Card VI, Major ArcanaThe Lovers tarot card meaning
Upright and reversedThe Lovers in shortIn short
The Lovers is love, and the choices love asks of you. A man and a woman stand in a garden under a great winged angel and the sun, each beside a tree. Follow your heart honestly and choose with all of you.
- Love
- Union
- Choice
Piece oneThe sun and the mountain
A yellow sun blazes at the very top of the card, and a red mountain rises between the man and the woman below. Waite puts the sun in the zenith, the highest point of the sky. He leaves the mountain unexplained and sets the pair in a paradise, Adam and Eve in their first days.
"...as if Adam and Eve when they first occupied the paradise of the earthly body."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe sun at the top and the mountain between the two set the scale. Everything above is blessing; the mountain is what rises between two people. The angel stands in the sun's light and passes it down. The couple stand at the bottom, small, in their first garden.
Piece twoThe angel
A great angel with red wings and flame hair spreads its arms over the couple, the sun blazing behind. Waite says the figure pours down influences from above. The love below gets its blessing from overhead.
"The sun shines in the zenith, and beneath is a great winged figure with arms extended, pouring down influences."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe angel is the third presence in this love. Arms spread over both of them, it pours blessing down from the sun. The couple stand below with open hands, taking it in. Between them the cloud and the red mountain hold them apart. The angel joins them from above.
Piece threeThe two trees
Behind the woman grows a tree with red fruit, a green serpent wound round its trunk: Waite's Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Behind the man stands the Tree of Life, dark, with small flames for fruit. Waite gives it twelve fruits. Ours burn.
"Behind the man is the Tree of Life, bearing twelve fruits, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is behind the woman; the serpent is twining round it."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe two trees give the couple a choice. Behind her stands the tree of knowledge, with the serpent; behind him, the tree of life, burning. The angel above blesses both of them. The red mountain between them keeps the two trees apart.
Piece fourHuman love
The two stand barefoot on the grass in plain pale robes, hands open, a red mountain rising between them. Waite's pair are unclothed; ours wear simple robes and keep the same open, innocent pose. Waite calls this, in all simplicity, the card of human love.
"This is in all simplicity the card of human love, here exhibited as part of the way, the truth and the life."Waite, 1911
Why it is hereThe couple are the reason for the card. Bare feet, plain robes, open hands: they hide nothing from each other. She looks up toward the angel, he looks toward her. The mountain between them stays, and their two trees stand behind them.
Colour, and where else it appearsEchoes
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The sun and the mountain
Warm yellow sun, brick red mountain, soft blue sky: warm colours run down from the top to the couple. The Sun card makes that sun the whole sky, with a face and a child riding below. The Emperor sits in front of mountains in the same red-orange, bare and hard. Here a single red peak stands between two people.
Also in -
The angel
Warm gold sun, deep red wings, a purple robe: red for passion, purple for the sacred. Winged angels return later in the deck. In Temperance a pale angel stands in a stream, pouring water. In Judgement a red-winged angel blows a trumpet over people rising from their coffins. The Lovers' angel blesses the living, at the start.
Also in -
The two trees
Olive green with red fruit on her side, near black with red-orange flames on his: two kinds of life. The serpent returns in Wheel of Fortune, a yellow snake sliding down the wheel's left side. In The Devil a horned pair stand chained, grapes by her and fire by him, as if the two trees had followed them.
Also in -
Human love
Pale cream robes, a deep red mountain: innocence below, passion rising between. The Two of Cups shows a later step, a man and a woman exchanging cups under a winged lion's head. The Devil sets a horned pair in chains at the foot of a dark block. Here the two stand apart, hands open, holding nothing yet.
Also in
Colour notes are ours, read from the picture; Waite does not explain the colours.
The LoversUpright
Love, attraction, union. A new relationship, a deeper bond, or any strong connection, a friendship or a partnership. Waite's words: attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome. He sees in the figures youth, innocence, and love before gross desire spoils it.
It's also a card of choice. Love asks you to choose with your whole heart, in line with your values. Torn between two paths? Pick the one you can say a full yes to. Be honest with yourself and with the other person.
The LoversReversed
Waite gives failure and foolish designs. Another account he cites speaks of marriage frustrated and contrarieties of all kinds.
A relationship may be off balance, a choice made for the wrong reasons, or you're dodging the decision. Look at what you really want, and check that your actions match.
Yes or noYes.
Yes, especially in love. If you're choosing between two paths, take the one you love, and mean it.
The Lovers in your lifeIn your life
Love
A strong, honest connection: new love or deeper commitment. Choose each other openly.
Work
A good partnership, or a big choice about your path. Pick work you believe in.
Money
A decision about shared money or a joint venture. Agree on values first, numbers second.
Health
Body and heart affect each other, and so do the people close to you. A card can't diagnose you; if something's wrong, see a doctor.
Spirituality
Opposites joining, a choice made from the heart. Love can be a spiritual path.
Advice
Choose with your whole heart, then stand by it.
As a person
Warm, romantic, open, loyal. Lives by values and feelings.
Past, present, future
Past: a love or a choice that shaped you. Present: a connection or decision that matters. Future: a union, or a choice you make from the heart.
Written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
Symbols and correspondencesAt a glance
- Number
- VI
- Hebrew letter
- Zain
- Astrology
- Gemini
- Element
- Air
- Upright
- Attraction
- Reversed
- Failure
QuestionsCommon questions
Yes: love, attraction, harmony, and in Waite's list, trials overcome. It also asks for an honest choice.
A strong bond, deep attraction, often a commitment. One of the best cards to get in a love reading.
Yes, especially in love. Choosing between two things? Take the one you truly want.
Waite names them: the Tree of Life behind the man, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, with its serpent, behind the woman.
Gemini, an air sign, in the Golden Dawn system. Its Hebrew letter is Zain.
Waite calls it, in all simplicity, the card of human love: youth, innocence, and love before gross desire spoils it, part of the way, the truth and the life.
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911Card meanings and quotes: A. E. Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911. Hebrew letter, sign and element: the Golden Dawn's Book T. Colours, life situations, yes or no and questions: written by us, from Waite's meanings and the picture.
All 22 major cards