The Lovers – Tarot

Originally, this card featured a couple of young children about to be struck by Cupid. The children are probably the offspring of the Visconti and Sforza families who are arranged to be wed before long. Those were the families that commissioned the deck. Early interpretations of this card include marriage.

Later the Marseille and Italian decks depict 2 women fighting over a man. One of the women was older and sometimes appeared crowned, while the other seemed younger perhaps a Queen and Princess. It is possible that this was a common theme in contemporary love stories at the time. Above them appears Cupid or Eros about to shoot them with his bow. He is sometimes blindfolded to show that love is blind. Many people refer to this Cupid as a “cherub”, but in reality, the descriptions of cherubs suggest they are 10 feet tall with 6 pairs of wings and often the heads of animals, sometimes multiple heads of different animals including a human head. Cute babies is rarely a description fitting a cherub and fits better with depictions of Eros and Cupid going back through to classical art.

In Waite’s reimagining of this card, it depicted Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden. There is an angel behind them. This is a common theme in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the members of which sought to use mysticism, Enochian Magic and Christian symbolism to return to a pre-fall state where man is integrated with god and walks with him again.

The Sun

The sun looks huge in this card so might just be coming over the horizon; a dawning of light. For me the sun in the time of dawn is symbolic of a stage of alchemy called the Golden Dawn. This is when the initiate has passed through the negrido and albedo phases. They have separated and purified the components of their being and reintegrated them and then awaited their own inner sun to arise and shine and the light of the divine to radiate on them.

The Angel

Instead of Cupid or Eros, an Angel appears behind the couple. Since the scene is supposed to be that of the Garden of Eden. Then perhaps the angel is meant to be one of the cherubim eventually instructed to guard the Garden of Eden from mankind to prevent them from getting to the Tree of Life.

He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (Note the word sword chereb is similar to Cherub except one uses kaf and the other uses khet.)

Genesis 3:24

However, the Angel appears in the form of a man and the cherubs are often described as having 4 heads: one is that of an ox, another is of an eagle, a third head is that of a man and finally, the head of a lion. Note the similarity with the cherubic beasts. So it is possible this angel is not one of the cherubim.

The Angel appears in front of the Sun. The sun is frequently associated with Tiphereth, which has the angel Raphael. This leads many to form the opinion the angel is Raphael. Tiphereth is also associated with the Golden Dawn stage of alchemy where the initiate achieved this pre-fall state. So it would make sense to conclude this angel is Raphael.

The Trees and the Couple

The figures represent Adam and Eve. They are naked which is symbolic of their innocence and lack of need for any pretentiousness. They have little need for plans for they don’t know what will be good or evil. They live entirely in the moment and explore their innocent love, mythologically speaking, the first love to ever exist. The card depicts them before the fall, so they know love rather than sexual intimacy; they have not yet tasted the forbidden fruit.

Naturally, behind Eve is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is the tree which mythologically provided the fruit that Eve supposedly ate, revealing the knowledge of good and evil and giving mankind original sin. (It’s always a woman in these stories that were told by men. Eve, Pandora, etc.) On the tree behind Eve is the serpent that led her to know Good and Evil. The Gnostics believe this led her to free herself from the illusion that is reality and the serpent is actually a good creature that helped mankind. The tree behind Adam is the Tree of Life. The flames on the tree represent the descent of light from the divine into reality. They could be considered to be related to the sword of fire that guards the way to the Garden of Eden as well.

It looks like the roots of the trees are intertwined in the ground. This might suggest that Waite views the trees as connected and extensions of the same thing.

The mountain and background

The sky is blue and plain with one cloud in the sky which is simply the angel. To the right of Adam’s legs is the signature of the artist, Pamela Coleman-Smith.

There is no writing that specifies exactly what the mountain is however, it is reasonable to assume that it is Mount Abiegnus. This mountain features in the Adeptus Minor ritual of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn which is most associated with Tiphereth which is associated with the Sun that appears at the top of the card. Also, the notes of Waite on Eliphas Levi’s Transcendental Magic relate the 4 elements and the 4 directions to the 4 rivers which flow out of Eden. This puts Eden in the centre of the earth where Mount Abiegnus is said to lie, the centre of the Earth and the centre of the Universe. It is quite common that we notice the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn’s symbols in Waite’s work, so it is not a big leap to assume this is the mountain that features in the card.

I have described Mount Abiegnus here.

Interpretation

Two innocent lovers scamper nakedly through a garden. They take their fill of love. They experience total freedom from anyone else and forget any other concerns. There is total self-abandon to one another’s love. Their future eludes them. Will it be marriage or simply joy in each others’ arms for a time?

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