NMR ISSUE 33

An Urban Wicca
Ancestors Calling
Astrological Forecast 33
Communion of With the Dead
Editorial 33
Esoteric Symbology of the Tarot
Fighting Abuse in Our Community
Gathers
Letters 33
Parrot
Prayer to the Rain Father
Samhain - An Offering to the Ancestors
The Cremation
The High Holy Day of Samhain
The Magical Flute
The Seven Faces of the Soul, Part I
The Sin of Guilt
The Spirit World
The Stealing of Wicca
The Two C's of Dark Seduction
Turtle

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Esoteric Symbology of the Tarot:

The Lovers

By Gary Shook

In the Tarot there are many levels of interpretation inherent in the cards. When encountering the Lovers card, many readers use its most basic form of interpretation—the literal one. While this is not a mistake, it can limit the scope of this card's contribution to a reading. While this card naturally functions as a relationship card for individuals, its full scope is far greater. That this card is of the Major Arcana alone should be enough to suggest that it functions on an esoteric level, as well as a literal mundane one.

The true meaning of the card is one of choice, and that choice is on any number of levels. The Rider-Waite deck depicts this choice in a way that is harder to see than it is in many of the older Tarot designs. In other decks there are three people pictured, plus Eros or Cupid. The male figure is flanked by two females, one young and attractive, and the other older and matronly. Here the physical choice to be made between the two females is obvious, but the higher meaning of the choice is less apparent. This higher level is the decision to stay on the path to perfection, toward becoming once again the pure spirit of the Fool, or to get off the Wheel and be satisfied with the physical offerings of the mortal plane. It is the first major decision to be made by the individual—to remain in the relative warmth and security of the known mundane plane, or to venture forth into the unknowns of the journey ahead. It is commonly believed that the Tarot is a form of the great Wheel of Life; it depicts one's fall from spirit down into matter and then one's reascension back through the stages of life to spirit again. Less commonly known is that free will is the strongest power that affects one's journey on this Wheel, and that free will can be used to quit at any point. So in many older versions of the Lovers card, the two females are that choice. The young attractive woman is easiest choice, the path of the pleasures of the mortal plane, while the less attractive woman represents the harder path, the path that seeks the higher plane of spirituality.

The Rider-Waite deck depicts this choice rather differently. Here stand a man and a woman with the Archangel Raphael looming above them. These are Adam and Eve and the choice here is the Biblical one—to eat or not eat of the Tree of Life. As in the older versions of the Lovers card the choice is to be made by the male, Adam in this case. Eve, who looks up at Raphael and has raised her vision to look beyond the mundane, has made her choice as Raphael represents the higher realms of spirituality. Adam, who has yet to make his choice, looks upon Eve—his vision remains level on the physical plane upon which he resides. The Tree of Life, which stands behind Eve, is the symbolic path to wisdom. It is the Tree of Knowledge, but knowledge itself is not the same as wisdom. Knowledge is the first step toward wisdom, and wisdom is the first step toward perfection. Thus the Tree of Knowledge represents the first choice, first steps, on the path to wisdom, to perfection, and back to the spirit of the Fool.

The aspect of duality so pervasive in the previous cards is still with us in the Lovers. Here for the first time that duality is portrayed in the flesh. The Lovers card is the first in the Tarot to show two figures, one male and one female. This is the duality incarnate. Another less obvious depiction of that duality is in the two trees behind Adam and Eve. The Tree of Life behind Eve, even though it represents the beginning of the path to spirituality, here represents the mundane plane. The tree roots are firmly planted in the Earth, in the essence of the material plane where the path up begins. The tree behind Adam represents the higher, spiritual planes. Its trefoil leaves symbolize the 12 houses of the zodiac and its roots are planted in the essence of the universe.