| Consecration and unity of opposites. | |
| Complete unity, becoming one. | |
| Recognition and free to decide from the bottom of the heart. | |
| The ideal of love which cannot be achieved, inhibited nerve, self-sacrifice, indecision. | |
| Brave decisions. |
Menu of Contents
I. Background of the Lovers Tarot card
The Lovers Thoth Tarot, the card of poetic beauty that connects the form from the outside with the inner creation, seeks the meanings beyond the everyday images inside the curtain of the Story of Creation and Fall of Man. This deep focus is taken from “The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz”, where drunkenness with a desire to be stylized into “surrounded by love”, but behind it, there is latent drowsiness which turns into “no longer exist”, corresponding to the restrained soul of the dark spirit. This card correctly evaluates cases like this by drawing a side of a couple with dark skin.
In the middle of the picture, we can see the black Moroccan King (with the golden crown and the red lion) swearing with the White Queen with the silver crown and the white eagle. This humanistic zeal represents the attraction of opposites, the relationship between men and women, the effort to re-establish the lost unity in the universe: situation before the expulsion from heaven. The Jewish symbol corresponding to Zain means the sword and the tool for division, and thus, it represents the extremes. That is why the card’s frame is a sword dome, and below that, there is a wedding in progress.
Being called up by a great magician, pictured by Cupid, and concertized by a snake (curled around an “Orphic egg” with wings), the Lovers Thoth Tarot can also be seen as a concretization of eternity, developing itself into new constantly born life, that can be seen in two children.
II. Analyze and describe the Lovers Thoth Tarot
1. Motifs (lovers)
a. Royal couple
The Lovers Thoth Tarot is an image of an aspect that is seeking to connect with our surroundings. The original unity was torn into two poles through creation: from there, they encountered each other as opposites of Yin and Yang, men and women. Because they carry conflicting nature, they are attracted to each other; so they carry the ability to reunite these opposites within them.
b. Shape and Expression
You can see on the card that the Lovers Thoth Tarot are looking at each other, but not necessarily see each other. So, they only focus on the image (the posture and gesture are identical) that they assign themselves to the other person. In the same way, they did not realize that they were just looking at their own masks in front of the other, where they reflected everything they were missing. It is possible that they do not love the other as much as their concept of perfection, and therefore, they love the image that they set about an ideal mate, not the nature of that person.
2. Background (Elements)
a. Hermit
The image of the Hermit in the middle of the Lovers Thoth Tarot card is completely hidden from our sight, behind his cloak, as if he wanted to point out that the underlying cause of things lies in a field far beyond expression and wisdom (Crowley). Through his blessed arm, he bestows the love of two people with divine meanings. This is also reflected in the plan of creation, the scroll is spread around the hands of the magus: the blueprint of nature is controlling the processes of nature and bringing materialization into the spirit, as well as the maintenance of the species, fully promoting itself in an effort to instinctively integrate.
b. Eros
This instinctive effort is described by Eros, who awakens instinctive impulses, the physical manifestation of the desire to have the magic that every creature carries within him, hovering above the sage’s hood.
c. Eve and Lilith
Eve and Lilith, symbolizing light and darkness, stand on either side of the Loves (Eros), it needs to be united by individuals through the power of love. According to belief, Lilith was Adam’s first wife, originating from the First Creation Story. Mythology tells that Lilith refused to always be under Adam when having sex. She told Adam that she was equal to him because they were both created at the same time. When Adam showed no interest, she got mad and left him. Since then, she has been seen as a dark demon in Jewish beliefs, threatening newborn babies and the cause of wet dreams of the male when she appears in their dreams. According to patriarchal beliefs, she was attributed to the dark side of women, as opposed to Eve, who was created from Adam’s ribs in the Second Creation Story.
3. Foreground (Spiral shape)
a. Twins (Crowley’s note)
The Lovers Thoth Tarot is the first card to describe the twins, and we will see this motif again a few more times. In its original form, it contains the Creation Story. Crowley writes:
“This card and its twin card, XIV, Art, are the two vaguest and most confusing Major Thoth cards. Each symbol in the card is duplicated, so its meanings will form a different sequence, and integration can only be achieved through repeated marriages, formatting and some bisexual forms. The symbol of men and women is promoted by the weapons of the King and the Queen: He holds the Church, and she holds the Holy Grail; their other hand grabbed each other, like to consent for the Marriage. Their weapons are also held at the same time by two children, and their positions are also exchanged for each other: the white child not only holds the Grail but also holds the rose, while the black child is holding the Spear of his father and at the same time holding the stick, an equal symbol.”
At the bottom of the card, there is the result of the Marriage in the form of mime and primitive: the Orphic egg has wings. The egg represents the essence of all life in the form of men and women. It carries the symbol of the Snake embroidered on King’s robe, and the Bee decorated on Queen’s coat.
b. Man and Woman
The couple in the Lovers Thoth Tarot symbolizes the effort to overcome the separation of gender, the separation of duality, or the original unified magnetic collapse, and to regain the lost paradise. According to certain beliefs, the man and the woman are created as a unity and separated only later. Plato writes:
After the two parts of the man were separated, each side craved the other half, wanted to come together and reach their hands together, wrap together in a hug, longing to be one. So, the ancient values are the desire for each other that is deeply engraved in us, reuniting our primitive nature, creating a two word, and healing the human state (“Wine Party Night”).
c. White baby and Black baby (Orphic egg)
The winged egg in the middle of the picture, there was a snake wrapped around, and there is a secret of life hidden inside it with two children riding on those wings. The black child, holding the father’s spear (penis symbol), symbolizes the masculine instinct that motivates people to multiply. Like a red lion, it is a symbol of creative will (sun, fire, acid). The unified wish is an expression of the deepest desire to restore unity lost. The white child carrying the mother’s Grail shows the dedication to endless resources deep within the mother. Like the white eagle, it is the moon symbol (water, alkaline) that connects us to the feminine portrait inside us, the mother, and the image of the Eternal Lady.
d. Creative spin (parents – children – the elderly)
The parents represent the desire for each other to strive for the other. This duality, expressed in the attraction of opposites, is “released” by their relationship. In the combination of paradise, the two of them merged into one. By expanding their identity through their reflection (children), they evolved into a prototypical form (Hermit) far beyond them. So, the Lovers Thoth Tarot combines life and death (children and the elderly) within them because the hidden appearance is also a symbol of endless creative cycles. In this way, they evolved into super individuals, even the universe, because their unity in the heart of death coincided with the moment of the concept of constantly awakening life in the state of the death.
III. Interpretation of the Lovers Thoth Tarot
1. Background of the Thoth Tarot (the Chymical marriage)
The term “the Chemical Wedding”, first appeared in “the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz” and reappeared in 1616 and is associated with the Lovers Thoth Tarot card by Crowley. In addition to the question of how these drawings were done, it is certainly not the purpose of this ritual to expand one’s sexuality, but to recognize opposite sex of a person inside them: a man who experiences himself in the feminine (self) aspect of a woman; and the woman experiences herself in her masculine aspect in the man. The culmination of this quadruple integration (male and female, male and female ego, female and male ego, female ego and male ego) is the concept of bisexuality because in the image of ” bisexual dancing”, the two have become one. Inside, the extremes of both genders combine to create a single image, and on the spiritual level, this corresponds to the superiority of opposites in the tangible world.
In the Eastern tradition, this primitive hermaphrodite image is formed from the “dance of Shiva”, which depicts the creation of the world. In the image of “the Chymical Wedding”, as well as in the divine marriages of the ancient cultures in which the king unites with the supreme nun, there are human efforts to overcome opposites. Taoism expresses this as a combination of heaven and earth, and “evolution process” of the school of psychological analysis founded by C.G. Jung describing the moderation with the unconscious aspect of the opposite sex (male ego/female ego) as a decisive step on the path in order to become a complete individual.
2. Overview of the Lovers Thoth Tarot
The card number VI is one of the most complicated cards of the Major Arcana because it depicts human sex and love with all its contradictions go hand in hand with the alchemy of the Universe. The Lovers Thoth Tarot card represents the power of life. A creative love can be very impressive, but it is also destructive when a person ignores the enthusiasm in instinct, which can ignite all reason and logic with its fire. Sex is the way that we first get out of the isolation of our central autism. It forces us to open our hearts to external things and let us find connections with others because, through this connection, we will experience the deeper meaning of life in our lives. It is one of the great things that people are immersed in the cycle of endlessness, despite their high esteem and excessive separation of nature, and the key to this process is sex.
However, this card also points to an important decision linked to the experience of love: the abandonment of previous life goals (parents’ house, single life, flirtations) and the clear statement of unique love. This step not only leads to the outstanding experiences that the Lovers Thoth Tarot are representing but also the reason why the card once named “Decision”. It may point out the necessary decisions but only relate a little or has absolutely nothing to do with love. In such cases, it means that we should make decisions from the depths of our hearts, not to bring hatred and not keeping other people’s doors just to open ourselves. The fact that any of these two topics is emphasized by the card can only be distinguished by the context of the question. In any case, it means “yes” from the bottom of the heart and from a person’s will.
3. Awareness
On the internal level, we understand that we will achieve a very profound experience only when we captured the lack of inner self. We have to fill ourselves with what is missing because the longing desire to re-conquer the lost paradise through the desperate merger with others cannot be satisfied as long as we suppress that emptiness through a connection with an “additional” colleague. In these times, we can clearly see that the meeting with a confidant is not a matter of external activity or quantitative opportunities, and certainly not a matter of hard efforts when being forced to go dance classes or parties or even participate in thematic special classes at night for adults. The only necessary thing for this meeting is the actual readiness from within. This means more than an intention or a desire to meet a colleague. It means that we have honestly prepared ourselves and are now ready to meet him/her without being reserved.
4. Career
The message is that “you cannot have everything”. To achieve what we aspire to, we have to give up something else that is close and familiar to us. Or as a Chinese saying, “You have to open your hand if you want to scoop water. You will not get anything if you hold your hand”. So, what the Lovers Thoth Tarot card wants to emphasize lies in making decisions. It shows that we should make a clear decision from the heart after considering all the factors. This will give us a definitive and guiding foundation for future decisions.
5. Relationship
In personal relationships, the Lovers Thoth Tarot card represents a true love that can touch deep within us. The card can indicate a new relationship or signal that our great happiness can be found in our current relationship. However, it can also mean that we are now reflecting our own deep image on our dream lover, so we will only experience happiness and fulfillment when the power of that reflection is reduced. In this case, it is a word that motivates us to delve into the sinful nature of others, transcending the image that we draw ourselves, instead of quickly looking for another curtain to show the image of a “dream lover”.
More The Lovers Cards from Famous Tarot Decks
1. The Lovers Osho Zen Tarot
The Lovers Osho Zen Tarot is built on the foundation of freedom, not hope and need. The wings of love would take us so far to where cosmic love exists and we will experience everything together.
<< See More >> The Lovers Osho Zen Tarot Card Meanings
2. The Lover Rider Waite Tarot
The Lovers Rider Waite can bring you to the crossroad where you have to choose between morality and conscience. This article also shows your personal values.
<< See More >> The Lovers Rider Waite Tarot Card Meanings
3. The Lovers – Lamoureux Tarot – Tarot De Marseille
Lamoureux Tarot motivates us to question our own emotional state: How is our current emotional life? Are we feeling peace or conflict? Are we doing what we like?
<< See More >> Lamoureux Tarot de Marseilles Tarot Card Meanings
