(Tarot Prompts for Writers)
What I See in the Card:
The Lovers is a happy card. It represents a new stage in life, a step into maturity, and a forging of new emotional and physical bonds that will help you take the next step on your path.
Some decks show an Adam/Eve scene or a lusty scene, but my deck has an image of something like a wedding, a formal arrangement, with a trusted person bringing the lovers together and Cupid about to shoot his arrow to make it all work out.
The lovers are not smiling in my card; they are taking this step seriously. This is a life choice, not a passionate fling. But it’s a celebration. It’s sunny, lush, and colourful. There are no storms on the horizon. It’s a beautiful day. This pair will love each other and build a good life together.
Cupid symbolizes the divine spark behind human love. We enlarge our souls when we love. We empathize and go beyond our own desires. (Some of us!) And The Lovers is about following your heart — but not blindly. It’s not about running off with a lover or having some fun. It’s saying that your heart and its wisdom are what you need to pay attention to now. This side of your life is important. Don’t dismiss it as a distraction. It’s the core.
In my deck, the lovers wear rich colourful robes and, while the woman is bare-headed, the man wears a crown, suggesting that these are no common folk. They represent, in part, the establishment, and the continuation of the establishment through marriage. It’s not just about their hearts; it’s about their lineage.
I prefer the passionate love shown in other decks. The lovers should be in love. It’s the beginning of their journey into maturity and they want to be together through whatever’s coming.
No matter how you look at it — you and me in the world or you and me against the world — this is a happy card. It’s bursting with love, youth, health, and vigour, and the future looks bright from this vantage point. So many of the cards up to this point have shown or implied a path walked alone, often guided by one’s betters. Here we have a distinct step into pairing, equal pairing. And, while that is youthful, it’s also mature. The Lovers will partner to face together whatever life may bring.
Love is not for the faint of heart. The Lovers are brave. Have a fearless heart, like them.
Read will take you to my notes on how to tell a fortune with the Lovers — traditional interpretations; what the card might mean in different positions; keywords to help memorize meanings; and questions to ponder or ask the querent.
Write will take you to a few prompts for launching from the Lovers into a story. A setting and a deconstructed classic — two possible ways to turn the Lovers into fiction.
Gallery will take you to a central Tarot-Prompts page.
Go ahead, put your heart on the page.
Images on this page are by the following artists:
Banner (and top box), left to right: Marseilles deck engraved by Nicolas Conver; Druid Craft deck illustrated by Will Worthington; Dragon Tarot illustrated by Roger and Linda Garland: Tarot Balbi by Domenico Balbi; Radiant Rider-Waite deck illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith; Gilded Tarot by Ciro Marchetti.
Mid-page boxes: Tarot Balbi; the Rackham Tarot.
Catherine Austen 