Morgan Greer Tarot - the "couples" cards

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....
 

Pipistrelle

I've just realised you can add the Pentacles cards into the progression...

The 5 of Pentacles shows “for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health”. And the 10 of Pentacles is the security of a long-term relationship/marriage. (As a side note, my daughter called this "the wedding card" the other day - she has some very good insights about the cards, I keep meaning to write them all down ;-)
 

Pipistrelle

More visual echoes:

6 of Cups & The Sun
The wall, flowers (lilies vs sunflowers), plus a boy and girl/children. The wall in the Sun card is more rustic and less rigid than the wall in the 6 of Cups. Also the position of the wall is interesting. In the 6 of Cups we (the reader) are separated from the children. In the Sun, we share the same space as them.

5 of Pentacles/10 of Pentacles
Man/woman, holding/supporting, stonework, arch/window, groups of 5 pentacles on the flags.

2 of Cups/The Lovers
Foliage - in the 2 of Cups the foliage in the background is indistinct, unformed. We don't know what "it" is yet. In the Lovers, it is well defined. They have "defined the relationship".

The Sun/5 of Pentacles
The shape, colour and position of the stained glass window echoes the big orange sun.

The Lovers/6 of Cups
Lilies! In the Lovers, they are arum lilies I believe and they are very sensual/erotic. In the 6 of Cups, the lilies are open - just pretty white flowers, representing purity and innocence.

I think all these echoes could lend extra meaning if two or more of these couples cards appeared in a reading.
 

Pipistrelle

Looking at the 6 of Cups, Sun and 2 of Cups in a row, the couples are placed at different heights. You could say the relationship in the 6 of Cups is ‘too light’ and the Sun is ‘too heavy’, but the 2 of Cups is ‘just right’.

Also, the wall in the Sun prevents the couple seeing anything but each other, whereas in the 6 of Cups the wall is low. Their world is still open – the relationship is much less demanding/intense.