NatKat
The Lovers is a card in which Marchetti departs from the classical symbolism. Both RWS and Thoth Lovers use triangle imagery: a symbol of the sacred at the apex of a triangle and two polarities form the base or profane side of the triangle (thank you Dusty White). This geometry elegantly symbolizes what Gurdjieff calls the Law of Three. In the Thoth tarot, the Lovers symbolizes the marriage of the Emperor and Empress as performed by the Hermit.
In RWS the woman stands before the Tree of Knowledge and the man stands before the Tree of Life. Interestingly, in LotD, these two symbols are combine as one at the base of the card. The LotD Lovers contains what appears to me as kundalini symbolism, the snake representing the latent energy coiled in the sacrum waiting to unite with energy from the crown chakra as symbolized by the heart at the top of the picture. YMMV.
For me, the change in artistic motif very much changes how I read this card. I read the Lovers of RWS and Thoth as alchemical cards, having to do with the polarity. On a more practical level, I saw the Lovers as relating to partnerships of all types and not romantic partnerships per se. I also read the card as having to do with writers, communication, and mass media (Gemini). If you always read this card as romantic love, the motif change will probably not affect your interpretation of the card. For me, it did.
The LotD Lovers has now become more specific to romantic love for me. Although Marchetti himself writes in Gateway that the partnerships do not have to be romantic or sexual, to me the repeated heart motif takes this card more in the direction of Venus or Aphrodite than of Hermes.
In RWS the woman stands before the Tree of Knowledge and the man stands before the Tree of Life. Interestingly, in LotD, these two symbols are combine as one at the base of the card. The LotD Lovers contains what appears to me as kundalini symbolism, the snake representing the latent energy coiled in the sacrum waiting to unite with energy from the crown chakra as symbolized by the heart at the top of the picture. YMMV.
For me, the change in artistic motif very much changes how I read this card. I read the Lovers of RWS and Thoth as alchemical cards, having to do with the polarity. On a more practical level, I saw the Lovers as relating to partnerships of all types and not romantic partnerships per se. I also read the card as having to do with writers, communication, and mass media (Gemini). If you always read this card as romantic love, the motif change will probably not affect your interpretation of the card. For me, it did.
The LotD Lovers has now become more specific to romantic love for me. Although Marchetti himself writes in Gateway that the partnerships do not have to be romantic or sexual, to me the repeated heart motif takes this card more in the direction of Venus or Aphrodite than of Hermes.
