VI. The Lovers

Keywords:  choices, personal values

Reversed: indecision, going against your values

Associated minor card: II of Cups

Astrological association: Gemini, Air element

The Lovers is a card about choice. Of course, these can be choices made about relationships and love, but really the card can indicate a time when any type of decision making moment is upon you. It may be a time when it feels like life is giving you many options, and other things like there are two BIG options to choose from. How will you decide?

The answer to that is easy: make a decision based up on your personal values. But what are your personal values? With that question you have stumbled upon another meaning of The Lovers card: personal values. Perhaps the decision point you have reached is a time when you need to figure out what you value. You could draw some more tarot cards to ask what you value, or you could simply listen in to your inner voice and see what values you inherently know are your own.

Many people choose Love as one of their core values, and of course, The Lovers can be interpreted as a card about Love itself.

The Lovers reversed:

When The Lovers shows up reversed in a reading, you may find yourself in one of those times when it feels like you have no options, there’s no way out. The thing is, you always do have options. It is normal to feel trapped and like you have no way out, but that is never totally true. There are just times when the “way out” is so radical and different that it can feel impossible. What you’re looking at isn’t a lack of options, it’s a lack of options that feel comfortable, safe, or in your wheelhouse. What is required is imagination and daring and a whole lot of trust in the Universe and in yourself.

You may be tempted to intepret the appearance of The Lovers in a reading as sign that sometime has gone wrong or will go badly in a romantic relationship. Yes, this can be one of the meanings of The Lovers card. The reason I don’t write about this meaning first thing, is because I want to invite you to interpret the card more broadly in order to give yourself the space to see all the possibilities that Love can hold. The first thing you think when you flip over The Lover card reversed needn’t be “my relationship is going to shit”. Instead it could be, “how am I not aligning my actions with my personal values?” or “what difficult choice am I avoiding?” These questions may pertain closely to your romantic partnership and asking them can get you closer to a useful and actionable tarot reading, rather than just the doom and gloom of a pronouncing your relationship a disaster. Maybe it is!, but why is it like that can be a more helpful way to read the card.