maybe I'll use this thing after all
I've spent all day stalled-out on writing Tarot card descriptions. I thought I'd get through more yesterday, but I got burned out after just 15. Only 141 descriptions to go!!
Meanwhile, Ted is operating at what I think is breakneck speed. Ted originally wanted to hire an artist for this project — and even reached out to one — but I was resolute that Ted could do this independently. So Ted has been designing Tarot cards on their iPad, using Pixaki.
Traditionally the Lovers card is about a moral or ethical dilemma facing the querent. According to Tarot scholar Rachel Pollack, the card originally depicted some foolish handsome cowardly young cad trying to choose between two attractive ladies, who basically represented Vice and Virtue ("girlfriend material" versus "wife material," if you will). Overhead, Cupid was taking aim, as if to say "oh well, the heart wants what the heart wants, eh, good buddy?" It's a little morality tableau with the same plot as a '90s sitcom.
The Rider-Waite-Smith switched it up by placing the two lovers in the Garden of Eden before the Fall, with Archangel Raphael peeping overhead and, uhh, a mountain in the background, which usually represents a looming obstacle. The imagery is still super problematic, as Eve might represent the left-hand path, while her boyfriend Adam presumably continues to enjoy the 'halo effect' imparted to him by the Book of Genesis. The angel is there as if to now say, "I know you'll make the right choice, good buddy" — possibly implying that the querent will choose filial obligation over their own passions. (After all, this card comes right after The Hierophant, which I have a lot to say about.)
Contemporarily, people tend to interpret this card as genuinely being about love and partnership, and sometimes it is, but this is also one of several Tarot cards about the querent's "two wolves" coexisting and finding a balance and rhythm. It is also the counterpart to The Devil card, which is the card about the destructive force of an all-consuming obsession.
I really love these two cards together. My favorite detail is that the mountain or hill, which previously represented an obstacle to be overcome or circumvented, has become a plinth for the 'devil,' or obsession, and it's also the, ehm, attachment point for the shackles.
next day addendum
Ahh. Here is how the book 'Feeding Your Demons: Resolving Inner Conflict' by Tsultrim Allione opens:
MEETING THE DEMON
The malignant male and female demons
Who create myriad troubles and obstructions
Seem real before one has reached enlightenment.
But when one realizes their true nature,
They become Protectors,
And through their help and assistance
One attains numerous accomplishments.
— Milarepa (1052–1135)