Lovers


The lovers – #6
The Sacred Marriage – The Healing Union

The Lovers is a complicated and multifaceted Key. The traditional ideas surrounding this image/key deal with adolescence and sexual discovery, free will and making choices. The modern approach takes many of those aspects and couples them with the inner male and female relationship within each of us and how we express it in our physical relationships. Sensuality and sexuality can be very transformative, if it comes from a balanced place. A loving union with another can increase one’s understanding of life, creation and renewal. Love and commitment offer a significant potential for growth towards the divine, which is the ultimate connection we all seek.
One of the big lessons of The Lovers is that you must love and honor yourself first, before you can truly be open, vulnerable, innocent, forgiving and able to love another unconditionally. Being able to do this brings you healing, closer to your higher self and to the connection of oneness and fulfillment. From this place you mirror only genuine love, thus attracting that equal light. Within a relationship, you should not feel limited, restricted or restrained. Nor should you do that to another. When two hearts share the same inner peace and understanding the relationship is stronger than any adversity.
Everyone has experienced the feeling of love on some level. The feeling of walking on air, the initial infatuation – everything around you seems brighter, more alive, more connected. Passion is high. ‘The Lovers’ is this feeling, but it goes much deeper: it represents a committed relationship. The Lovers represents a union that is genuine and harmonious. It creates new adventure for each individual within the relationship. It creates new ideas. There is expansion and stretching in the physical and in the spiritual that connect at deep and unexpected places, bringing the individuals and the relationship to a closer understanding of what love and sensuality truly is all about, in respect to the bigger picture.
The Lovers encompass human love, spiritual love and sexual love. Combined, felt and understood, The Lovers can lead us to experience the value of love, and how sensual love can bring one to spiritual awakening and bring back the sense that the world is alive, renewing, regenerating and fulfilling, and we are always part of that. We are always creating.
Ultimately, the lovers is a Key representing a deep loving relationship. It does not represent a fleeting affair, only the choice that one makes. The Lovers is a committed, strong, romantic relationship, that keeps growing and expanding towards deep understanding. Are the choices you make in relationships coming from a balanced, integrated place? If not, identify the opposing aspects within. Without happiness and harmony within our dual aspects, internal struggles can create personal internal enemies that can manifest outwardly. Genuinely loving yourself and your basic nature are part of the hero’s journey. The Lovers can heal the struggles from the past. Understand your dualities and take the journey on the heavenly road to the ultimate love – union with the Divine.


Symbolism in The Lovers Image

Within The Lovers image you see the archangel Raphael, who opens one’s heart to light, healing and higher consciousness. His name means “Healer of Light”. He represents the healing of one’s mind, body and spirit through the light and unconditional love of God. The sun represents the light of God. The dove descending represents the light of peace that comes from healing and true self-love. The man and woman face eachother in devotion and commitment of a sacred marriage to each other, as well as the sacred marriage within the self. The apple tree next to the woman represents the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The tree next to the man represents the tree of life. The trees’ roots intertwine in the pool of starry possibilities in the shape of a heart, combining both aspects of the trees. Above the heart is a six-pointed star, which is created from the union of a fire triangle (masculine/spirit/consciousness/fire) and a water triangle (feminine/emotion/unconsciousness/water). These two opposing elements relate to alchemy and the practice of Tantra. It is creation and transformation at a very sacred level. The grail represents the feminine, the garden where seeds grow to fruition and flow with love into the pool of all possibilities. The sword is the masculine aspect, and represents the Hebrew letter Zain. The sword represents thought, imagination and action. The double-edged sword defines one’s needs and choices one makes in life. The butterflies represent the beauty of transformation that comes from healing and self-love. The calla lilies represent the purity of unconditional love. Gemini is the astrological aspect of The Lovers. It represents the twins, the dualities involved, and communication and the art and craft of relationships. The twins are connected, yet separate. They are the yin/yang, light/dark, the known/the unknown. The twins are on the path together; they respect eachother’s space and differences. The Hebrew Letter is Zain, meaning sword.

The Lovers as a Lifetime Personality Symbol

With The Lovers as a Lifetime Personality symbol, you are one who has the inherent gift of seeing what is working and what is not in a relationship. You have a gift for synthesizing and integrating opposites and polarities. You have the ability to put together two ideas, situations, or people in a way that others may not have perceived. You will learn a lot about yourself in relationships with family, friends, co-workers and lovers. The Lovers personality looks for a partner to whom one can communicate one’s deepest feelings. Commitment, intimacy and trust are paramount for you. The Lovers personality will always have choices and decisions to make. Usually the choices are based on either love or fear, or both. Upon decision-making always ask yourself which emotion is determining your choice. Because The Lovers relates to the astrological sign of Gemini, the twins, you have two sides to you. The reflective/passive and the dynamic/active, – feminine and masculine. When these two sides are working in harmony you will experience the power of your knowledge and abilities. When they are not, you will feel muddled, confused and indecisive. With The Lovers personality there is the awareness that life is a constant balancing act that requires deep self-reflection. You need time out from others and daily activities to reflect and regenerate yourself. Meditation is a wondeful way to get yourself re-connected.

The Lovers as a Yearly Growth Symbol

During The Lovers year you may be reassessing your relationships with people. You want to deepen or expand relationships and move them to another level. Or you may want to distance or end outgrown or stagnant relationships. You come to an awareness of what you want and need, and what you don’t want and need, in a relationship. You determine what fulfills and nurtures you emotionally in relationships. This will be a year where you listen to your inner voice, blending it with your outside activities. The Lovers year is usually a year when there are a lot of choices presented - two situations, two people, two issues, two directions. It can be a year of a major turning point in one’s life.