the tarot · the card called the lovers. in the modern tarot, this card portrays the garden of...

The Tarot Your Guide to Tarot Mastery

Edition 6 Summer 2011

This edition's theme is based on

the card called The Lovers.

In the modern Tarot, this card portrays the

Garden of Eden, with Eve, Adam, and an angel. It also

features a snake on the apple tree and a blazing sun similar to the one from The Fool's card.

It's a strange mix of imagery since this

biblical scene represents themes of confusion, lies,

disobedience, anger and punishment. How does this relate to the title The Lovers?

It becomes even more puzzling when you

realise that the earliest Tarot cards showed people getting married. Cupid, the Roman God, hovered

above the bride and groom, firing his arrows of love at

the couple. It's significantly different to today's cards. Those cards signified love in its highest

emotional and spiritual form. They represented the

ideal of unconditional love, where you acted selflessly

in an expression of devotion. True love is the feeling

of spiritual oneness with all

others in the universe. Khalil Gibran wrote, „...think not you

can direct the course of love, for

love, if it finds you worthy,

directs your course.‟ He knew that love is a power in itself.

Love is an emotion, but

it is also an action of spirit which must be given to the

world. Love connects you to your

higher nature, and is an expression of spiritual service. And when you

selflessly strive to remove the

blockages within your heart, real love shines through

with full force. Therefore, to interpret this card, look at the

people in the image, and think of their love for each

other. Don't get confused by the religious symbols that obscure the true message of The Lovers.

Tarot blessings,

- Editorial

Page 2 - The Women of the Tarot

Page 3 - The Queens

Page 4 - Book Review

Page 5 - Symbols of The Lovers

Page 6 - Future Events

Page 7 - Difficult Cards

www.MisterTarot.com

The Women of the Tarot


The Major Arcana features a lovely assortment of

beautiful women. These are found in cards such as, The

High Priestess, The Empress, the maiden in Strength, Justice, The Star, and, of course, The World, which shows a

woman dancing.

Being archetypal images, these symbolic designs affect your subconscious mind whether you realise it or not.

They are images of Goddesses—key players in the drama

of the world's myths and religions. These are the

representatives of important women you will meet in your life; and they

show the milestones of your

spiritual development. The High Priestess is more

of a girl than a woman, and her

youth represents purity. Behind her is a screen filled with images

of pomegranates, which are the

symbols of the Goddess

Persephone. She sits at the entrance to the Temple of

Solomon, with the book of

Hebrew wisdom on her lap—and this represents that

she is a keeper of secret

knowledge. This card represents intuition and spirituality.

The very next card in the series is The Empress.

She is voluptuous, earthy, sensual, and full-figured. She,

too, has images of pomegranates on her dress. This time the pomegranates

have their stems pointing

down, so that they form the symbol for female,

which is also the sigil for

Venus, as shown on her

heart-shaped shield. Even behind the cushion, the

abstract pattern is really a

series of Venus symbols joined together.

Every part of this

card supports this idea and tells us she is all about

comfort, softness, femininity

and desire in its most loving

form. The corn in the foreground also tells us she is connected to the Greek Goddess

Demeter, the mother of Persephone.

Strength: The maiden in the card called Strength

is closing the lion's mouth. The lion represents the primal

beast in each of us—our physical or mundane urges and desires. This is a card of courage, motivation, and a subtle

power that we can draw upon whenever we need it.

Justice is another card showing a woman as the main character. You could be forgiven for wondering if this

figure is a woman—the character called Justice has very

short hair and a rather stern expression, quite unlike the

feminine imagery usually associated with the women of the Tarot. However, the virtues are always portrayed in female

form and this card Justice is associated with Themis, the

Goddess of Justice, so this is definitely a female image. Representing the concept of Justice as a seated woman with

a sword and scales was a well-established device in

religious art many centuries before to the Tarot was invented. It reflects the concept of balance as represented

by the scales.

Some may expect me to include the card

Temperance in this article, but this is another androgynous figure. This angel is neither male nor female, so it cannot

be included.

The Star is another card featuring a Goddess.

This is Ishtar, Queen of

the Heavens, whose symbol is an eight

pointed star. The woman

is naked to represent

freedom and natural expression. Waite calls

The Star „The Great

Mother‟. Finally, we

come to the last card

of the Major Arcana,

The World. In this image we see a

female figure,

draped in a violet sash, dancing in

an oval wreath.

The purple sash signifies the attainment of

spiritual wisdom.

It's a lovely way to end the sequence of cards

known as The Major Arcana.

The Women of the Tarot

continued


Hang on a minute! We haven't really finished talking about the Major Arcana. Women also feature in

lesser roles in other cards of the Major Arcana. We have

the lady in The Lovers, the girl in the card called Death, the unfortunate lady chained to The Devil, and woman

falling from The Tower. And even though we only see her

face, a woman is portrayed in the card called The Moon.

Also, a woman rises from the grave in Judgement. In the Minor Arcana women pop up all over the

place, as you would expect from cards describing everyday

life. But there are also some very special cards showing women in the Minor Arcana—the Queens from the Court

cards.

The Queens are a series of images showing

powerful women of the Tarot. These women know who they are and they know how to express their true nature.

The Queens have a commanding nature and they radiate

authority and accountability, albeit with a sense of subtlety befitting the essence of the feminine. They each embody

an aspect of the ideal woman. When you bring together all

of the qualities of the four Queens, you end up with an idealised state of womanhood.

The Queen of Cups

The focus of the Queen of Cups is

relationships. She

is deeply concerned about her own

relationship, and the

emotional ties of others. She acts as

counsellor to others

and she expresses

her feelings openly. She is supportive

and empathetic.

This Queen considers herself

to be a healer of

hearts and bodies,

and is devoted to family, friends,

and the concept

of romantic love.

The Queen of Pentacles The Queen of Pentacles is practical, resourceful, and

down-to-earth. She is an Earth Mother who loves food,

gardening, and the security of a happy home. She is a successful business woman and enjoys decorating her

home in a stylish manner. This Queen has the patience and

determination to bring prosperity into her life.

The Queen of Swords

This Queen combines intelligence with wisdom gleaned

from her many life experiences. She is a walking encyclopaedia of current affairs and trivia too. If there is a

problem that needs to be solved, she will use her

communication abilities and strategies to work out a

solution. She sees things as they are and loves to tell you all about it. Because she's a thinker, not a feeler, she can

seem 'cold and distant', but she is decisive and level headed

and you always know where you stand when talking to this Queen.

The Queen of Wands The Queen of Wands is a woman of passion and action.

She has energy and personal power and knows how to use

them to her advantage. Her boldness is alluring. She is

motivated and creative, but sometimes her restlessness with everyday life forces

her to travel to distant

lands.

Blending all of these

qualities together brings us back to Goddess energy

as a whole. We take the

Cup and Sword and

Pentacle and Wand, which are the elements of water,

air, earth and fire and we

fuse them with the spirit of Tarot and they become

the Goddess. If you spend

time contemplating the

women of the Tarot, you will align yourself

with Goddess energy.

This is the true magic of the Tarot.

Book Review

The Tarot of Perfection

Rachel Pollack is well known for her Tarot

manuals, but in The Tarot of Perfection, she takes us

on an extraordinary journey through fictional worlds

that all relate (in some way or another) to Tarot

cards.

Like the Tarot itself, these tales weave in

and out of each other, linking threads of images and

characters, yet retaining their own energies. The

stories are based on characters or scenes from the

Tarot, or they involve Tarot readers, or some form

of divination. They are a blend of allegory, fantasy,

and deep imagery that affects the mind and soul.

It‟s hard to describe these stories, as they

sometimes seem like “normal” fiction, until they

divert into realms of fantasy and magic. In essence,

I guess they are fairy tales, and like fables of old

this book contains exquisite black and white line

drawings to illustrate the text.

Placing the cards into the context of these

stories gives them so much more meaning than their

traditional interpretations. An example of this is can

be found in the first story, where the Ten of Wands

is described in the following way: “Look there, he

thought, the man with ten sticks on his back, each

one with leaves of fire, though none of them burned.

No doubt the woman would have seen in this a

prediction of “burdens,” or “hard work ahead,”

and completely miss the truth, that the sticks

extended from the Great Tree, that itself grew out of

the Radiant Jewels of Creation. And what was the

man but a sacred messenger, assigned to extend the

jewels into the abandoned dross of the physical

world? What holiness!” I‟m sure that when certain

cards turn up in my next reading, I‟ll be relating

them back to these imaginative tales that are full of

sorcerers and initiates, ghosts and squirrels!

As Mary K. Greer acknowledges on the back

cover, “These mystical, magical travel tales show us

that it’s the journey itself that really counts. They

will change forever how you see destiny, indeed, all

the mysteries.”

ISBN: 1-90557209-3

Published by: Magic Realist Press


Insight from a Tarot Guru

The divinatory meanings for the Waite-Smith image are straightforward. They refer to the importance of love in a person's life and to a specific lover; very often to marriage or a long relationship. The card implies that the particular relationship has been or will prove to be very valuable to the person, leading him or her to a new understanding of life. If some specific problem is being considered in the reading then the Lovers indicates help in some way, either practically through the lover's assistance, or through emotional support. But this is not always true. The Lovers, in the position of the past, especially in relation to cards indicating a refusal to look at the present situation, can indicate a crippling nostalgia for a past love.

- from “Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom” by Rachel Pollack

Symbols of The Lovers

The forces of duality are represented by the man and

woman standing in the Garden of Eden. Behind the man is the Tree of Life. Behind the woman is the Tree

of Knowledge of Good and Evil which is wrapped by

coils of a serpent. The angel represents spiritual unity—the manifestation of the union of polarities—male and

female, intellect and emotion. The snake behind the

woman has the voice of knowledge and is a symbol of wisdom. The apples on the tree are gifts from the

Goddess.


‘Yesterday we obeyed kings

and bent our necks before

emperors. But today we kneel

only to truth, follow only

beauty, and obey only love.’

- Kahlil Gibran

Tarot Trivia

Apart from The Lovers,

which other Tarot cards

feature a snake?

The answer is at the end of this newsletter.

Sta

tue

in V

eale

Gar

den

s

South

Ter

race

, A

del

aide

The suggestion in respect of the woman is

that she signifies that attraction towards the

sensitive life which carries within it the idea

of the Fall of Man, but she is rather the

working of a Secret Law of Providence than

a willing and conscious temptress. It is

through her imputed lapse that man shall

rise ultimately, and only by her can he

complete himself."

A. E. Waite

The Tarot Guild of Australia Inc. has established a code of ethics for Tarot

practitioners, and provides a forum for professional development. For a state-by-state listing of monthly Tarot gatherings

around Australia, see their website: www.tarotguild.org.au

If you have a request for specific Tarot information, please contact me by email:

[email protected]

Learn how to combine Tarot and Palmistry in an innovative, five week

course, held once a week at Hahndorf, South Australia. Only $150

Email Trevor: [email protected]


Tarot Workshop with

Don McLeod

Sunday 8th January from 1pm to 5pm

Held at Cosmic Pages Bookshop 338 - 340 King William Street, Adelaide

How Tarot Works

Demystifying Tarot Basic Tarot Spreads Learn Easy Interpretations

Practical and Spiritual Uses

By the end of this workshop you will feel comfortable using Tarot cards and you will have a basic

understanding of their meanings.

Only $65

Requirements: Rider-Waite Tarot Deck Bookings essential: Phone 8231 9105

mailto:[email protected]

Difficult Cards

This card is supposed to show a woman who is confused

about her situation. But the swords that she holds are perfectly

balanced, which reveals a calm and settled mind. So what is

the best way to interpret this image?

The Two of Swords is obviously a card representing choices

and a difficult decision. She is shown as blindfolded, which

means that she is yet to be given all of the information she

needs to make the right decisions. If she were able to remove

the blindfold she would see her options and could move

forward. This card is therefore about making sure you have all

the information you require before committing yourself to a

course of action.

Interpretations for The Lovers

This card can represent a lover, or the feeling of love itself. This is a card of trust, and of partnerships in its many forms. Sometimes it refers to attraction, relationships, and marriage. On a spiritual level it represents the integration of the

rational and emotional aspects of a person.

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Copyright on all articles in this newsletter belong

to Don McLeod unless specifically stated otherwise.

wwww.MisterTarot.com

www.TarotSecretsBook.com www.MisterTarot.blogspot.com/


“

”

Van Morrison

Tarot Trivia Answer

A snake also appears in the cards The Magician,

Wheel of Fortune, and the 7 of Cups.

the tarot · the card called the lovers. in the modern tarot, this card portrays the garden of...

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