the Lovers card - it is every vice and, because of Puritan feelings about sex, every kink and fetish. It's bondage, it's entrapment, it's the thing that people are trying to get away from yet always feel drawn to.

Let's get into the juicy stuff.

Look at the Lovers card. Look where the two human figures are looking. The man is looking at the woman, while the woman is looking up at the angel. All three figures are frowning. They are separate, both in physical space and where their attention is going. This is not a partnership, but the illusion of a partnership. A lavender marriage, the early days of an arranged marriage, that sort of thing.

Now look at the Devil card. The two figures are ensnared in vices which they can leave - look at how loose those chains are - but choose not to, like how most people enjoy their particular vices. (Drugs, gambling, kinks, sex itself, opening more packs of Magic: The Gathering cards, things like that.) But despite being chained, the two figures are now looking at each other. They are more united here than they were in their own card, yet the focus is not on them; it is on the being behind them, looking out at us and not monitoring the two figures too closely, as though giving them permission to do "taboo things" with the illusory threat of being caught. All three figures are still frowning, but the man and the woman don't seem any more distressed in this situation than they were in the Lovers card itself.

The relationship between this man and this woman appears to be more healthy in a "vice-filled state" shown by the Devil as opposed to the compliant and compulsory heterosexuality seen in the Lovers. The Lovers is the embodiment of heterosexual romance slop (books, movies, TV shows, pick your least favorite) and everything that is expected in a "typical" marriage. But the Devil is about actually being attracted to that person through shared vulnerability. (Shared vulnerability that may be the result of a shared kink, an unshared kink, any number of drugs, or whatever else you want to attribute it to, but shared vulnerability nonetheless.)

It's fascinating to think about, isn't it?

Thoughts from: Contributor Name

Contributor's thoughts here.

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