There are so many ways people read The Lovers, and honestly some of the popular takes make me cringe. The whole “man choosing between two women” angle feels outdated and kind of gross to me. What lands better is the idea of choice itself - being stuck between options and not knowing which way to go. That feels more real.
A lot of readers say the figures on the Rider Waite Lovers are Adam and Eve with the snake in the Tree of Knowledge. That ties back to choosing, and how some choices can free you or teach you something hard. On the flip side, The Devil shows a man and woman chained to a throne, which always reads as being trapped by bad choices that hold you down.
I notice these themes popping up across cards: tall figures looming over scenes, pairs of symbols like the towers or the dogs in The Moon. Even Justice and The High Priestess feel like authority types to me, people who respond to what we do and say. It’s really about how our choices ripple out to affect us and the people around us.
Figuring out exact meanings is tricky because these cards have been reinterpreted so many times and carry a lot of historical baggage. I’d love to study the originals more and eventually design my own deck. For now I’m taking it slow, one card at a time, and seeing where each pull leads.
