Learning to Love

I’ve been invited to join a new Tarot Blog Hop! The Tarot Rebels Blog Hop works with non-traditional decks – that’s what makes them rebels. This is a good stretching exercise for me. I’m a Waite girl through and through.

I do have an extensive deck collection. I’m excited to dust off my tarot shelves and reach for the decks that I don’t tend to use in professional readings.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, our assignment this month is to contemplate Major Arcana 6, the Lovers. To see what other bloggers did with this topic, click on the badge on the bottom of this post.

The Lovers card examples I am picturing here are, from left to right, The Hermetic Tarot by Godfrey Dowson, Celestial Tarot by Kay Steventon and Brian Clark, Chrysalis Tarot by Holy Sierra and Toney Brooks and Ancestral Path Tarot by Julie Cuccia-Watts. (All are published by US Games Systems, Inc.)

Each of these four Lovers departs from the Waite image of the man gazing longingly at the woman while the woman seems to long instead for the angel.

The Hermetic Tarot Lovers is based on the “Esoteric Workings of the Secret Order of the Golden Dawn”. The card pictures Andromeda tied to the rock, while Perseus comes to her rescue. The card’s Esoteric Title is “Children of the Voice Divine”.  This title highlights the concept of communication that is so important to this card.

In the top middle of the card we see a bow and arrow that reminds us to study the card of Temperance, related to Sagittarius, as we study the Lovers. I have often contemplated the similarities between Gemini-Lovers and Sagittarius-Temperance, but had never before seen anyone else draw this connection. Perhaps I need to study the Golden Dawn tarot traditions more seriously!

Celestial Tarot is based on astrology. Here we see the Lovers simply illustrated as the Gemini Twins.

Chrysalis Tarot pictures a couple in nature, surrounded by animals. At the center of this card is Cernunnos, the Celtic God of fertility and animals. Of the four, this is my favorite illustration.  I love the art of Holly Sierra, yet I often struggle with the rebellious nature of Chrysalis Tarot. I honor Cernunnos and understand his symbolic place here. Nonetheless, I bristle at illustrating the airy Lovers with earthy Cernunnos. 

Finally, Ancestral Path Tarot shows a nude couple embracing. It has only been within the past four decades that we commonly see decks with the Lovers card bearing obviously sexual images. We can see the Great Rite in this card. In divination, a card with such a romantic and sexual image easily speaks to the passion and romance that is so often ironically missing in more traditional versions of the Lovers.

Other modern decks that depict the Lovers in a sensual pose include Ciro Marchetti’s Gilded Tarot, Kay Steventon's Spiral Tarot and the Morgan-Greer Tarot.

Now that we have seen a variety of depictions, we have to ask, what can this card actually signify?

As Key 6 of the Major Arcana, the archetype of the Lovers is the syzygy, or “Divine Couple”. That lends credence to the decks, readers and authors who depict and describe romance, sex and marriage in this card.

For me, Major Arcana cards all teach us specific, significant, unavoidable lessons along life’s path. Every tarot reader knows that questions about love and romance are top of list for many of our clients. What can we learn about love from the Lovers?

 To me, the deeper lessons of the Lovers can be found in its numerology and astrology.

I see Six as the number of service, glory and success. When thinking about the Lovers, I put an emphasis on “service”.  All truly functional long-term couples know that the success and glory of a relationship can happen only when each partner is truly dedicated to serving the other.

The Lovers as Gemini, so artfully illustrated in Celestial Tarot, speak to us of balance and integration, of yin and yang and the union of opposites. Here we can clearly see why The Hermetic Tarot would have us look to Key 14, Temperance, and its process of sacred alchemy. When properly blended, the product is greater than the sum of its parts. A divine relationship, whether of love, business or collaboration, can feel like that. We are each better with each other than we are without.

Related to Gemini, the elemental association of the Lovers is mutable Air. When I was a much younger tarot student, this was my first clue that the Lovers card cannot always be interpreted simply as a predictor of romance (which would be more of a Water thing) or of hot passionate sex (definitely a fire thing).

Air relates to the powers of the mind – to integrity, communication and decisions.

Here is where the real lesson of the Lovers lies for me. Whatever relationship you might be working on, or whatever you might be trying to integrate or balance within your life, you will never get far without honest communication and wise decisions.

Finally, there’s the name of the card “The Lovers”. Lover is an interesting word. In the days before marriage equality, “Lover” was often used in the LBGT community to describe your same-sex partner, whether it was a casual hookup or a lifelong partnership.

Recently, I’ve been struggling to learn to play the Pete Seeger song “Old Devil Time” on my guitar. (I’m a wiz at tarot, marginal at music.)

In this song, each verse ends with the words “My lovers gather ‘round and help me rise to fight you one more time.” The devils being fought are time, fear, pain and hate.

I don’t think Pete Seeger was referring to a polyamorous pod when he sang of his lovers gathering ‘round.

In this context, I see “lovers” as the opposite of “haters”, and as synonymous with “loving community”.

Can Major Arcana 6, the Lovers, teach us a lesson about agape – our love for Spirit, and Spirit’s love for us, or philia, which is brotherly and sisterly love?

Of course it can, and the directive is the same. When we, like the twins of Gemini, see ourselves in the people around us, no matter how different we may be one from another, we find our commonality and community.

Forget Valentine’s Day; for me this card teaches more than romance, it teaches peace. At a time when our world is polarized and divided, the Lovers can help us find a way to unite and live and work together in harmony.

That way is not the sweetness of romance, nor the heat of passion. That way comes from the logical decision to communicate with each other and trust each other.

It is only from that place of commitment, communication and trust that we can ever hope to truly love one another.

Tarot Blog Hop Imbolc 2014 Master List

Welcome to the Imbolc 2014 Tarot Blog Hop. We are an international group of tarotists who write together on a specific topic eight times a year. Here you will find  a list of particpants and links to each of the blogs. At the end of the list is an explaination of our topic, which is "Tarot, Healing and Creativity."

1.  Maureen Aisling Duffy-Boose  http://tarotwitchery.blogspot.com/2014/02/tarot-blog-hop-2014the-seer-bard-healer.html 

2.  Louise Underhill http://www.priestesstarot.co.uk/2014/02/tarot-blog-hop-tarot-healing-creativity/

3.  Chloe for TABI http://tabitarot.blogspot.com/2014/02/getting-creative.html

4.  Bonnie Fernandes http://tarotsalve.com/2014/02/01/imbolc-blog-hop-tarot-healing-and-creativity

5.  Ania M http://aniam.co.uk/blog/incubation/

6.  Karen Sealey http://pureblessedtarot.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/throw-momma-from-my-brain/

7.  J Jordan Hoggard http://jordanhoggard.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/tarotbloghop-imbolc-sanctuary-of-self-creating-the-making/

8.  Morgan Drake Eckstein  http://gleamingsfromthedawn.blogspot.com/2014/02/tarot-and-healing.html

9.  Stella T'arot http://www.usgamesinc.com/tarotblog/2014tarotbloghopimbolc/

10. Stacey Carroll http://thetarotoraclewitch.blogspot.com/2014/02/tbh-divination-healing-and-creativity.html

11. Alison Coals http://alisonsalembic.blogspot.com/2014/02/tarot-blog-hop-imbolc-2014.html

12. Chloe for Celtic Lenormand http://www.celticlenormand.com/2014/02/imbolc-blog-hop-making-of-songbirds.html

13. Christiana Gaudet http://tarottrends.com/content/imbolc-2014-tarot-blog-hop-tarot-healing-and-creativity

14. Arwen http://tarotbyarwen.com/?p=17623

15. Olivia Destrades http://firstearthtarot.blogspot.com/2014/02/imbolc-blog-hop-feb-2014.html

16. Shauna Aura Knight  http://shaunaaura.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/outcome-card-tarot-blog-hop

17. Joy Vernon  http://joyvernon.com/Blog/tarot-healing-and-creativity

18. Sharon Cumming  http://sharoncumming.blogspot.com/2014/02/tarot-healing-creativity.html

19. Chloe http://innerwhisperscouk.blogspot.com/2014/02/imbolc-blog-hop.html  

20. Joanne Sprott http://cosmicwhisperstarot.com/2014/02/01/breaking-through-imbolc-tarot-blog-hop-2014/

21. Joanna Ash  http://sungoddesstarot.blogspot.com/2014/02/Welcome-Spring-Through-Tarot-Healing-And-Creativity.html

As the wrangler for the Imbolc 2014 Blog Hop it was my responsibility to set the topic. Here is what I gave the group.

Imbolc, also known as Imbolg, Brigid, Brigid’s Day and Candlemass, is the cross-quarter day between Yule (winter solstice) and Ostara (vernal equinox). It is generally celebrated January 31, February 1st or February 2nd.

Imbolc means “in the belly.” This is the Irish holiday of the lambing ewes who herald the coming spring.

This is the holiday of Brigid, Brighid, or Bride, a Goddess so beloved she became a Catholic Saint. The Catholic Church celebrates this holiday as St. Brighid’s Day.

On February 2nd many Christians observe Candlemass, which celebrates the divinity of Jesus Christ and is thought to have some connection to the original Pagan holiday. At this time of year Pagans and Christians often weave Brighid’s Crosses and light candles as reminder that warmer weather is on its way.

Groundhog Day is the secular holiday in anticipation of the coming spring which has sprung from these ancient roots.

There are so many themes one could pull from this rich holiday for a fabulous blog hop. Which should I choose?

I’m going to indulge and divulge my personal connection with this holiday. I am dedicated to the Goddess Brigid, the Triple Goddess of smithcraft, poetry and healing. When I put that all together, Brigid becomes the Goddess of healing through creativity.

As I see it, tarot is a tool of healing, and a tool of creativity. So let’s do this. Let’s write about “Tarot, Healing and Creativity.” (Of course, if you use another tool you can change the “tarot” to “cartomancy”, “divination” or whatever works.)

Handle the topic “Tarot, Healing and Creativity” any way you like. For instance, you could:

• Share a story about how tarot has inspired healing and creativity for you, or for someone you know.
• List ways we can use tarot for healing, and to inspire creativity.
• Discuss the ways we heal through creativity.
• Design and perform a card spread to nurture creativity and healing.
• Discuss specific cards that represent creativity and healing to you.
• Design a healing ritual that uses tarot images.
• Write a poem, create a meditation, do whatever feels right for you.

Tarot Translation Group Week Two

Welcome to the Jupiter Frequency Tarot Translation Group Blog Hop Week Two. To see the list of links, or to join in the fun, visit The Jupiter Frequency.

The premise of what we are doing is this. Each week, we have a question, and three cards pulled to answer it. We each look at the question, and the three cards, and each give our own interpretation of what we see, all based on those same three cards. You can join the group on Facebook and play with us!

Here is this week's challenge, submitted by one of the group members.

The Question: My spouse and I seem to be on different energy cycles lately; my energy is up, when his is down and vice versa. It’s making both of us irritable. In what ways can we work through these ups and downs together?

The Cards: (Note: this is a three card spread, no specific meanings attached to any of the positions. Cards are listed from left to right.)

Using the Shadowscapes Tarot I pulled: The Chariot, The Five of Cups (RX), Nine of Pentacles

My take is this. The Chariot tells me there has been some traveling. Perhaps you have been traveling together, separately, or both. The travel has impacted the vibe between you.

The five of Cups reversed is a clear message to you. You, as the old song goes, must "ac-cen-tuate the positive, e-lim-inate the negative, latch on to the affirmative…" You must do this in your own thinking, and in your conversation with him. You must generate a positive energy. If you do it first, he will pick up on it and his energy level will begin to match yours.

The Nine of Pentacles suggests two things to me. One is that you should not let this period in your relationship make you feel insecure in yourself or in your relationship. Two is that you each need to find the right boundaries for private time and space and time and space together.

Each relationship has energy cycles. Some are more pleasant than others. Things like travel, changes in schedule or tight quarters can causes uncomfortable energy cycles. Be patient and be positive and you will find your balance together.