Pipistrelle
Can we talk about cards that have two people in them? According to the look through the deck I've just done, there are six. (I only counted cards where there were two people shown (i.e. not two hands, such as in the 10 of Cups, or one person with another person suggested, such as in the 2 of Rods). I didn't count the Wheel of Fortune and Judgment (other people present) or the 6 of Swords, which shows two people but they aren't really interacting as a couple.)
The "couples" cards are:
The Lovers
The Sun
2 of Cups
6 of Cups
5 of Pentacles
10 of Pentacles
Interesting that there are six "couples" cards - six being the number of the ultimate couple, the Lovers.
You can split these six cards into two groups of three: The people in the Sun, the 2 of Cups and the 6 of Cups are face-to-face but apart. The people in the Lovers, the 5 of Pentacles and the 10 of Pentacles are touching, holding, supporting each other.
There are some interesting visual echoes between the cards. For example, in the 6 of Cups, the boy and girl are behind the wall/flowers with the boy on the left and the girl on the right. In the Sun, they are in front of the wall and (most of) the flowers and have swapped sides. In the 5 of Pentacles, the woman supports and comforts the man. In the 10 of Pentacles, the man shelters and protects the woman (and the 10 of course is a coupling of the 5 - the ten pentacles on the flags are even split into fives).
In the face-to-face cards, there seems to be an age progression from the 6 of Cups (children) to the Sun (teenagers) to the 2 of Cups (young adult) to the Lovers.
To relate to this on a very simplistic level... Valentine's day has just passed and some of my daughter's friends gave cards or presents at school (age 7) - that would be the 6 of Cups.
The Sun then shows the intense, all-encompassing love of adolescence where you feel you'll die if you can't be with the other person.
In this light, the 2 of Cups shows people who have grown-up, who know what it's like to have their hearts broken, but who are looking for "the one". They gaze at each other intently but hold back slightly, moving tentatively toward each other. There is more space between them than the boy and girl in the Sun.
And you can also add in the Lovers, which depicts two people who have found their "one". They are shown in full (giving their all) and naked (hiding nothing from each other) - compare this to the Sun where we just see their heads and shoulders. The boy's shoulders suggest perhaps he isn't wearing anything but he isn't showing it.
There's loads more to talk about in these six cards....
The "couples" cards are:
The Lovers
The Sun
2 of Cups
6 of Cups
5 of Pentacles
10 of Pentacles
Interesting that there are six "couples" cards - six being the number of the ultimate couple, the Lovers.
You can split these six cards into two groups of three: The people in the Sun, the 2 of Cups and the 6 of Cups are face-to-face but apart. The people in the Lovers, the 5 of Pentacles and the 10 of Pentacles are touching, holding, supporting each other.
There are some interesting visual echoes between the cards. For example, in the 6 of Cups, the boy and girl are behind the wall/flowers with the boy on the left and the girl on the right. In the Sun, they are in front of the wall and (most of) the flowers and have swapped sides. In the 5 of Pentacles, the woman supports and comforts the man. In the 10 of Pentacles, the man shelters and protects the woman (and the 10 of course is a coupling of the 5 - the ten pentacles on the flags are even split into fives).
In the face-to-face cards, there seems to be an age progression from the 6 of Cups (children) to the Sun (teenagers) to the 2 of Cups (young adult) to the Lovers.
To relate to this on a very simplistic level... Valentine's day has just passed and some of my daughter's friends gave cards or presents at school (age 7) - that would be the 6 of Cups.
The Sun then shows the intense, all-encompassing love of adolescence where you feel you'll die if you can't be with the other person.
In this light, the 2 of Cups shows people who have grown-up, who know what it's like to have their hearts broken, but who are looking for "the one". They gaze at each other intently but hold back slightly, moving tentatively toward each other. There is more space between them than the boy and girl in the Sun.
And you can also add in the Lovers, which depicts two people who have found their "one". They are shown in full (giving their all) and naked (hiding nothing from each other) - compare this to the Sun where we just see their heads and shoulders. The boy's shoulders suggest perhaps he isn't wearing anything but he isn't showing it.
There's loads more to talk about in these six cards....