Charlie Brown
To the best of my limited knowledge, the figure of Archangel Raphael in The Lovers is original to the RWS. Raphael is best known as a healer, but is also the patron of matchmakers, so his appearance does make sense. He is very different from Cupid though, in so far as Cupid's arrow (and isn't he always pictured with just one?) only affects the person it hits, not the couple.
Does anyone have in insights, observations, and/or ideas about Raphael and what he means in the context of this card? Is his role as a healer at all relevant or just his patronage of matchmaking? What extra layers of meaning does he bring to the card? Are these new layers or layers that were there in older versions of the card but that were hard to see?
I welcome your ideas.
Does anyone have in insights, observations, and/or ideas about Raphael and what he means in the context of this card? Is his role as a healer at all relevant or just his patronage of matchmaking? What extra layers of meaning does he bring to the card? Are these new layers or layers that were there in older versions of the card but that were hard to see?
I welcome your ideas.