The sixth card of the Major Arcana is The Lovers card. This card is traditionally one of the most commonly known, along with the Death card and the Hanged man and is just as often erroneously simplified to the point of losing it's meaning. It is a card you will often see depicted in movies as being the quintessential card for romance and unions. The card actually has far greater depth than it seems at first glance, pointing to deep esoteric meanings...of course it can also mean romance! It's all in how you read it.
The card itself depicts a woman and a man in the biblical garden of Eden, behind them the two trees of Life and Knowledge of Good and Evil. Upon the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil sits a serpent. Above them, emerging from a cloud is an Angel who seems to be offering a benediction upon the two. Already we can see the card is heavy with allegory and religious symbolism. You may also notice a triangular aspect to the card, both with the three figures and the mountain behind them. This triangle is ascending upwards and so has a heavenly symbolic quality, suggesting something more than just a simple romantic coupling. The couple in the card are wearing no clothes, and while this can be seen as a direct interpretation of a biblical passage, I believe it relates to the lack of pretense between the two. That both elements come forward unadorned and free of ego.
What the card is talking to is the integration of opposites, of male and female and of heaven and earth. The couples approach, heaven descends and the earth rises and all is well. Integration is strongly mentioned in the other cards such as Temperance and the Devil (which has many interesting parallels to this card if you lay them side by side!). Whereas the Devil suggests being bound by a union, the Lovers is about being set free by a union. That the Union of opposites in this case creates something far greater than just the sum of it's parts.
When this card appears in a reading is concerned with bringing two opposites together. Those opposites don't always have to be male and female, it could relate to business mergers, to colours in a painting or sweet and sour in a dish. What is important is that this union is expansive and liberating, two parts that work better in conjunction. The angel is appearing because of the union of the two partners, symbolizing the higher aspect of the pairing. Unlike the Devil card, which is oppressive in it's nature and both elements are subjugated, bound and lessened by their union, this card holds powerful lessons in true synthesis as an act of expansive creativity.
The card is the sixth of the Major Arcana and the number six is a harmonious number, especially when it relates to the Kabbalah and the Tarot. Each of the elements has passed the halfway point and is well on it's path to completion.
For me in my life right now it symbolizes the need to further connect my spiritual life with my material life, that the two can come together to create something better each one lived alone. Many live their lives in only one sphere, hoping that when one is fixed they can then work on the other. It always leaves one feeling unfulfilled and lacking something. It also relates to relationships, of course, that when two beings come together it should be for something greater than what they can achieve individually. That such a union can create a powerful energy and magic, that can be used for creative and enlightening endeavors.
The real meaning behind this card of course is Love, for Love is that powerful and energetic magic that appears between the two. That draws the Lover and the Beloved together, that springs not from either, but from their being together. As Jung said "The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemicals substances; if there is any reaction are transformed". It's positive aspect being The Lovers and it's shadow aspect being The Devil.
