Original sketch for THE LOVERS (VI) in The Marker Tarot*
Closer to how THE LOVERS (VI) will appear in The Marker Tarot*
For comparison, THE LOVERS (VI) in the well-known Rider/Waite/Smith (RSW) deck.
So, here we are at one of the most "popular" cards with the general public, THE LOVERS (VI). Back in the day when I was reading professionally, it often elicited positive responses of some sort from Tarot clients. (As opposed to those cards that generated the occasional hidden -- and sometimes not so hidden -- flinch when they would show up: Death or The Devil or The Hanged Man.) Yet in my readings for over 40 years for both others and myself, VI has often given me a troubling pause. Especially as it tends to be more about all sorts of choices that we are faced with in our lives rather than issues that are generated by romantic love. Well, I'll modify that and add that love does frequently enter the picture in all sorts of choices. "Nothing's a sure thing, baby, so play the game with most heart." I blush to say that that line in quotes is from one of my own dream poems. Essentially saying, you can't know the outcome for sure, so best to let love -- your heart -- guide your choice. And that puts me in mind of the idea that appears in VI lore: it's through the feminine (not necessarily female gender, but definitely feminine aspect) that we find our ways to Spirit. In the above Marker Tarot glyph, the Spirit would be the top arrow, the feminine on the left, and the masculine on the right. This is the arrangement on the well-known RWS version above. Of note here in the RWS version is that the male figure is looking toward the female, who's looking to the Angel who's sometimes interpreted as representing Spirit.
As often with these Marker Tarot posts, it's synchronistic this particular card would be up now. I have been faced with more huge and entangling inner world choices (and many times, the challenge to choose to simply accept what is) than I have been in years. It is good to be reminded that no matter how desperately lost I may be feeling or am, I need not always become some sort of well-armed, full time, furious warrior to wend my way back to the guiding light of Spirit. As the way in which Spirit calls to us can often be subtle and require us to yield, to be receptive, to be more yin than yang. And, not surprisingly, The Marker Tarot VI vaguely reminds me of that ancient Yin/Yang symbol.
The next Marker Tarot design will be THE CHARIOT (VII), a card I've never fully buddied up to. Maybe work with it here will bring me closer. In terms of the little story that's emerging within the Majors of the Tarot as I put them up here, VII can be seen as the Fool acting on/taking the choice(s) s/he's made out into the world in some concrete way.
*The other two decks I've got going are Roswila's Taiga Tarot (blog dedicated solely to the deck's designs), and Roswila's Tarot Gallery & Journal (you can search for "Found Tarot" at the top left of this blog; the photo/cards for The Found Tarot are salted betwixt and between all sorts of other posts).
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For the full details (history of and ideas behind this deck's designs) please see this blogs' first post, The Fool.
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'til next time, keep enjoying The Tarot, in whatever forms it comes to you,
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under "View my complete profile")**** SEE ALSO: Roswila's Dream & Poetry Realm for Tarot poetry; and Trying to Hold A Box of Light for digital photos only.
