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| Star Tarot, Cathy McClelland |
This Lovers card from Cathy McClelland's self-published Star Tarot (majors only) is subtitled in her companion book 'The Sacred Marriage - The Healing Union.' Cathy suggests this card has to do with 'how sensual love can bring one to spiritual awakening, and bring back the sense that the world is alive, renewing, regenerating and fulfilling, and that we are always a part of that.' That's a lovely sentiment, but I do think the card goes deeper than that, which she touches on when she adds, 'Understand your dualities and take the journey on the heavenly road to the ultimate love - union with the Divine.'
This is a very traditional-looking Lovers card, quite beautiful. We have the Angel Raphael blessing the union from above, crowned by Shekinah glory, with the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove.
The two trees on either side have their roots commingled in the shape of a rather twee valentine heart. Calla lilies bloom around them. I've read many symbolic interpretations of calla lilies, from death to love to 'magnificence and beauty'. I just read online that it is the flower of the 6th anniversary--and Lovers is the 6th trump. I'm not sure if that was done on purpose or was just a coincidence. The butterflies remind us of transformation and rebirth, of course. There is a chalice and athame (Cathe calls them a grail and sword in her companion book), and the hilt of the athame has what could almost be called a stylized yin-yang symbol. We have the 6-pointed star representing the mixture of fire and water. All in all, there are a lot of symbols represented in this card. I quite like it, though I think in composition it is overbalanced by Raphael, but perhaps that is because the healing of the Universe (God) outweighs earthly unions of the female and male.
When compared with yesterday's Devil card, it becomes plain that the Devil card is separation/isolation, while Lovers is union/wholeness. This comes across to me more clearly than it does with the RWS images.
My personal mantra for the Lovers card is Om hraum mitraya namaha. 'Mitraya' is the light of Universal Friendship. It is one of the mantras to the sun, part of the Surya Namaskara, the Sun Salutation. I believe I will chant this to myself today on my walk to work. Through the rain. :)
It's funny, your comment about the "composition (being) overbalanced by Raphael, but perhaps that is because the healing of the Universe (God) outweighs earthly unions of the female and male." made me look at the card in another way. There is so much detail in the bottom, earthly section, whereas the top is simple. Something there for me about the complexities we see in our everyday lives and the simplicity of the union with the divine - it's right there, if we can just let everything else go...
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